Mo. Rev. Stat. § 167.020 — MO Code / Chapter 167 / Section 167.020
167.020 Registration requirements — definitions — residency — hardship waiver — ...
Status: in_force

167.020. Registration requirements — definitions — residency — hardship waiver — recovery of costs, when — records to be requested, provided, when — military relocation, remote registration permitted. — 1. As used in this section and in section 167.022 , the following terms mean:

(1) "Behavioral threat assessment" , records associated with an evaluation of a student who has shown or demonstrated:

(a) Homicidal or suicidal ideation;

(b) Planning an attack on a school, other students, faculty, staff, or administration; or

(c) Behavior that puts students, faculty, staff, or administration at risk for harm;

(2) "Homeless child" or "homeless youth" , a person less than twenty-one years of age who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, including a child or youth who:

(a) Is sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; is living in motels, hotels, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations; is living in emergency or transitional shelters; is abandoned in hospitals; or is awaiting foster care placement;

(b) Has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

(c) Is living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

(d) Is a migratory child or youth who qualifies as homeless because the child or youth is living in circumstances described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this subdivision;

(3) "Personal safety plan" , an agreement based upon the findings of the behavioral threat assessment record between the school and the students' parents or guardians, or between the school and the student if the student is emancipated or an unaccompanied youth as defined in section 210.121 , that:

(a) Stipulates rules for attendance at the school;

(b) Provides benchmarks that allow for the student to be released from the personal safety plan over time; and

(c) Provides immediate access to a trusted adult for the student with the personal safety plan.

2. In order to register a pupil, the parent or legal guardian of the pupil or the pupil himself or herself shall provide, at the time of registration, one of the following:

(1) Proof of residency in the district. Except as otherwise provided in section 167.151 , the term "residency" shall mean that a person both physically resides within a school district and is domiciled within that district or, in the case of a private school student suspected of having a disability under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. Section 1411 et seq., as amended, that the student attends private school within that district. The domicile of a minor child shall be the domicile of a parent, military guardian pursuant to a military-issued guardianship or court-appointed legal guardian. For instances in which the family of a student living in Missouri co-locates to live with other family members or live in a military family support community because one or both of the child's parents are stationed or deployed out of state or deployed within Missouri under active duty orders under Title 10 or Title 32 of the United States Code, the student may attend the school district in which the family member's residence or family support community is located. If the active duty orders expire during the school year, the student may finish the school year in that district;

(2) Proof that the person registering the student has requested a waiver under subsection 3 of this section within the last forty-five days; or

(3) Proof that one or both of the child's parents are being relocated to the state of Missouri under military orders.

In instances where there is reason to suspect that admission of the pupil will create an immediate danger to the safety of other pupils and employees of the district, the superintendent or the superintendent's designee may convene a hearing within five working days of the request to register and determine whether or not the pupil may register.

3. Any person subject to the requirements of subsection 2 of this section may request a waiver from the district board of any of those requirements on the basis of hardship or good cause. Under no circumstances shall athletic ability be a valid basis of hardship or good cause for the issuance of a waiver of the requirements of subsection 2 of this section. The district board or committee of the board appointed by the president and which shall have full authority to act in lieu of the board shall convene a hearing as soon as possible, but no later than forty-five days after receipt of the waiver request made under this subsection or the waiver request shall be granted. The district board or committee of the board may grant the request for a waiver of any requirement of subsection 2 of this section. The district board or committee of the board may also reject the request for a waiver in which case the pupil shall not be allowed to register. Any person aggrieved by a decision of a district board or committee of the board on a request for a waiver under this subsection may appeal such decision to the circuit court in the county where the school district is located.

4. Any person who knowingly submits false information to satisfy any requirement of subsection 2 of this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

5. In addition to any other penalties authorized by law, a district board may file a civil action to recover, from the parent, military guardian or legal guardian of the pupil, the costs of school attendance for any pupil who was enrolled at a school in the district and whose parent, military guardian or legal guardian filed false information to satisfy any requirement of subsection 2 of this section.

6. Subsection 2 of this section shall not apply to a pupil who is a homeless child or youth, or a pupil attending a school not in the pupil's district of residence as a participant in an interdistrict transfer program established under a court-ordered desegregation program, a pupil who is a ward of the state and has been placed in a residential care facility by state officials, a pupil who has been placed in a residential care facility due to a mental illness or developmental disability, a pupil attending a school pursuant to sections 167.121 and 167.151 , a pupil placed in a residential facility by a juvenile court, a pupil with a disability identified under state eligibility criteria if the student is in the district for reasons other than accessing the district's educational program, or a pupil attending a regional or cooperative alternative education program or an alternative education program on a contractual basis.

7. Within two business days of enrolling a pupil, the school official enrolling a pupil, including any special education pupil, shall request those records required by district policy for student transfer, discipline records required by subsection 9 of section 160.261 from all schools previously attended by the pupil within the last twelve months, and records of any behavioral threat assessments and personal safety plans of the pupil created by the local education agency if the student is currently subject to an active personal safety plan or has been subject to a personal safety plan in the previous twelve months. Any school district that receives a request for such records from another school district enrolling a pupil that had previously attended a school in such district shall respond to such request within five business days of receiving the request. School districts may report or disclose education records to law enforcement and juvenile justice authorities if the disclosure concerns law enforcement's or juvenile justice authorities' ability to effectively serve, prior to adjudication, the student whose records are released. The officials and authorities to whom such information is disclosed must comply with applicable restrictions set forth in 20 U.S.C. Section 1232g(b)(1)(E).

8. If one or both of a child's parents are being relocated to the state of Missouri under military orders, a school district shall allow remote registration of the student and shall not require the parent or legal guardian of the student or the student himself or herself to physically appear at a location within the district to register the student. Proof of residency, as described in this section, shall not be required at the time of the remote registration but shall be required within ten days of the student's attendance in the school district.

(L. 1996 H.B. 1301 & 1298, A.L. 2000 S.B. 944, A.L. 2004 H.B. 1453 merged with S.B. 968 and S.B. 969, A.L. 2005 S.B. 103 & 115, A.L. 2006 S.B. 834, A.L. 2013 H.B. 159, A.L. 2015 S.B. 116, A.L. 2019 S.B. 306, A.L. 2025 S.B. 68)