School Board Member Orientation and Training

PURPOSE: This rule establishes guidelines and requirements for school board member orientation and training as provided in section 160.530, RSMo and as required in section 162.203, RSMo. (1) The State Board of Education may expend funds as provided in section 160.530, RSMo, for the benefit of members of boards of education. (A) Training in areas deemed important for effective board members should include— 1. Issues of policy including purpose, development, adoption, and maintenance of policies, procedures, regulations, and rules; 2. Relationships between board members and with constituents, including but not limited to the superintendent, staff, parents/guardians, patrons, media, and other governmental entities; AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 3. Long-range and annual planning including developing a vision, mission, and evaluation of progress toward goals; 4. Approval of a budget sufficient to ensure funding to meet district goals; 5. General procedures including topics such as ethics, Missouri’s open meetings and records law, parliamentary procedure, duties of officers, agenda setting, and participatory decision making; 6. Information related to student learning and performance measures; 7. Information about state and federal laws governing public schools; 8. Information about preventing the sexual abuse of children; and 9. Information about emergency preparedness, safety, and security of schools. (2) Board members shall successfully complete orientation and must comply with training requirements outlined in section 162.203, RSMo, within one (1) year of the date of the election or appointment. (3) Board members must annually complete a minimum of one (1) hour of refresher training consistent with section 162.203, RSMo. (4) The board member orientation and training shall be offered by a statewide association organized for the benefit of members of boards of education or be approved annually by the State Board of Education. All providers must provide the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (department) sufficient documentation regarding program content. (5) All providers must provide documentation of board members’ successful completion of content as determined by the department. (6) Board members who fail to successfully complete any component of the eighteen and one-half (18.5) hours of orientation and training shall retake the component that was not successfully completed at the earliest available training session and at no additional cost to the district. (7) The State Board of Education may consider a district’s failure to complete required annual orientation and training for board members when classifying a school district. AUTHORITY: sections 160.530 and 162.203, RSMo Supp. 2022, and section 161.092, RSMo 2016.* This rule previously filed as 5 CSR 80850.060 and 5 CSR 20-400.400. Original rule filed Nov. 30, 1993, effective July 10, 1994. Moved to 5 CSR 20-400.400, effective Aug. 16, 2011. Moved and amended to 5 CSR 20-100.340: Filed Dec. 27, 2022, effective July 30, 2023. *Original authority: 160.530, RSMo 1993, amended 2002, 2005, 2008, 2015, 2018; 161.092, RSMo 1963, amended 1973, 2002, 2003, 2013, 2014; and 162.203, RSMo 1993, amended 2019.