# Missouri SB68: Creates, repeals, and modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education Missouri SB68, Creates, repeals, and modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education, is a 2025 Regular Session Senate bill sponsored by Mike Henderson (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-07-09 (Delivered to Secretary of State (G)); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-17). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-SB68-2025 - As of: 2026-10-17 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Missouri SB68 - State: Missouri - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: Creates, repeals, and modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education - Status: signed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2025-02-27 - Last action: 2025-07-09, Delivered to Secretary of State (G) - Sponsor: Mike Henderson (Republican) - Cosponsors: 0 - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 4 (40 yes, 2 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 36 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Higher minimum pay for public-school teachers: benefit, high. Beginning in 2025–26, fully certificated Missouri public-school teachers have a $40,000 annual salary minimum; part-time minimums are prorated. Full-time teachers with a master’s degree and 10 years of public-school teaching experience qualify for higher minimums. These are $46,000 in 2025–26, $47,… - Adult high schools open at eighteen: benefit, medium. Adults without a high school diploma can enroll at age 18, down from 21. The state must authorize qualifying Missouri nonprofits to run up to five adult high schools. One must be in a city outside a county, and one in a third-classification county. Schools must offer a diploma and industry certific… - Alternate tests for special education students: benefit, medium. Students receiving special education services take an alternate assessment when their individualized education program team finds it more appropriate. The assessment must fit their developmental needs and evaluate independent living skills. The State Board must establish or identify these assessmen… - Parents gain school information and notices: benefit, medium. Parents and custodians can request information about instruction, teachers, school contracts, funding, and student data collection and sharing. They can review curricula, access their child’s records under privacy laws, approve field trips, and visit under reasonable procedures. Schools must give t… - Parents must approve school corporal punishment: benefit, medium. Districts cannot use corporal punishment without notifying the child's parent or guardian and getting written permission. This applies when the district's discipline policy allows corporal punishment. - Teachers gain safety and workplace rights: benefit, medium. Teachers at Missouri local education agencies gain protection from physical abuse by students and parents, and threats from parents. They have rights to scheduled preparation time during contract hours, work-duty insurance, and professional input on student discipline. Schools can bar parents who p… - Broader lead protections for school water: benefit, medium. School lead rules cover water used for drinking, cooking, and cleaning cooking or eating utensils. Remediation must reduce lead below five parts per billion; flushing does not count. Schools can replace lead parts or use qualifying filters when the water supply causes contamination. While that sour… - Schools prepare for sudden cardiac emergencies: benefit, medium. Beginning in 2026–27, public schools must have cardiac emergency plans coordinated with local emergency services. Plans must include response teams, staff training, annual drills, defibrillator maintenance, and ongoing review. Schools with athletic programs must keep clearly marked defibrillators u… - Schools prepare to control severe bleeding: benefit, medium. The state education department must develop a severe-bleeding protocol before January 1, 2026. Districts and charter schools must implement it before the 2025–26 school year ends. It covers bleeding-control kits, emergency plans and drills, annual inspections, and replacement of expired supplies. A… - Schools strengthen emergency planning and reporting: benefit, medium. Districts and charter schools must adopt emergency plans covering prevention, response, follow-up, and mental health needs. They must share plans with local police, fire services, and emergency management. Every facility needs an annual physical security assessment, with state standards and complia… - Military families can register students remotely: benefit, low. Missouri districts must allow remote school registration when a student’s parent or parents relocate to Missouri under military orders. Districts cannot require the student, parent, or legal guardian to appear in person to register. Families must provide proof of residency within 10 days after the… - Teacher externships keep counting toward pay: benefit, low. The certified teacher externship program continues without an automatic end date. Qualifying externships count as graduate-level credits for salary schedules. They can raise pay where a district or charter school rewards those credits. Externships must meet requirements published by the state econo… - Teachers gain more accepted credential paths: benefit, low. Teachers of Tomorrow certification is an alternative to American Board certification for the specified teaching credentials and mentoring requirements. Applicants must still meet applicable contact-hour and other initial-certificate requirements. Continuing certification still requires applicable p… - Broader lead-water protections replace older rules: benefit, low. The law repeals an older optional lead-testing rule for pre-1996 school buildings serving children below first grade. Its related notices for results above federal standards are also repealed, alongside a broader school-water testing and