Summary of the Truly Agreed Version of the Bill

SCS HCS HB 1042 -- HIGHER EDUCATION

This bill changes the laws regarding higher education. In its

main provisions, the bill:

(1) Requires the Coordinating Board for Higher Education within

the Department of Higher Education to require all two- and four-year public higher education institutions to replicate best

practices in remediation identified by the board and other

institutions and organizations with expertise in the subject to

identify and reduce methods that have been found to be

ineffective in preparing or retaining students or which delay

students from enrollment in college-level courses;

(2) Requires the board with the assistance of the Committee on

Transfer and Articulation to require all two- and four-year

public higher education institutions to create by July 1, 2014, a

statewide core transfer library of at least 25 lower division

courses that are transferable among all public higher education

institutions;

(3) Requires the board to develop a policy to foster reverse

transfer so that any student who has accumulated sufficient hours

in combination from more than one public institution that grants

an associate degree to be awarded an associate degree. The

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must maintain

the alignment of the statewide assessments for entry-level

courses in English, mathematics, foreign language, sciences, and

social sciences associated with an institution’s general

education core with previously established competencies;

(4) Allows the board to charge and collect fees from an out-of-state public institution for the cost of reviewing and assuring

the quality of programs it offers;

(5) Requires the board to include in its annual report to the

Governor and General Assembly campus-level data on student

persistence and progress toward implementing revised remediation,

transfer, and retention practices;

(6) Changes the laws regarding the board’s responsibility for

proprietary schools to:

(a) Allow a proprietary school that has been in continuous

operation for at least five years to apply to the board for a two-year certificate of approval;

(b) Allow the board to increase the base fee charged for an

annual certificate of approval from one-tenth of a cent to

thirteen one-hundredths of a cent per $1 of net tuition and fees income with a maximum fee of $5,000 and a minimum fee of $500 per

school. Currently, the minimum fee is $250 with a maximum of

$2,500. The fee for a certificate of approval for a school with

the sole purpose of recruiting students in Missouri is raised

from $250 to $500 plus the amount produced by the foundation

calculation, with a maximum of $5,000. The board may increase

the base annual fee and the minimum and maximum amounts by

administrative rule every five years, beginning in Fiscal Year

2013, to no more than the federal Consumer Price Index since the

last fee increase; and

(c) Allow the board to establish, with the advice of the

Proprietary School Advisory Committee, additional appropriate

fees through administrative rule for generating sufficient

funding to cover the costs associated with the certification

program;

(7) Creates the Proprietary School Certification Fund for the

deposit of all fees regarding proprietary schools to fund the

costs associated with the operation of the program;

(8) Increases, from $25,000 to $100,000, the maximum amount of

the security bond that the board may require a proprietary school

to file;

(9) Requires the department to collect only that data necessary

to administer, supervise, and enforce the provisions of the

proprietary school program and, subject to appropriations, to

provide a system for the electronic submission of all data;

(10) Allows the board to review a new program proposal within 90

days from the date that a certified school submits the proposal

and within 60 days from the submission of a revised program. If

the review has not occurred in that period, the program may be

offered until the department completes its review and identifies

a substantive issue for correction. The department must notify

the school within an additional 90 days, and the school will have

90 days after notification of the deficiency to correct the

deficiency without having to cease offering the program;

(11) Changes the responsibility for the appointment of the

members of the Proprietary School Advisory Committee from the

board to the Commissioner of Higher Education within the

department, clarifies who may be appointed, and requires that at

least three of the seven members of the committee represent

degree-granting schools and at least one of the three represents

a school that confers a bachelor’s degree or higher;

(12) Allows the department to take action against any violation

of the proprietary school laws that is authorized in Section 407.020, RSMo, relating to unlawful merchandising practices;

(13) Specifies that not more than two voting members of the

Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents may be

residents of the same county; and

(14) Revises the term lengths for the appointments to fill six

terms on the Missouri State University Board of Governors that

expired in 2011 so that the term of no more than three board

members will expire in any given year. The term of three members

will expire on January 1, 2013, three on January 1, 2015, and

three on January 1, 2017. Current law requires that no more than

three terms expire in any given year but does not provide for the

staggered term lengths necessary to accomplish this.

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