Text of MO SB 728 (2024)

SECOND REGULAR SESSION SENATE BILL NO. 728 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTRODUCED BY SENATOR KOENIG. 3235S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary AN ACT To amend chapters 161 and 170, RSMo, by adding thereto three new sections relating to public elementary and secondary school students. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows: Section A. Chapters 161 and 170, RSMo, are amended by 1 adding thereto three new sections, to be known as sections 2 161.841, 170.385, and 170.386, to read as follows: 3 161.841. 1. This section shall be known and may be 1 cited as the "Parents' Bill of Rights Act of 2024". 2 2. (1) As used in this section, the term "parent" 3 means a parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in a 4 school. 5 (2) As used in this section, the term "school" or 6 "schools" shall mean a public school or school district as 7 such terms are defined in section 160.011, including a 8 charter school as defined in section 160.400 and any virtual 9 school or virtual provider authorized under the provisions 10 of section 161.670. 11 3. (1) This section shall be construed to empower 12 parents to enforce the following rights to access records 13 maintained by schools and the individual attendance centers 14 of such schools in which their children are enrolled in a 15 timely manner upon request as follows: 16 (a) The right to inspect materials provided to their 17 minor child within two business days upon request including, 18 but not limited to, curricula, books, materials, and other 19 SB 728 2 instructional materials, but excluding testing and 20 examination materials in accordance with section 610.021; 21 (b) The right to receive upon request the name of any 22 person who has taught their minor child including, but not 23 limited to, guest lecturers and outside presenters; 24 (c) The right to receive information about the names 25 of individuals and organizations receiving school contracts 26 and funding in the school in which their child is enrolled, 27 provided that no personally identifiable information about 28 any student is released; 29 (d) The right to inspect personally identifiable 30 education records, medical or otherwise, concerning their 31 minor child, in accordance with state and federal law, 32 provided that such disclosure does not violate privacy and 33 confidentiality rights; 34 (e) The right to access information about the 35 collection and transmission of their minor child's 36 personally identifiable education records, in accordance 37 with state and federal law; 38 (f) The right to know about records regarding 39 situations affecting their minor child's safety in school, 40 provided that such disclosure does not violate privacy and 41 confidentiality rights; and 42 (g) The right to receive information about any school- 43 sponsored event or activity provided that no personally 44 identifiable information about any student is released. 45 (2) Where the curricular materials being made 46 available to parents for review are proprietary, subject to 47 copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property 48 protection, the review process shall include technical and 49 procedural safeguards to ensure that the materials are not 50 able to be widely disseminated to the general public in 51 SB 728 3 violation of the intellectual property rights of the 52 publisher or any contractual agreements between the 53 publisher and the school, and that content validity is not 54 undermined. 55 4. No school shall require nondisclosure agreements or 56 similar forms for a parent's review of curricula. Each 57 school shall allow parents, within two business days upon 58 request, to review or to make a copy of nonproprietary 59 curriculum documents or to receive such documents in an 60 electronic format, provided that no request would violate 61 copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property 62 protection or cause an infringement of copyright protections 63 provided under the federal Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. 64 Sections 101, et seq.), as amended. If more than twenty 65 pages are being copied using the school's equipment, the 66 school may, at the school's discretion, charge the parent a 67 fee not to exceed ten cents per page for a paper copy not 68 larger than nine by fourteen inches, with the hourly fee for 69 duplicating time not to exceed the average hourly rate of 70 pay for clerical staff of the school. 71 5. (1) As used in this subsection, "biometric data" 72 means any information, regardless of how it is captured, 73 converted, stored, or shared, that is based on an 74 individual's biometric identifier and used to identify an 75 individual. 76 (2) No school shall collect any biometric data of a 77 minor child without obtaining written parental consent 78 before collecting such data, except for biometric data 79 necessary to create and issue appropriate school 80 identification cards. Any school that collects any 81 biometric data of a minor child under this subsection shall 82 ensure that all copies of such data are destroyed within one 83 SB 728 4 year of such student's withdrawal of participation in all 84 school activities. 