MISSOURI LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE
Symposium & Bill Address the
Educational Needs of Foster
Children
Partnership for Children attended a Symposium last week
sponsored by the Missouri Coalition of Children’s Agencies
regarding the educational needs of children in foster care. For
foster children, positive school experiences enhance their
well-being, help them make more successful transitions to
adulthood, and increase their chances for personal fulfillment
and economic self-sufficiency as well as their ability to
contribute to society.
However, the educational outcomes for children in foster
care are dismal with unique challenges foster children face due
to the lack of stability in their lives. Attendees heard from national and state
experts about the educational crisis our children in foster care
are facing and the issues that must be addressed to ensure the
educational success of children and youth in foster care.
Senator Jolie Justus (D-Jackson County), has filed a bill
to address the educational rights of all foster children. SB 1000 outlines the
following educational rights for Missouri’s foster
children: each
school district must designate a staff person to be an
educational liaison for foster care children. This liaison would assist with proper educational
placements, transferring between schools, ensuring transfer of
grades and credits, requesting school records, and submitting
school records that have been requested.
In
addition, this bill seeks to promote educational stability by
allowing a foster child to continue to attend their school of
origin when they have moved to a new foster home. This bill would also require that
each child who is in foster care or who is placed in a licensed
residential care facility is entitled to a full school day of
education unless the school district determines that fewer hours
are warranted. A full school day is defined as six hours.
SB 1000 has been
referred to Seniors, Families and Public Health chaired by
Senator Norma Champion (R-Greene County), and will be heard
on Tuesday, February 19th at 8:15 in Senate Hearing Room 1.
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Death Penalty Bill Puts Victims at Even
Greater Risk
Senator John Loudon, R-St. Louis County, recently filed a
bill that would create the crime of aggravated child kidnapping
and makes such crime punishable by death or life imprisonment
without parole, probation or release. SB 1095 defines aggravated child
kidnapping when a person,
who is not a relative of the victim, when he or she, after
deliberation on the matter, kidnaps a child under the age of
eighteen by forcible compulsion or kidnaps a child under the age
of twelve without the consent of the child's parent or guardian,
and also forcibly rapes or sodomizes such child.
This crime is either
punishable by death or life imprisonment unless the offender is
not over the age of 16, in which case, the punishment is only
life imprisonment without probation, parole or release.
Parternship for Children opposes SB1095. Imposing the dealth
penalty for child rape will harm children and make them less
safe. Child rape is
a serious crime and those who commit it deserve to be punished
severely, however, the consequences of making child rape
death-eligible will have the opposite of the law’s
intended effect by reducing the chances the child victims and
non-offending family members will report the abuse,
increase the trauma these children suffer and place child
victims at even greater risk of death by creating an incentive
to kill the victim and eliminate the witness to the crime.
SB
1095 has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee
chaired by Sen. Matt Bartle R-Jackson
County.
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Bill
Adversely Affects Child Abuse and Neglect Procedures in
Missouri
(SB1106)
Sen.
Delbert Scott (R-St. Clair County), recently filed a
bill that has child advocates very concerned. SB1106 would put
children at risk by; 1) requiring the children’s division
to close all child abuse and neglect cases within 30 days; and
2) changing the
composition of the Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) Review board by
removing the
requirement that the board be multidisciplinary including
professors, child advocates and social workers. Instead this bill would
require that 3 of
the 9 members be attorneys and that no more 5 of the 9 members
can be of the same political party as the Governor.
Partnership for Children opposes SB1106. It has been
referred to Seniors, Families and Public Health chaired by
Senator Norma Champion (R-Greene County).
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House Appropriations
Committee Makes
Recommendations
The House
Appropriations Committee for Health, Mental Health, & Social
Services met last week to go over various department budgets a
final time before hearing recommendations and priorities from
committee members. With the assumption that $250 million needs
to be cut from the entire budget, the fate of several important
budget items for children, youth, and families remains
uncertain. Representatives Donnelly (D-St. Louis) and Grisamore
(R-Lee’s Summit) both spoke in favor of items that are
priority for Partnership for Children, including $2.4 million
new general revenue funds for a transitional child care
assistance program and $2.5 million to increase foster parent
reimbursement rates and Missouri’s adoption subsidy.
