A bill which would establish four adult high schools in Missouri, including one in Boone County, has been passed by a Missouri Senate committee.
The Senate Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to pass House Bill 680, which now advances to the full Senate for debate.
The legislation would give adults without a high school diploma the new opportunity to earn one, or to receive certain industry certifications.
Schools would be created in four different areas of the state. These areas are currently St. Louis City, Butler County, Greene County and Boone County.
Students would be able to obtain a high school diploma if they had never been to school before or if they had, but never completed their coursework. The schools would allow students to work at their own pace and would also provide on-site child care.
Republican Rep. Travis Fitzwater is the bill’s sponsor.
“What we have in Missouri is 500,000 adults who do not have a high school diploma,” he said. “A GED just doesn’t cut it for employers. What we want to do is provide a high school diploma, which looks so much better on a resume.”
Of those 500,000 adults without high school diplomas, 350,000 of them are on public assistance programs such as food stamps, according to Fitzwater.
“These degrees also increase an individual’s earning potential,” said Fitzwater. “These high schools provide a way for people to move through these public assistance programs.”
The bill requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to grant a license to a Missouri-based nonprofit organization, which will be in charge of building and funding the four schools.
The license will be granted by a bid process. According to the bill, bids will have to commit a minimum of $2 million to the project and will be required to demonstrate the ability to build the four schools within 21 months.
Organizations such as the Alliance for Childhood Education and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce testified in favor of the bill during the Senate committee debate.
Tracy King, Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the Missouri Chamber, said the organization supported the bill because it would boost Missouri’s workforce.
“Helping these adults obtain their high school diploma is going to help improve their prospects of entering the state workforce and help filling the jobs that businesses are struggling to fill,” she said.
“There aren’t a lot of jobs out there that don’t require a high school diploma so they either end up unemployed or really underemployed,” said Tracy. “We have employers who have jobs, they just don’t have people to fill those jobs that have the soft skills or certificate training that’s needed. We’re hoping to see these adults, this untapped resource of 500,000 adults, go through the program, get their certification and walk out of their ready to work.”