85 6. Each school board meeting or charter school 86 governing board meeting approving curricula shall be held in 87 public in accordance with the Missouri sunshine law as set 88 forth in the provisions of chapter 610 and allow for public 89 comments. 90 7. (1) Each school district and public school shall 91 develop policies and procedures for such school district or 92 public school to follow to notify parents in a timely manner 93 of incidents pertaining to their student's safety including, 94 but not limited to, the following: 95 (a) Any act or instance reportable under subsection 1, 96 2, or 3 of section 167.117; 97 (b) All reported incidents directly pertaining to 98 their student's safety that result in any violation of the 99 school's safety policy; 100 (c) Any instance of a teacher or other school employee 101 being detained or arrested for or charged with any felony 102 that directly pertains to their student's safety, regardless 103 of whether the alleged offense took place on school premises 104 or off school premises; 105 (d) Any instance of a teacher or other school employee 106 being detained or arrested for or charged with any 107 misdemeanor that directly pertains to their student's 108 safety, regardless of whether the alleged offense took place 109 on school premises or off school premises; and 110 (e) Any instance of a guest or visitor to the school 111 being detained or arrested for or charged with felony or 112 misdemeanor charges, provided that the alleged offense 113 occurred on school premises and directly pertains to their 114 student's safety. 115 SB 728 5 (2) No personally identifiable information about any 116 individual involved in reports made under subdivision (1) of 117 this subsection shall be released. 118 8. No school shall provide any school records as 119 described in this section in violation of any relevant state 120 or federal law or policy protecting or limiting access to 121 such school records. Nothing in this section shall be 122 construed to violate any provision of chapter 610 or other 123 provisions of law regarding records that are protected from 124 disclosure. 125 170.385. 1. No nurse, counselor, teacher, principal, 1 contracted personnel, or other administrative official at a 2 public elementary or secondary school or public charter 3 school shall encourage a student under the age of eighteen 4 years old to adopt a gender identity or sexual orientation. 5 2. As used in this section, the following terms shall 6 mean: 7 (1) "Gender identity", the preconceived notion of 8 someone's psychological, behavioral, social, and cultural 9 aspects of being a biological male or biological female. 10 For the purposes of this section, a biological male shall be 11 someone with the biological indicators of a male in the 12 context of reproductive potential or capacity, such as the 13 presence of a Y chromosome, naturally occurring sex 14 hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous external genitalia 15 present at birth. A biological female shall be someone with 16 the biological indicators of a female in the context of 17 reproductive potential or capacity, such as the absence of a 18 Y chromosome, naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and 19 nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at 20 birth; 21 SB 728 6 (2) "Sexual orientation", one's actual or perceived 22 emotional or physical attraction to, or romantic or physical 23 relationships with, members of the same gender, members of a 24 different gender, or members of any gender; or the lack of 25 any emotional or physical attraction to, or romantic or 26 physical relationships with, anyone. 27 170.386. 1. For the purposes of this section, the 1 following terms shall mean: 2 (1) "Documented identity", a student's registered 3 gender or sex as confirmed by the student's parent when 4 enrolling the student in a school. If a student's parent 5 does not register such student's gender or sex when 6 enrolling the student in a school, such student's documented 7 identity shall be the student's biological sex as correctly 8 stated on the student's official birth certificate as 9 described in subsection 11 of this section or, if the 10 student's official birth certificate is unobtainable, 11 another government record; 12 (2) "Parent", the parent or legal guardian of a 13 student; 14 (3) "Personal pronouns", pronouns used to refer to 15 persons. Female personal pronouns are "she", "her", or 16 "hers", and male personal pronouns are "he", "him", or "his"; 17 (4) "School", any public elementary or secondary 18 school or public charter school; 19 (5) "School official", any school official at a public 20 elementary or secondary school or public charter school, 21 including nurses, counselors, teachers, principals, and 22 other contracted personnel; 23 (6) "Student", any person who attends a public 24 elementary or secondary school or public charter school; 25 SB 728 7 (7) "Teacher", any person who is duly certified under 26 the laws governing the certification of teachers, including 27 but not limited to any classroom teacher, school counselor, 28 substitute teacher, supervisor, principal, supervising 29 principal, superintendent, or assistant superintendent. 