1. All community colleges established prior to October 13, 1961, are under the supervision of the coordinating board for higher education and shall conform to the scholastic standards established by the coordinating board, but no such district may be dissolved except as now provided by law and in no instance because it does not meet the standards for organization established by the coordinating board under the provisions of section 178.770; except that no community college established under section 178.370 shall be denied state aid nor lose its accreditation for a period of not less than ten years from October 13, 1975, if it continues to offer courses equal or superior to the courses offered on October 13, 1961, and continues to have an enrollment equal to or greater than its enrollment on October 13, 1961.

2. A community college established in a public school district prior to October 13, 1961, and operated continuously thereafter shall be considered to have met the established standards of the coordinating board for organization as a community college district and may petition the coordinating board for higher education to be organized under the provisions of sections 178.770 to 178.890, the boundaries of the proposed community college district to be coterminous with the old district boundaries. Upon receipt of a petition as provided in section 178.800, the coordinating board shall call for an election in the proposed district as provided by law.

3. If the proposal to organize a community college district under the provisions of sections 178.770 to 178.890 is approved by the voters, the rate of levy of the school district property tax shall be lowered by the percentage of the rate that was assigned in the school district the preceding tax year for community college purposes, and the lowered tax rate shall thereafter be considered as the last rate approved by the voters and shall be increased only as provided by law and in accordance with Article X, Section 11(c) of the Constitution of the State of Missouri.