EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 823
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR WASHINGTON.
2924S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal section 178.530, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to
agricultural education.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 178.530, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 178.530, 2
to read as follows:3
178.530. 1. The state board of education shall 1
establish standards and annually inspect, as a basis for 2
approval, all public prevocational, vocational schools, 3
State Technical College of Missouri, departments and classes 4
receiving state or federal moneys for giving training in 5
agriculture, industrial, home economics and commercial 6
subjects and all schools, departments and classes receiving 7
state or federal moneys for the preparation of teachers and 8
supervisors of such subjects. The public prevocational and 9
vocational schools, State Technical College of Missouri, 10
departments, and classes, and the training schools, 11
departments and classes are entitled to the state or federal 12
moneys so long as they are approved by the state board of 13
education, as to site, plant, equipment , qualifications of 14
teachers, admission of pupils, courses of study and methods 15
of instruction. All disbursements of state or federal 16
moneys for the benefit of the approved prevocational and 17
vocational schools, State Technical College of Missouri, 18 SB 823 2
departments and classes shall be made semiannually. The 19
school board of each approved school or the governing body 20
of State Technical College of Missouri shall file a report 21
with the state board of education at the times and in the 22
form that the state b oard requires. Upon receipt of a 23
satisfactory report, the state board of education shall 24
certify to the commissioner of administration for his 25
approval the amount of the state and federal moneys due the 26
school district or State Technical College of Mi ssouri. The 27
amount due the school district shall be certified by the 28
commissioner of administration and proper warrant therefor 29
shall be issued to the district treasurer or State Technical 30
College of Missouri. 31
2. Notwithstanding the provisions o f subsection 1 of 32
this section, the state board of education shall establish 33
standards for agricultural education that may be adopted by 34
a private school accredited by an agency recognized by the 35
United States Department of Education as an accreditor o f 36
private schools that wishes to provide quality vocational 37
programming outside the requirements of, but consistent 38
with, the federal Vocational Education Act. Such standards 39
shall be sufficient to qualify a private school to apply to 40
the state chapter for approval of a local chapter of a 41
federally chartered national agricultural education 42
association on a form developed for that purpose by the 43
department of elementary and secondary education without 44
eligibility to receive state or federal funding for 45
agricultural vocational education. The provisions of this 46
subsection shall not be construed to create eligibility for 47
a private school to receive state or federal funding for 48
agricultural vocational education, but shall not prohibit a 49
private school from receiving state or federal funds for 50 SB 823 3
which such private school would otherwise be eligible for 51
agricultural vocational education. Any such private school 52
shall reimburse the department annually for the cost of 53
oversight and maintenance of th e program. 54
3. (1) The department of elementary and secondary 55
education, through its agricultural education section, shall 56
be authorized to establish a pilot program, beginning in the 57
2020-21 school year and ending on June thirtieth of the 2025 - 58
26 school year, to provide for agricultural education in 59
elementary schools in the state. [The purpose of the pilot 60
program shall be to determine whether and how to implement 61
an elementary agricultural education program statewide ] For 62
the 2026-27 school year and all subsequent school years, the 63
pilot program established in this subsection shall become a 64
program implemented in all elementary schools in the state . 65
(2) [The department, through its employees who work in 66
the agricultural education s ection, is authorized to select 67
from among applications submitted by the public elementary 68
schools a minimum of sixteen public elementary schools for 69
participation in the pilot program. The department shall 70
develop an application process for public el ementary schools 71
to apply to participate in the pilot program. The local 72
school board for each elementary school selected to be in 73
the pilot program shall agree to implement and fully fund an 74
elementary agricultural education program in such school an d 75
to continue to provide such elementary agricultural 76
education program for a period no shorter than three years. 77
The local school district may employ an agricultural 78
education teacher to provide such program for the elementary 79
school. 80
(3) The department, through its employees who work in 81
the agricultural education section, and local school 82 SB 823 4
districts shall collaborate to establish the instructional 83
model for each elementary agricultural education program. 84
Such instructional model shall be g rade-appropriate and 85
include instruction in an organized classroom, collaborative 86
learning experiences through investigation and inquiry, 87
including laboratory and site -based learning activities, and 88
personal, leadership, and career development opportun ities. 89
(4) The department, through its agricultural education 90
section, shall provide for a program evaluation regarding 91
the success and impact of the pilot program upon completion 92
of the third year of the pilot program and shall report the 93
results of such evaluation to the relevant house and senate 94
committees on agriculture and education. 95
4.] The department shall maintain an adequate number 96
of full-time employees, certified in agricultural education 97
and distributed regionally throughout t he state, to provide 98
accountability for program delivery of agricultural 99
education, to continue to develop and maintain pertinent 100
agricultural education instructional models and standards, 101
to assist local school districts on matters related to 102
agricultural education, and to coordinate regional and 103
statewide activities supporting K -12 agricultural education 104
programming. 105
[5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to 106
require public elementary schools to participate in the 107
pilot program.] 108
(3) The requirements of section 160.514 shall not 109
apply to this subsection. 110