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Legislation
In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have. 
-- Lee Iacocca
Legislation
MSTA Action
Click on the PDF icon for a complete copy of the May 09, 2008 MSTA Action
Document(s) in pdf format. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat®.
| Budget heads to governor | Omnibus education bill still awaiting action | Committee examines DESE funds | Senate changes focus of student protection bill | Retirement bill awaits action by the House | Early-childhood rating system clears committee | Bill summaries |
Budget heads to governor
The budget for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education passed the General Assembly this week and awaits the governor’s signature with more than $127.7 million in new education funding.
In HB2002, legislators added more than $116 million to the foundation formula, $750,000 for St. Louis Public Schools transportation, $600,000 for virtual schools and $37.4 million for Career Ladder.
The bill includes increases of $3.5 million for the A+ Schools Program, $3 million for MAP testing, $2.9 million for special-education excess costs, and just over $1 million for First Steps. Vocational education, the Scholars and Fine Arts academies, Advanced Placement, and charter schools saw small increases this year.
The largest cut in this year’s budget was to eMINTS, which had a $1.9 million decrease.
The governor must sign the bill before July 1, 2008.
