SCS/SB 360 - This act modifies provisions of the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program. Currently, the cumulative amount of tax credits that may be allocated may be annually increased by adjustments in inflation. This act provides that the cumulative amount may be increased by the same percentage increase above the forty percent threshold used to trigger the program that is tied to funding of transportation aid under the state funding formula. The act repeals the current provision that no more increases in the cumulative amount may occur when the figure reaches $75 million.
The act modifies the grant amount that shall be provided to students with a qualified individualized education plan to be equal to all state and federal moneys allocated to public schools on a per capita basis to students with an individualized education plan.
Under the act, no parent of a student who attends a home school shall be required to undergo a background check in order to participate in the program.
The act modifies the definition of "qualified student" by repealing language that such student shall be a member of a household whose total annual income does not exceed an amount equal to 200% of the income standard used to qualify for free and reduced price lunches.
The definition of "qualified student" has also been modified to include any student who resides in a county in which any portion of a city that has at least thirty thousand inhabitants is located in such county, rather than any city with at least thirty thousand inhabitants. This provision is similar to HB 875 (2023).
OLIVIA SHANNON