Pre-filed December 1, 1995, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.

Read 2nd time January 4, 1996, and referred to the Committee on Education.

Reported from the Committee February 1, 1996, with recommendation that the bill do pass.

Taken up for Perfection March 6, 1996. Bill declared Perfected and Ordered printed, as amended.

TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.

S2041.01P

To repeal sections 160.051, 160.053 and 171.031, RSMo 1994, relating to public schools, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Sections 160.051, 160.053 and 171.031, RSMo 1994, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 160.051 and 171.031, to read as follows:

160.051. A system of free public schools is established throughout the state for the gratuitous instruction of persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. Any child whose fifth birthday occurs before the first day of [October for school year 1985-86, and before the first day of September for school year 1986-87, and before the first day of August for school year 1987-88 and before the first day of July for school year 1988-89 and each school year thereafter,] August shall be deemed to have attained the age of five years at the commencement of the [term] school year beginning in that calendar year for the purpose of apportioning state school funds and for all other purposes.

[160.053. 1. Each school district in the state, except as provided in subsection 3, may provide an assessment program to determine readiness of a child or groups of children whose fifth birthday for purposes of kindergarten and whose sixth birthday for purposes of grade one, will occur on or after July first but not later than September thirtieth of that year. Each school district may determine its own program of readiness assessment. The assessments may be administered each year, beginning with school year 1985-86, prior to the opening of the school term without charge. Only a child who by his assessment is found ready to enter kindergarten or to enter grade one that year shall receive gratuitous instruction and the school district shall receive state aid for the child, notwithstanding the provisions of sections 160.051 and 163.017, RSMo.

2. If a school district does not offer an assessment program to determine readiness, the parent or legal guardian of a child whose fifth birthday, for purposes of kindergarten and whose sixth birthday for purposes of grade one, will occur on or after July first but not later than September thirtieth of that year, may request an assessment to determine readiness. The school district, prior to the opening of the school term and without charge, shall assess the child's readiness for entry into school. Any child who by his assessment is found ready to enter kindergarten or to enter grade one shall be allowed to do so and the child shall receive gratuitous instruction and the school district shall receive state aid for the child, notwithstanding the provisions of sections 160.051 and 163.017, RSMo.

3. Any kindergarten or grade one pupil beginning his school term in one school district in this state and subsequently transferring to another school district in this state in which the child's birth date would preclude his eligibility for entrance without meeting the district's assessment requirements shall be deemed eligible for attendance and shall not be required to meet the assessment requirements. The receiving school district shall receive state aid for the child, notwithstanding the provisions of sections 160.051 and 163.017, RSMo.

4. Any child assessed ready for kindergarten and who subsequently completes his kindergarten year shall not be required to meet the assessment requirements of a district for entrance into grade one.

5. The provisions of subsections 1, 2, and 3, relating to assessing for readiness to attend kindergarten and to kindergarten instruction and state aid therefor, shall not apply during any particular school year to those districts which do not provide kindergarten classes that year.]

171.031. 1. Each school board shall prepare annually a calendar for the school term, specifying the opening date and providing a minimum term of at least one hundred seventy-four days and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance. The opening date shall not be earlier than the [first] fifteenth day of [September] August, except[:

(1) If the first day of September falls on Labor Day or a Saturday or Sunday, the school board in any school district may move the starting day for that term to a subsequent school day;

(2)] In school districts in which schools are in session for twelve months of each calendar year[; and

(3) In school districts in which the school board determines students are needed for agricultural production purposes].

2. No school day shall be longer than seven hours except for vocational schools which may adopt an eight-hour day in a metropolitan school district and a school district in a [first class] county [adjacent to a city not within a county] of the first classification with a charter form of government and a population in excess of nine hundred thousand persons.