SB 760 - This act removes the authority of the State Board of Education to classify the public schools of the state and assign accreditation classifications to school districts. This act creates the Missouri Board of School Accreditation. The board will be responsible for classifying the public schools of the state. In addition, the Missouri Board of School Accreditation will be responsible for the statewide assessment system instead of the State Board of Education. The Missouri Board of School Accreditation will not have authority to supervise the instruction in the public schools of the state or to address school curriculum.
The Missouri Board of School Accreditation will consist of eight members who will each serve a term of eight years, except for the initial appointees whose terms are staggered. The Governor will appoint all board members with the advice and consent of the Senate. Four of the board members will be selected in the following manner: one member will be selected by the governor from a slate of three recommended by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; one member will be selected by the Governor from a slate of three recommended by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; one member will be selected by the Governor from a slate of three recommended by a statewide association of school boards; one member will be selected by the Governor from a slate of three recommended by the teacher association groups.
No more than four members may be from one political party. The board may employ an executive director and additional staff as needed to carry out its duties.
The board must promulgate rules under which the board classifies the public schools of the state. There is a two year delay before rules will become effective. In addition, the appropriate scoring guides, instruments, and procedures used in determining the accreditation status of a district are subject to a public meeting upon notice in a newspaper of general circulation in each of the three most populous cities in Missouri and a newspaper that is a certified minority business enterprise or woman-owned business enterprise in each of the two most populous cities in Missouri, and notice to various state government officials, as described in the act, at least fourteen days in advance of the meeting. The board must conduct the public meeting no less than ninety days prior to the application in accreditation.
MICHAEL RUFF