The place of religion in public schools. Whether partisan politics belong in school board elections. What students should hear about race, gender identity and sexuality.
Expect all of those topics — and many more — to shape K-12 education discussions during the 2025 session of the Missouri General Assembly.
The Beacon has already covered higher education bills to watch, “school choice” bills and proposals on teaching and learning now before state lawmakers.
But there are dozens more education bills Missourians may want to follow as they make their way through the legislature, or stall for lack of support.
To become law, these proposals have to clear the Missouri House and Senate and be signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe, unless they have enough support to override a veto.
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.
Religion in school
A handful of Republican-sponsored bills could insert religion into public schools.
House Bill 34, sponsored by Rep. Hardy Billington of Poplar Bluff, would require public school districts and charter schools to display the Ten Commandments in every building and classroom. Senate Bill 594, sponsored by Sen. Jamie Burger of Benton, does the same.
Both bills say school districts can spend public money on the displays but can also have them donated, or use donated money to purchase them.
They specify the exact text that should be used, a shortened version of the biblical passage that doesn’t number the commandments. Religious traditions disagree on how they should be numbered.
Another pair of bills would let paid or volunteer chaplains into public schools.
Senate Bills 49 and 118 say the chaplains would have to complete background checks but wouldn’t have to be certified teachers. Each school district and charter school could make its own policy on whether to add chaplains. The proposals are sponsored by Sen. Rusty Black of Chillicothe and Sen. Mike Moon of Ash Grove, respectively.
Both say chaplains could provide “support, services, or programs for students.” The proposals don’t provide any other detail on what chaplains would do or who is a qualified chaplain.
Another education bill that touches on religion is Senate Bill 323, sponsored by Sen. Jill Carter of the Joplin area.
The proposal would establish a grant program for schools that want to offer “classical education.”
As described in the bill, classical education encompasses skill development through the liberal arts — things like grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, music and astronomy — and knowledge development through the sciences.
The bill says those sciences historically included human sciences like literature and philosophy, natural sciences like biology and chemistry and theological science like dogma, ethics and apologetics — how to make intellectual arguments in defense of religious belief.
The proposal doesn’t clarify whether theological sciences would be a part of a modern classical education or how they could be incorporated into a public school without violating separation of church and state.
Public schools can teach about religion, and Missouri law now emphasizes that courses on the Bible are allowed. But they can only do so from an objective, academic perspective that isn’t devotional or biased toward particular beliefs.
Even good-faith efforts to teach that way can go wrong if teachers aren’t well-trained, experts told The Beacon when the law on Bible classes was approved.
Elections and voting
Some lawmakers want to tweak how schools get involved with electoral politics, from facilitating student voting to making school board elections partisan.
House Bill 102, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Anthony Ealy of Grandview, would let students who are eligible to vote take up to three hours away from school to do so on Election Day.
A Republican-sponsored bill, House Bill 556, goes further by making general and municipal election days school holidays. It’s proposed by Rep. Jamie Gragg of Ozark.
House Bill 308, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Democrat from Columbia, echoes Ealy’s bill. It would also expand voter ID options to include unexpired student IDs.
Senate Bill 344, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Barbara Washington of Kansas City, would also let students out of school if they’re accompanying a parent who is voting. When they return, the bill says, school officials should encourage them to wear a badge or sticker.
Another bill from Washington, Senate Bill 375, says schools should give older students the chance to register to vote at least twice a year.
Rep. Richard West, a Republican from Wentzville, is proposing sweeping changes to school board elections. His House Bill 539 would require school board members to declare a party or file as independent. Currently, school board elections are nonpartisan.
It would also move school board elections to the November general election, make nearly all terms two years long and introduce term limits of eight total years on the board.
A proposal from Republican Sen. Nick Schroer of St. Charles County would also move school board elections to November. Senate Bill 485 makes terms four years long.
Another proposal from Schroer, Senate Bill 574, gives school board members immunity from civil liability for their official actions.
