SB 727 & HB 2287 - Governor Signed

SB 727 & HB 2287 - Governor Signed
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 by Kim Quon

Governor Signed SB 727 & HB 2287 on May 7, 2024

You may have heard, but the Governor did sign SB 727 and HB 2287 into law, and they will become effective on August 28, 2024. What does that mean to you as a traditional homeschooler? Not much really. You will continue to home educate your children as you always have.

1.Our homeschool definition and records/hours will be moved to a new RSMo Statute, 167.012, which helps to separate us from the other types of schools, including the new FPE schools. Other parts such as the compulsory age of 7-17 and the year of July 1 to June 30 will remain in RSMo Statute 167.031.

2.The issue with the gun rights have been strengthened in the law and should no longer be a concern.

3.A traditional home school cannot be an FPE school. FPE schools have been set up with a new school designation, RSMo 167.013, just like public, private, and home schools and will be allowed to accept MOScholars money from the scholarship program. While their rules in their statute mirror a traditional home school for NOW, they will also have to adhere to all the additional rules and regulations of the program.

4. ONE CHANGE: The one minor change we will have is with a little word, "and". Our law has always listed the 5 required subjects as "reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, AND science" meaning all 5 needed to be taught each year where record keeping and hours were required. However, that little word has been removed. So, while all subjects are very important, you don't have to teach each one every year. For a perfect example, middle and high schoolers, until age 16, still need Reading AND Language Arts. Now, you would be able to combine them into one subject and not worry about trying to separate them out.

Our infographic below has been updated.