Missouri has 34 schools for the severely disabled with about 700 students enrolled statewide. The state is studying the delivery of services to these students.
State Education Commissioner Karla Eslinger told the Missouri Senate Education Committee this week that a state task force is working to address concerns.
“We did not, and have not, and are not, providing quality opportunities for staff. We have facilities that are definitely not up to speed. We have a real issue of serving that population of kids,” she said. “Their buildings are very old. There’s no way for them to be able to pass a bond and have a new facility. They’re government or state schools.”
Eslinger thinks a 2024 state law will increase pay for teachers at these state schools.
President Trump’s reported vision includes closing the U.S. Department of Education and instead giving federal block grants to schools, which allow a broad set of options.
Eslinger said block grants could help these schools.
“I’m hoping that those block grants will be an opportunity for us to identify and kind of focus those dollars in the areas we know that Missouri needs, not just doing something because the feds thought it was a good idea, such as state schools,” she said.
The task force is making recommendations and will forward them to the state once its work is completed.
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