Recommendations from the entire committee will be finalized next
week and sent to the House Budget Committee for further
review.
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Pre-K Program in
Provisionally & Unaccredited School Districts
SB
779, sponsored by Senator Smith (D-St. Louis), was heard last
Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee. The bill creates a
pilot program within Missouri’s Preschool
Project to provide high-quality pre-k programs to 5,000 at-risk
3 and 4-yr-olds in unaccredited or provisionally accredited
school districts. At least 50% of pre-k slots would be in
community-based programs.
In our
testimony to the Senate Education Committee, Partnership for
Children shared Kansas
City’s experience with pre-k and the adverse
impact on high-quality community-based providers when the
KCM School
District suddenly expanded its free,
public pre-k program. As more and more Missouri
school districts begin to recognize the educational benefits of
quality early learning, pre-k opportunities will continue to
expand but the state should ensure that expansion does not
sacrifice quality or shut down community-based programs. Other
witnesses testifying in support included the St. Louis City
Mayor’s office,
the GKC Chamber of Commerce, MNEA, MSTA, Citizens for
Missouri’s Children, MO
School Boards Association, DESE and the St. Louis
Public
Schools.
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QRS Could Advance
This Week
Bills establishing
a Quality Rating System for early childhood and afterschool
programs are likely to come up in the House and the Senate this
week. SB 726 (Shields) is on the Senate Informal Calendar and is
anticipated to be brought up for debate and a vote this week. HB
1524 (Franz) has already received a hearing in the House Special
Committee on Family Services and may be brought up for a
committee vote this Wednesday.
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Newly Bills
Filed
a. SB 1128
(Bray): This bill creates the
Persistence to Graduation Fund to distribute grants to school
districts for dropout prevention programs. SB 1128 has been
referred to the Senate Education
Committee.
b. HB 2128
(Baker-25): Establishes a Missouri
Health Policy Authority to develop and maintain a coordinated
health policy agenda in the state. The KS State Legislature is
currently reviewing a 21-point health reform plan developed by
the KS Health Policy Authority which was created through statute
in 2005.
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Upcoming Hearings of
Interest
The House Appropriations Committee on
Health, Mental Health and Social Services: Committee will have a
MoHealthNet Case Management Discussion with the Dept. of Social
Services Tuesday, 2/19 at 2:00pm in HR 5; Committee will discuss
2009 recommendations Wednesday, 2/20 at 2:00 pm in HR
5
The House Special Committee on Health Transformation:
Tuesday, 2/19 at 2 pm location TBA ; Wednesday, 2/20 at noon
location TBA; and Thursday, 2/20 at 8 AM in
HR7.
Senate Ways & Means: Monday, 2/18 at 2:30 pm in SCR 1 will hear SB
1052, sponsored by Sen. Scott Rupp that modifies provisions
relating to the allocation and use of gaming revenues.
Senate Seniors, Families and Public Health: Tuesday, 2/19 at 8:15 am
in SCR 1 will hear SB 1000 sponsored by Sen. Jolie Justus that
establishes the educational rights of foster care students and
requires a full school day of education for certain
children.
Senate Eco. Devo./Tourism & Local Gov’t: Wednesday, 2/20 at 2:00
pm in the Senate Lounge will hear SB 885 sponsored by Sen. Chuck
Graham, which modifies provisions relating to the Community
Children’s Services Fund.
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KANSAS LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE
PFC thanks our
statewide partner Kansas Action for Children (www.kac.org) for
this weekly update from Topeka.
