HCS HB 633 Kelley, Ann Committee
HCS HB 633 -- REQUIRED SCHOOL TRAININGS
SPONSOR: Kelley (127)
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass with HCS" by the Standing Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education by a vote of 17 to 0. Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Rules- Administrative Oversight by a vote of 7 to 0.
The following is a summary of the House Committee Substitute for HB 633.
Beginning with the 2023-24 school year this bill modifies the current required training that school employees must receive annually.
The bill requires that newly hired employees receive instruction on a variety of topics as soon as practicable after being hired, such topics include: school discipline, seclusion and restraint, school bullying, employee-student communications, mandatory reporting, dyslexia and related disorders, youth suicide awareness and prevention, and active shooter and intruder response training.
All other employees shall be provided training and education on such topics as determined by the school district based on the specific needs of the district and employee instead of annually.
All employees shall be required to train for a minimum of three years for any newly developed trainings required by state law in the 2024-25 school year. Additionally, employees shall receive federal trainings and trainings for specific job requirements as specified.
The following is a summary of the public testimony from the committee hearing. The testimony was based on the introduced version of the bill.
The bill modifies active shooter and intruder response training to make such training a requirement as outlined in the bill.
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that this bill will reduce a large amount of stress that teachers and educators currently feel. Many required trainings are redundant and can be updated on a regular but not annual basis. This language provides much needed flexibility for a district.
Testifying in person for the bill were Representative Kelley; Missouri State Teachers Association; and the Misouri NEA.
OPPONENTS: Those who oppose the bill say that families with disabilities and those that have been adversely effected by poorly trained educators cannot support this bill as written. If a teacher is brought into court over a matter, one of the first questions that will be brought up will be if they received training and in most circumstances that training must be within a year of any incident. Training for high stress level incidents such as behavior and armed threats must occur on a frequent basis or those involved will not have the skills necessary to react.
Testifying in person against the bill was Lara Wakefield.
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony and witnesses testifying online can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.