Measure cleans up omission from school misconduct reporting law

Legislative language is at once precisely constraining and imperfectly open for interpretation.

That can be by design, as drafters address a specific issue, or accidental, as a potential outcome eluded imagination.

And so once a measure becomes law, it might still be a work in progress. Lawmakers may fine-tune legislation over time as the need arises.

That's where Missouri's state legislature is with its law regarding sexual misconduct reporting within schools.

For more than a decade, public school officials have operated under a law making them liable for failing to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct by an employee who had been terminated or allowed to resign because of the allegations. The law also provides civil immunity to school district employees who report sexual misconduct with a student.

In 2019, lawmakers added charter school employees.

But, to this day, the law does not cover employees of private schools.

State Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder is working to change that.

"This was brought to my attention this past summer from a constituent, unfortunately, that was in the process of a legal battle," Thompson Rehder said. "She called to inform me about what she was going through with her son and that it was something that public schools had to do, but, apparently, private schools did not. It surprised me because I thought we had already gotten that fixed. We contacted our Senate research, which is who helps us with legislation. They confirmed and said that somehow, private schools were left out."

A measure to amend the law, adding private school employees to those required to report instances of sexual misconduct with students, is working its way through legislative channels.

It appears to have wide support, as it should.

"There's a lot of partisan things that we work on that absolutely need to be done, but there are a lot of things when it comes to our families and our children that we can come together and get done quickly. We fight on issues, but we also work together and get these important issues for kids done," Thompson Rehder said.

We encourage lawmakers to make this change.