30 2. If a student approaches a school official to 31 express discomfort or confusion about the student's 32 documented identity, the school official shall notify the 33 student's parent of the discussion within twenty-four hours. 34 3. If a student asks a school official to refer to the 35 student using personal pronouns that are associated with a 36 gender other than the student's documented identity, the 37 school official shall notify the student's parent of the 38 discussion within twenty-four hours. 39 4. A school official shall not allow a student to use 40 a name in class other than the name provided by the 41 student's parent when registering the student without first 42 obtaining written permission from the student's parent. 43 5. A school official shall not encourage a student to 44 wear or not wear any particular item of clothing without 45 first obtaining written permission from the student's 46 parent, unless such clothing is necessary to enforce the 47 school dress code; participate in school sports, clubs, or 48 extracurricular activities; or to ensure a student's 49 physical safety. 50 6. A school official shall not encourage a student to 51 pursue gender reassignment therapy or any medical or 52 surgical service that seeks to surgically alter or remove 53 healthy physical or anatomical characteristics or features 54 that are typical for the individual's biological sex in 55 order to instill or create physiological or anatomical 56 characteristics that resemble a sex different from the 57 SB 728 8 individual's biological sex, including, but not limited to, 58 genital or nongenital gender reassignment surgery performed 59 for the purpose of assisting an individual with a gender 60 transition. 61 7. Any public school employee who discloses a 62 violation of this section by a school official shall be 63 protected from any manner of retaliation as set forth in 64 section 105.055. 65 8. (1) If a school district discovers that a teacher 66 has knowingly violated any provision of this section, the 67 district shall file charges seeking to suspend or revoke the 68 teacher's license to teach based upon charges of 69 incompetence, immorality, or neglect of duty, pursuant to 70 the provisions of section 168.071. 71 (2) The state board of education shall promptly 72 investigate any claim from a parent of a public school 73 student that a teacher of such student has knowingly 74 violated any provision of this section in relation to such 75 student. If the state board of education finds that such 76 claim is valid, the state board of education shall, upon 77 hearing, suspend or revoke such teacher's license to teach 78 based upon charges of incompetence, immorality, or neglect 79 of duty, pursuant to the provisions of section 168.071. 80 (3) The board of nursing shall promptly investigate 81 any claim from a parent that a school nurse has knowingly 82 violated any provision of this section in relation to such 83 parent's student. If the board finds that such claim is 84 valid, the board shall cause a complaint to be filed against 85 such school nurse with the administrative hearing commission 86 as provided by chapter 621 on grounds of unethical or 87 unprofessional conduct involving a minor, pursuant to the 88 provisions of section 335.066. 89 SB 728 9 (4) If a school discovers that any other school 90 official has knowingly violated any provision of this 91 section, the school shall, upon proof or conviction of such 92 violation, terminate the employment of such official on 93 grounds of gross misconduct, and the official shall be 94 ineligible to work in any school for a period of four years. 95 9. The attorney general may bring a civil action, 96 including an action for injunctive relief, against a school 97 district or school for any violation of this section. Such 98 action shall be brought in the county where the violation 99 occurred. 100 10. Any parent of a minor child may bring a civil 101 action, including an action for injunctive relief or for 102 damages, against the school district or public school in 103 which their child is enrolled for any violation of this 104 section which causes harm to their child. Such action shall 105 be brought in the county where the violation occurred. If 106 the parent prevails, the court shall award to such parent 107 court costs and reasonable attorney's fees and any other 108 damages or remedy which in the judgment of the court shall 109 be appropriate. 110 11. For purposes of this section, a statement of a 111 student's biological sex on the student's official birth 112 certificate or another government record shall be deemed to 113 have correctly stated the student's biological sex only if 114 the statement was: 115 (1) Entered at or near the time of the student's 116 birth; or 117 (2) Modified to correct any scrivener's error in the 118 student's biological sex. 119 