HB 1539 -- Parent Empowerment and Choice Act

Sponsor:  Jones (89)

This bill establishes the Parent Empowerment and Choice Act or
the Parent Trigger Act which allows parents under certain
circumstances to invoke interventions for a struggling school.
If more than 50% of the parents whose children attend the school
or a combination of more than 50% of the parents of students
attending the school and the elementary or middle schools that
normally enroll in a middle or high school sign a petition asking
for an intervention, the local educational agency must implement
the intervention requested within 180 days.  The three school
intervention models include a restart model, school closure, and
educational choice.  A restart model converts a school or closes
and reopens it under a charter school operator or a charter or
educational management organization.  School closure occurs when
a local educational agency closes a school and the students are
enrolled in a higher-achieving district school in reasonable
proximity, which may include charter schools or new schools for
which achievement data are not available.  If no such school
exists, the district must implement the educational choice model,
which is a tax credit scholarship program.

Any student who attends or would normally enroll in a school
triggered for the educational choice option is considered an
eligible student for purposes of receiving an educational choice
tax credit scholarship.  A scholarship covers all or part of the
tuition and fees at a qualified public or nonpublic school,
including transportation to a public school outside of the
student's district of residence.  A scholarship is based on
donated funds which qualify, beginning in 2013, a taxpayer for
the tax credit of up to 50% of the taxpayer's tax liability, not
to exceed a credit of $300,000 for a corporation.  A cap of $10
million in a fiscal year is placed on the tax credit.  A tax
credit may be carried forward for three years.

A scholarship granting organization accepting donations must meet
the requirements of the bill, including demonstrating to the
department that it is exempt from federal income tax as a
501(c)(3) organization under the Internal Revenue Code and
ensuring that at least 90% of its revenue from donations is spent
on scholarships.  A scholarship granting organization must ensure
that a school accepting its scholarship students complies with
all health and safety codes, holds a valid occupancy permit if
required, certifies that it will not discriminate in admissions
on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or
disability, and will report regularly to the student's parents on
the student's academic progress.  A scholarship granting
organization that has paid staff, board members, or relatives of
staff or members, in common with a school cannot provide
scholarships to that school.  The organization must report its
total number and dollar amount of scholarships to the Department
of Economic Development by June 1 for the previous year.  The
department will provide a standardized format for a receipt of a
donation, which must accompany the taxpayer's tax return.  The
department is authorized to audit a scholarship granting
organization and may bar it from the program if it finds
intentional and substantial failure to comply.  If the department
bars an organization, it must notify the affected students and
their parents as quickly as possible.  The department must allow
a taxpayer to divert a prorated amount of state income tax
withholdings to a scholarship granting organization and must
develop a procedure to facilitate this process.

The provisions regarding the tax credit program will expire
December 31 six years after the effective date.

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated February 7, 2012 at 2:52 pm