remediation framework. Those broader duties began in 2023–24… - Legal protections for school safety interventions: benefit, low. School employees and volunteers gain liability protection when intervening to protect students during bullying, violence, violent behavior, or crimes. Protection requires following board procedures or acting in good faith with a reasonable belief that self-defense law justifies the intervention. Di… - School staff gain lifesaving training protections: benefit, low. School boards must provide all district and charter-school employees with CPR and other lifesaving training, using methods each board chooses. Staff using bleeding-control kits in good faith receive protection from civil liability. That protection excludes gross negligence and willful, wanton, or i… - Schools count suspended students as attending: benefit, low. Beginning in 2026–27, suspended and expelled students count as attending for specified school accountability calculations. They also count toward weighted average daily attendance used for state aid. This accounting rule does not end or shorten a student's suspension or expulsion. - Schools get faster student safety records: benefit, low. New schools must request threat-assessment and safety-plan records within two business days when students have current or past-12-month safety plans. Districts holding requested student records must respond within five business days. For nonresident students covered by the placement law, schools mu… - Student tests emphasize skills and readiness: benefit, low. State assessments must measure problem solving, analysis, evaluation, creativity, and how students apply knowledge. They must neither promote nor prohibit rote memorization and must exclude existing or enhanced tests approved under the specified law. After academic standards are adopted and impleme… - Teachers retain two-hour dyslexia training: benefit, low. Practicing teachers must receive two hours of training on dyslexia and related disorders under the law's shared training framework. The requirement applies beginning with the 2018–19 school year and continues in later years. - More school funding for teacher raises: benefit, low. Districts and charter schools qualify for extra aid when their prior-year approved calendars planned at least 169 attendance days. Aid equals 1% of prior-year state aid in fiscal years 2026–2027, then 2% starting in fiscal year 2028. Authorized calendar reductions and specified emergencies do not d… - Schools stop repaying forgiven teacher scholarships: benefit, low. Local school districts no longer repay 25% of amounts forgiven under the Teacher Recruitment and Retention State Scholarship loan-repayment provision. This removes a district expense, not a payment owed by teachers. The law does not specify total savings. - Schools can require lifesaving graduation training: cost, low. School boards can require students to complete CPR and lifesaving-methods training before graduating. This is a local choice, not an automatic statewide graduation requirement. - School bus driver training hours fall: cost, low. Districts must provide school bus drivers at least four hours of special driving instruction each year, down from eight hours. This applies to drivers employed by districts and those working under district contracts. The law cuts the required training minimum in half. - School safety training loses annual requirement: cost, low. School staff using restraint or seclusion must still train in the specific techniques they use. District employees must still receive instruction on their district's discipline policy. Districts and charter schools must train mandatory reporters on child abuse, including sexual abuse and potentiall… - Some schools test water less often: cost, low. Schools finding no drinking-water outlet above five parts per billion of lead must test only every five years. Other retesting intervals in the law still apply to outlets below five parts per billion. - Retired substitutes keep pensions within limits: mixed, medium. From June 30, 2022, through June 30, 2030, eligible retirees can substitute part-time or temporarily while keeping non-disability retirement payments. They do not contribute to the retirement system for that work. Regular full-time employment stops retirement payments for the months worked full-tim… - Schools tighten bullying responses and safeguards: mixed, medium. Districts and charter schools must maintain antibullying policies; staff must report witnessed bullying within one school day. Investigations must start within two school days and finish within ten school days after starting, unless good cause supports more time. Schools must document findings, not… - Student discipline combines rules and discretion: mixed, medium. Starting in 2026–27, Missouri local education agencies must adopt, enforce, publicly post, and annually review student conduct codes. Codes must set behavior rules, require prompt responses and graduated consequences, and involve parents in significant discipline. They must prohibit treatment based… - Students face classroom and mealtime device limits: mixed, low. Beginning in 2026–27, districts and charter schools must publish student personal communication device policies. Policies must ban use during scheduled instructional time and meals, define instructional time, and explain discipline procedures. They must allow uses required by education plans, healt… - Virtual students gain monitored online testing: mixed, low. Virtual schools can give required statewide tests online, except specified nationally provided college- or workforce-readiness tests. A program employee must manage a live session at an assigned date and time. Camera monitoring must continue throughout testing, with no more than ten students per pr… - Schools can offer limited resilience training: mixed, low. Local education agencies can offer evidence-based resilience training for teachers and counselors with governing-board approval. Training must emphasize community standards