Missouri legislators want to influence what’s happening in classrooms throughout the state — and make sure they stay staffed with teachers.
As the Missouri General Assembly launches its 2025 legislative session, lawmakers have filed more than 100 bills on education.
Some push schools to teach cursive writing, media literacy or driver education. Others are looking for ways to make a teaching career more appealing with grants, benefits and tax deductions.
Each bill faces a long road before it could potentially clear both the House and Senate and be signed into law by Gov. Mike Kehoe.
If you want to weigh in on which of these bills should advance or how they should change, contact your representatives or refer to this guide to navigating the General Assembly.
Cellphones in class
Lawmakers across the aisle want to crack down on students’ use of cellphones and other electronic devices in class.
Both House Bill 306, filed by Democratic Rep. Kathy Steinhoff of Columbia, and House Bill 408, filed by Republican Rep. Jamie Gragg of Ozark, would require every district to have a policy prohibiting cellphones, smart watches and similar devices during instruction time.
The bills allow for some exceptions, such as using a phone as part of a special education or health care plan.
Teacher pay and benefits
Missouri is showing gains in teacher retention and recruitment and recently increased the minimum teacher salary.
There’s legislation this year aimed at boosting teachers’ pay and benefits, but it tends to be less sweeping than raising minimum pay across the board.
In House Bill 264, Rep. John Black, a Republican from Marshfield, wants to make public employees, including teachers, eligible for payments for exceptional achievement or to encourage retention.
House Bill 444, sponsored by Steinhoff, would create a teacher grant program offering up to $2,000 for teachers who renew their contracts before June 1 and up to $4,000 for extra duties such as coaching or student support.
Other bills adjust teachers’ retirement benefits.
House Bill 329 would make it possible to raise the cap on how much retirement payments can increase over time to account for higher cost of living. It’s sponsored by Rep. Willard Haley, a Republican from Eldon.
Senate Bill 474, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern from southern Clay County, would bump up retirement payments for teachers with at least 33 years of service.
House Bill 597, sponsored by Rep. Aaron Crossley, an Independence Democrat, would increase the number of teachers some school districts could bring out of retirement for hard-to-fill positions. Those teachers could return to the classroom for up to four years without losing their retirement benefits.
Another bill would push school districts to gradually increase the amount they spend on teacher salaries compared to the amount they pay administrators.
Rep. Ben Keathley’s House Bill 341 would require that teachers receive at least 88% of the total amount spent on compensation for teachers and administrators by the 2026-27 school year. That would then increase by one percentage point each year until it reached 95%.
Keathley, a Republican from Chesterfield, defines an administrator as a person who does supervisory or administrative work such as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, director, principal, coordinator or administrative assistant.
Rep. Mark Matthiesen, a Republican from O’Fallon, wants to offer parental leave to school employees. Under House Bill 639, the leave would last 12 weeks and be available for any public school employee who has worked full time for more than a year when they have a biological child or adopt a child.
Sponsored by Republican Sen. Lincoln Hough from the Springfield area, Senate Bill 12 would give educators a tax deduction of up to $500 for money they spend on professional development or classroom supplies.
Special education
House Bill 477, sponsored by Republican Rep. Philip Oehlerking of Ballwin, gives parents more oversight over their children’s individualized education programs, which are often used to provide extra services to students with disabilities.
The proposal would require parents to sign off on the plans or any changes to them — including removal of certain services — before they could be implemented. Schools can move ahead with the plans without parental consent if the parents refuse to meet at all or if the school submits a due process complaint and gets approval.
House Bill 656, filed by Republican Rep. Tricia Byrnes of Wentzville, is similar.
Curriculum and subjects
Lawmakers once again have ideas about how schools should change what they teach.
Several have renewed a push for students to learn cursive writing in school.
House Bill 346, sponsored by Republican Rep. Renee Reuter of Imperial, requires cursive instruction and testing by the end of fifth grade. So does House Bill 375, sponsored by Republican Rep. Peggy McGaugh of Carrollton.
Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican who represents part of the Springfield area, has a similar proposal. But his Senate Bill 429 says that schools may teach cursive, not that they’re required to.
Rep. Jim Murphy, a Republican from St. Louis County, wants the state’s education department to establish a pilot program to teach media literacy. House Bill 116 defines media literacy as the ability to access and engage with all types of media, recognize bias and stereotypes and use the internet safely.
House Bill 248, sponsored by Republican Rep. Rodger Reedy of Windsor, requires schools to add driver education to required high school health classes. The proposal doesn’t require that students get behind the wheel of a vehicle but says they should be taught about topics such as safety, how to get a driver’s license and how to interact with law enforcement.
Students would be required to learn about pregnancy and fetal development starting by third grade, and to watch a specific short video produced by an anti-abortion group, under House Bill 461. The proposal is sponsored by Republican Rep. Mazzie Christensen of Bethany.