A change to the Missouri Constitution could let teachers join the General Assembly.
Generally, no one employed by the U.S. government, Missouri or any municipality can be a state senator or representative. But there are a few exceptions including school board members, notaries public and members of the organized militia or reserve corps.
House Joint Resolution 34, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Mark Sharp of Kansas City, would add employees of school districts to the list of exceptions, allowing teachers to serve in the legislature.
If the legislature approves the resolution, voters would have the chance to accept or reject the change.
Race, gender and sexuality
Once again, bills seeking to manage what students learn about race, gender and sexuality — and how they treat students based on those characteristics — are a popular topic in the Missouri legislature.
Missouri has restricted transgender students from playing on sports teams that don’t match their gender assigned at birth, but that rule is set to expire in 2027. Some Republican-sponsored bills seek to make the rule permanent. They include:
- House Bill 36, sponsored by Billington.
- House Bill 113, sponsored by Rep. Brian Seitz of Branson.
- House Bill 624, sponsored by Rep. Bennie Cook of Houston.
- Senate Bill 595, sponsored by Burger.
House Bill 38, also sponsored by Billington, says public schools need written parental permission before using pronouns for students that don’t align with the sex on their birth certificates. School employers and contractors could still refrain from using a student’s preferred pronouns if it goes against their moral beliefs.
Senate Bill 117, sponsored by Moon, proposes similar rules about pronouns and says the school needs permission to call students by a name that isn’t derived from the one they’re registered under.
It prohibits school officials from encouraging students to “adopt a gender identity or sexual relationship” and says they must tell parents within 48 hours if a student expresses confusion or discomfort about their biological sex.
Some bills seek to restrict certain teachings about diversity.
Senate Bill 56 would prohibit public schools from making students and teachers learn about diversity, equity and inclusion such as training on antiracism, implicit bias and anything that promotes “differential treatment based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity, and sexual preference.” Sponsored by Republican Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Jefferson County, it says schools could still instruct employees on following anti-discrimination laws.
A lengthy proposal from Republican Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Senate Bill 115, would forbid schools from teaching The New York Times’ 1619 Project or what the bill terms “divisive concepts” about topics like race, sex, bias and oppression. It would also require public schools to post their instructional materials online.
The proposal creates a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” asserting the right to information about curriculum, teachers and contracts, the right to visit during school hours and the right to insist their children not be taught certain materials if the parent considers them inappropriate.
Proposals from some Democrats are focused on increasing Black history lessons in school and prohibiting discrimination against natural hairstyles.
House Bill 250, sponsored by Rep. LaKeySha Bosley of St. Louis, says any school receiving state aid can’t discriminate against certain hair textures or protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists.
House Bill 284 from Democratic Rep. Raychel Proudie of St. Louis County is similar, but notes schools can require hair to be covered or secured for health and safety reasons, such as in career and technical training courses. Washington — the senator from Kansas City — filed Senate Bill 38, which is similar to Proudie’s bill.
Bosley also filed House Bill 259, which would require students to take one unit each of Black history and Black literature before receiving a diploma. It instructs the State Board of Education to come up with standards and model curricula for the courses.
Senate Bill 132, filed by Sen. Angela Mosley of St. Louis County, would establish a commission on Black history, designate a Black History Week and require public schools to teach sixth grade students and older about Black history for a week of their choosing.
Another bill from Mosley, Senate Bill 209, includes a detailed list of topics and facts that students should learn about, most focusing on the mistreatment of Native and African Americans.
A bill from Kansas City representative Sharp, House Bill 649, would require all public schools to honor Black History Month with lessons and activities for at least one class period in February.
Sen. Brian Williams, a Democrat from St. Louis County, filed Senate Bill 21 to require the State Board of Education to develop a curriculum on dehumanization of marginalized groups in Missouri. The board would pilot the program with a smaller group of districts and then make it available statewide.
The course would include the story of Celia, an enslaved woman who was executed for defending herself against sexual abuse. Then-Gov. Mike Parson pardoned her posthumously.