intended to benefit all students equally. It cannot reference or require training or curriculum mainly focused on race, gender… - Districts must pay for outside schooling: mixed, low. A child’s responsible home district must pay the district providing or arranging services for that child. Payment is capped at the home district’s average local-tax-funded amount per child. If payment remains unpaid 90 days after a written voucher arrives, the state deducts the debt from subsequent… - Schools gain alternatives to construction bidding: mixed, low. Districts using authorized alternative purchasing processes are exempt from the usual public-advertising, sealed-bid, and lowest-responsible-bidder requirements for school construction. Options include cooperative purchasing, specified state purchasing services, and other processes authorized by st… - Small-district aid excludes some nonresident students: mixed, low. Missouri distributes $30 million each year in aid to eligible small school districts. Districts must average 350 or fewer students in daily attendance during the school year before payment. Nonresident students enrolled through the specified virtual education program do not count in this aid calcul… - Teacher scholarship loans require servicing transfer: mixed, low. The state education department must sell Teacher Recruitment and Retention State Scholarship loans to the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority. The authority services those loans. The sale is mandatory rather than optional; the provision does not change loan balances, repayment terms, or borrow… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Mike Henderson (Republican), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-05-12 | House | Reported Do Pass | pass | 6 | 2 | | | 2025-04-24 | House | Reported Do Pass | pass | 8 | 0 | | | 2025-04-17 | House | Reported Do Pass | pass | 10 | 0 | | | 2025-04-03 | House | HCS Reported Do Pass | pass | 16 | 0 | | ## Actions (39) - 2025-07-09: Delivered to Secretary of State (G) - 2025-07-09: Approved by Governor (G) - 2025-05-30: Delivered to Governor - 2025-05-29: Signed by House Speaker (House) - 2025-05-13: House Message (House) - 2025-05-13: Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed - 2025-05-13: House Adopts Conference Committee Report (House) - 2025-05-13: House Submits Conference Committee Report (House) - 2025-05-12: Reported Do Pass - AYES: 6 NOES: 2 PRESENT: 0 (House) - 2025-05-12: Voted Do Pass (House) - 2025-05-12: Executive Session Completed (House) - 2025-05-07: Referred: Fiscal Review (House) - 2025-05-07: House Distributes Conference Committee Report (House) - 2025-05-07: Taken Up - 2025-05-05: House Message (House) - 2025-05-01: House Conference Committee Appointed - REPRESENTATIVES ALLEN, LEWIS, POLLITT, STEINHOFF, BOYKIN (House) - 2025-05-01: House Refuses to Recede, Grants Conference (House) - 2025-05-01: Taken Up - 2025-04-29: Taken Up - 2025-04-28: Reported to the Senate with... - HCS, as amended (House) - 2025-04-24: Third Read and Passed with Amendments - with House Amendment No. 1, House Amendment No. 2, House Amendment No. 3, House Amendment No. 4, House A mendment No.5, House Amendment No. 6, House Amendment No. 7, House Amendment No. 8, House Amendment No. 9, House Amendment No. 10, House Amendment No. 11, House Amendment No. 12, and House Amendment No. 13. (House) - 2025-04-24: HCS Adopted (House) - 2025-04-24: Title of Bill - Agreed To - 2025-04-24: Taken Up for Third Reading (House) - 2025-04-24: Reported Do Pass - AYES: 8 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0 (House) - 2025-04-24: Voted Do Pass (House) - 2025-04-24: Executive Session Completed (House) - 2025-04-22: Referred: Fiscal Review (House) - 2025-04-17: Reported Do Pass - AYES: 10 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0 (House) - 2025-04-17: Voted Do Pass (House) - 2025-04-17: Executive Session Completed (House) - 2025-04-07: Referred: Rules - Legislative (House) - 2025-04-03: HCS Reported Do Pass - AYES: 16 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0 (House) - 2025-04-02: HCS Voted Do Pass (House) - 2025-04-02: Executive Session Completed (House) - 2025-03-26: Public Hearing Completed (House) - 2025-03-19: Referred: Elementary and Secondary Education (House) - 2025-02-28: Read Second Time (House) - 2025-02-27: Reported to the House and First Read (House) ## Bill text - Committee Substitute: [PDF](https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills251/hlrbillspdf/0999H.11C.pdf) ## Related bills - HB3: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (signed) - HB8: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Public Safety and the Department of National Guard (signed) - HB11: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Social Services (signed) - HB10: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Health and Senior Services, and t… (signed) - SB79: Modifies provisions relating to health care (signed) - SB271: Modifies provisions relating to emergency services (signed) ## Sources - [Committee Substitute (PDF)](https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills251/hlrbillspdf/0999H.11C.pdf) ## Related - [HB3: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-HB3-2025) - [HB8: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-HB8-2025) - [HB11: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-HB11-2025) - [HB10: Appropriates money for the expenses, grants, refunds, and distributions of the…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-HB10-2025) - [SB79: Modifies provisions relating to health care](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-SB79-2025) - [SB271: Modifies provisions relating to emergency services](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-SB271-2025) - [Missouri bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/missouri/bills) - [Missouri state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/missouri) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MO-SB68-2025 (as of 2026-10-17).