SS HB 1678 -- MILITARY FAMILIES, TUITION GRANTS FOR VETERANS'
SURVIVORS, AND INTERSTATE COMPACT ON EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR
MILITARY CHILDREN

This bill changes the laws regarding members of the military and
their families.  In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Adds the chairman of the Missouri Veterans Commission as an
ex-officio member of the Missouri Military Preparedness and
Enhancement Commission and clarifies that the commission's duties
include developing policies and methods to improve the prosperity
and employment opportunities of retired military members and the
families of former military members;

(2)  Specifies that the chair of the Missouri Military
Preparedness and Enhancement Commission will be an ex-officio
member of the Missouri Veterans Commission and the enhancement
commission must help all veterans who are legal residents of
Missouri;

(3)  Allows a military dependent who has completed an accredited
prekindergarten program or completed or attended a kindergarten
program in another state to enter kindergarten or first grade
even if the child has not reached the required age for Missouri
schools by August 1;

(4)  Authorizes the State Board of Education to develop
recommendations regarding alternate assessments for military
dependents who relocate to Missouri during the school year;

(5)  Authorizes Missouri to enter into the Interstate Compact on
Educational Opportunity for Military Children and establishes the
Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military
Children.  The compact becomes effective upon its adoption by 10
states.  Military children include kindergarten through
twelfth-grade children of active duty members of the armed
services including the National Guard and the reserve, as well as
the children of members who die while on active duty, retire, or
are medically discharged for a period of one year afterward.  The
compact covers issues including facilitation of enrollment, both
in classes and extracurricular activities; placement; graduation;
and information-sharing.  The commission is made up of one voting
member from each participating state.  The duties of the
commission include dispute resolution between member states,
enforcing the rules of the commission, and providing training and
other administrative functions.  The bill contains provisions for
the formation of the commission's executive committee, budget,
liability, and legal status;

(6)  Requires the state board to establish rules to allow the
issuance of a provisional teacher's certificate before the
completion of a background check to the spouse of a military
member who holds a teacher's certificate in another state that
requires a background check and who has relocated within the last
year;

(7)  Allows school districts to accept a course in government
completed in another state when a student transfers to a Missouri
high school in ninth to twelfth grade to satisfy the state's
graduation requirement;

(8)  Allows the spouse and children of a soldier who after
September 11, 2001, was killed or died of an illness while
serving in action or became 80% disabled from an injury sustained
in combat action and was a Missouri citizen at the time of
enlistment and when the death or injury occurred to receive an
educational grant for tuition at a public or private college or
university in Missouri.  The Coordinating Board of Higher
Education within the Department of Higher Education will award up
to 25 grants annually.  If the waiting list of eligible survivors
exceeds 50, the board can ask the General Assembly to increase
the number of grants it is authorized to award.  The tuition
grant cannot exceed what is charged for a resident by the
University of Missouri-Columbia.  In addition to the full cost of
tuition, the grant includes $2,000 per semester for room and
board and the actual cost of books up to $500 per semester.
Children are eligible to receive the scholarship until age 25.
Spouses are eligible until age 45.  No eligible student will
receive a grant for more than 100% of the tuition costs when
combined with other similar funds given to the student.  An
institution is allowed to report to the board the amount of
tuition waived in the previous fiscal year and include that data
in its request for appropriations for the following year;

(9)  Establishes the Missouri Returning Heroes' Education Act
which requires all public higher education institutions which
receive state funds appropriated by the General Assembly to limit
the tuition charged to combat veterans for undergraduate studies
to $50 per credit hour.  To qualify, a veteran must have been a
Missouri resident when first entering the military, must have
honorably served in armed combat after September 11, 2001, and
must maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
Eligibility for the reduced tuition will expire 10 years from the
date of the veteran's discharge.  The veteran and the institution
must report to the Coordinating Board of Higher Education any
other eligible financial assistance, and the veteran cannot
receive more than the actual cost of attendance from all
assistance.  An institution is allowed to report to the board the
amount of tuition waived in the previous fiscal year and include
that data in its request for appropriations for the following
year;

(10)  Specifies that a person's absence, relocation, or failure
to comply with custody and visitation due to military service and
out-of-state deployment, by itself, is not sufficient to justify
a modification of a child custody or visitation order; and

(11)  Renames the Guard at Home Program to the Hero at Home
Program and expands the program to cover the first year after
discharge from deployment, to cover reservists, and to cover
situations in which an individual cannot return to his or her
previous employment.

The provisions of the bill regarding tuition grants will expire
six years from the effective date.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated October 15, 2008 at 3:10 pm