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Bill would require schools to notify parents if contracted online tutor is majority‑owned by an adversarial country
Summary
Representative Brandon Phillips presented House Bill 14‑46, which would require school districts to notify parents when a contracted online tutoring company has majority ownership outside the U.S., citing concerns about students at Knob Noster and proximity to Whiteman Air Force Base.
Representative Brandon Phillips presented House Bill 14‑46 to the committee, saying the measure would require school districts to notify parents when a school contracts with an online tutoring company that has majority ownership in a country the U.S. Department of State designates as adversarial. The bill does not ban specific vendors or prevent parents from using any tutoring service, Phillips said; it would provide "some transparency."
Phillips told the committee he became aware of the issue after learning that the Nob Noster (Knob Noster) School District — which serves families connected to Whiteman Air Force Base — contracted with a company he identified as tutor.com and said the company "is a Chinese‑owned company." He said districts may collect names, ages, contact information and other data through tutoring platforms and that he wanted parents notified if a contracted vendor's ownership is majority‑based outside the U.S.
Representative Price asked whether the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) must approve tutoring providers; Phillips replied he had been informed during the hearing that "school districts do not need approval from DESE." Committee members pressed on how notifications would be required — whether written or electronic — and Phillips said the bill language could be tightened; he indicated a written notice would be appropriate.
Representative Fuchs raised the point that access controls at military bases are strict and asked whether Whiteman officials had been consulted; Phillips said he had not yet had time to consult base authorities because he filed the bill shortly before the filing deadline. Representative Hovis suggested expanding the definition of "adversarial" to reference other federal lists beyond the State Department, such as Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list; Phillips said he would consider that.
Phillips and members discussed whether private schools that receive taxpayer funds would be covered; as drafted the bill applies to public and charter schools but not to private schools that do not receive public funds.
The committee took no further public testimony on HB 14‑46 and closed the hearing record.