Budget Items
Relating to Children & Families Move
Forward
EARLY
CHILDHOOD
The Senate
Education Budget Subcommittee held hearings last week on the
budget for the Department of Education and made recommendations
for two early childhood
programs:
1) Parents As
Teachers. Updated data indicates that the
waiting list for PAT services has grown from 3,000 to more than
4,500 children. The Subcommittee acknowledged the need to
address the waiting list for PAT and indicated they will include
language in the Subcommittee report that $1 million be added to
the program during Omnibus at the end of session. The Governor's
Budget recommends flat funding for the program and moving the
program to the Children's Initiative Fund (CIF). The
Subcommittee recommended moving funding back to the State General Fund, and will look at it further during
Omnibus.
2) Pre-K Pilots and the
Kansas Preschool
Program.
The Subcommittee agreed with the Governor's budget
recommendation to move administration of the Pre-K pilots, along
with existing funding, to the Department of Education. The
Subcommittee report will include language introduced by Kansas
Action for Children and the Kansas Coalition for School
Readiness to ensure that quality standards, accountability
requirements and community-based partnerships currently found in
the Pre-K pilot program are maintained. The Governor's request
for an additional $1.2 million will be considered at
Omnibus.
SOCIAL
SERVICES
The Social
Services Budget Committee will hold four days of hearings next
week on the SRS budget. This budget contains funding for the
Children's Cabinet, the new Early Childhood Block Grant and
other key early childhood programs. Kansas Action for Children
will testify on Wednesday, Feb. 20, in support of early
education funding and the Child Care Assistance
Program.
HEALTH
1)
Kansas Coordinated
School Health.
The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education met Feb. 11-12 to
hear the education budget and public comment. Kansas Action for
Children testified in support of funding for Kansas Coordinated
School Health. The Subcommittee will report its recommendations
to the full Ways and Means Committee next week. The Subcommittee
on Education report being given on Tuesday, Feb. 19, will
include discussion of KCSH. Click
here for more
information on the program. < http://www.kac.org/kac.aspx?pgID=936>
2)
Newborn Screening. The Appropriations Committee
adopted the recommendations of the KDHE subcommittees to fund
the FY09 enhancements - totaling $866,388 - for the newborn
screening program. The FY08 supplemental request by KDHE for
$114,518 was not included in the
budget.2
3)
Health Reform. The Kansas Health Policy Authority
presented its budget to the Social Services Budget Committee on
Feb. 11 and public comment was made on Feb. 12. The Budget
Committee will recommend to the full Appropriations Committee to
defer all budget enhancements for KHPA until the omnibus budget
session at the end of the Legislative
Session.
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Committee
Hears 2 Bills Relating to Early
Childhood
The Senate Education
Committee held two days of testimony on SB 407 and SB 408 last week. Based upon recommendations from
the 2010 Commission, these bills would move administration of
the infant-toddler special education program (Tiny-K), Early
Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten pilots to the Department of
Education. Several members of the early childhood community
expressed concern about maintaining the quality standards and
community-based partnerships of programs, regardless of which
state agency is the lead administrator. There was also
significant written and oral testimony in opposition to SB 408,
a bill that would move the Tiny-K program to the Department of
Education. Under federal law, the Governor has the sole
authority to designate the lead agency for Tiny-K. It's likely
that the Committee will not take any action on SB 408 until the
Governor takes action or the committee hears SCR 1614, a Concurrent Resolution requesting
the Governor to designate the State Board of Education as the
lead agency to administer the Infants and Toddlers with
Disabilities Program. The Committee will discuss SB 407 in the
near future.
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Hearings on Child Care Licensing
Requirements
The House Federal &
State Affairs Committee held three days of hearings last week on
HB 2003, a bill that would allow child care homes
to have twice the number of children licensed for during limited
time periods before and after school, and HB 2053, a bill regarding licensure of child
care facilities by cities, counties and school districts. The
House Federal and State Affairs Subcommittee on Child Care is
expected to finalize its recommendations during a hearing
scheduled at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19.
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Newly
Filed Bills of
Interest
HB 2851
(Holmes): would increase licensed capacity by two children in
temporary situations involving school closures, vacations or
emergencies of other child care facilities, and create new
inspection and assessment
guidelines.
