Charlie Shields Archives

Missouri works to avoid K-12 funding decline from coronavirus inflicted attendance drop

June 10, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Some health experts predict a spike in coronavirus cases this fall – putting Missouri K-12 public schools in a potential funding dilemma. Missouri’s foundation formula – the system used to determine how much state aid to give to schools – is based on a combination of components, including student attendance figures and academic achievement.

Missouri works to avoid K-12 funding decline from coronavirus inflicted attendance drop

During Tuesday’s Missouri Board of Education meeting, members discussed how to avoid a drop in school funding as a result of possible coronavirus related attendance problems. President Charlie Shields, a former Missouri Senate president, thinks the state Legislature could be called back in September for a special session.

“So, should we ask the governor to put a couple things in play? One would be to figure out the attendance piece. We’ve got different scenarios for snow days and all kinds of other things, but nobody had one for COVID-19,” he says. “It would give us the flexibility to do something on attendance in terms of the formula. The other would be this issue if you withhold across the board, including hold harmless, during the emergency, that you don’t have to make that up somewhere throughout the rest of the fiscal year. Do we ask the governor to put that in his call for a special session to clarify those issues for us?”

The General Assembly returns each September to weigh whether to attempt an override of any vetoes the governor makes to bills passed during the regular session. A special session directly before or after a veto session is an efficient way to handle issues that some elected officials and stakeholders feel are urgent.

Deputy Commissioner Roger Dorson says state funding is given to schools on an annual basis. He indicates if the economy rebounds in a few months, then a potential legislative fix should take that scenario into consideration.

Commissioner Margie Vandeven says the health of students comes first – not perfect attendance.

“We will be asking parents to keep their children home if they are ill,” says Vandeven. “And we will be asking parents to keep their children home for symptoms that they may not have ever kept them home for in the past. So we expect to see a significant decline in attendance data, at the request of health officials and of school officials to say ‘Keep your children home.’ That’s one thing. The other thing we have never encountered before is, let’s suspect you have to quarantine an entire class, or an entire bus – just be thinking in terms of this could be 14 days. So, the way we’re trying to think about how to get this attendance waiver or whatever we need is to say ‘Should children stay home if they’re ill – yes. Should we stop talking about perfect attendance as the banner award for this year – yes.’”

Vandeven says the state must also figure out how to ensure that students can continue learning from home if they are quarantined.

Meanwhile, a new state statute requires Missouri K-12 public school districts to start 14 days prior to Labor Day or later, unless the state Board of Education waives the regulation. Some school districts have expressed an interest in starting the school calendar year earlier in the fall to beat an anticipated climb in coronavirus cases.

The board has given the education commissioner temporary power to let districts start earlier in August if they make the request and meet certain requirements. Local school boards must first hold a public hearing and explain how an exemption would benefit the students and reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

The following districts have asked to start earlier in August:

• East Newton Co. R-VI
• Lutie R-VI
• Weaubleau R-III
• Community R-VI
• Joplin Schools
• Hickory Co. R-I
• Tri-County R-VII
• Carthage R-IX

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is reviewing the requests.

Missouri Board of Education discusses classes next fall, students dodging school work

April 28, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A new state statute requires Missouri’s K-12 districts to start the school year no earlier than 14 calendar days prior to the first Monday in September, unless the State Board of Education waives the requirement. Board members are discussing whether to waive the requirement and give districts the option of starting the school earlier this fall.

Missouri Board of Education discusses classes next fall, students dodging school work

An uptick in coronavirus cases is projected in the fall – possibly affecting how much learning kids will have at school. During Monday’s board meeting, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven says the coronavirus is an extenuating circumstance and the department is not trying to take advantage of the situation.

“It’s still very, very early on COVID loss, but summer loss is clear – that when many of our students, particularly our students who tend to struggle the most – when they are away from school for a period of time, significant learning loss can occur, and that is especially true in our youngest learners,” says Vandeven.

Board President Charlie Shields agrees with Vandeven.

“In the healthcare world, there’s widespread belief that you’ll see COVID-19 come back in the fall at some point. The challenge will be that it’ll be combined with flu and influenza at that time, which makes it even more challenging,” says Shields. “So, you could see additional disruption sometime this fall. So if we can get more days in by an earlier start date, seems to me that would be appropriate.”

Shields is the CEO of Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and a former Missouri Senate president.

The board plans to revisit the item during next month’s meeting.

Meanwhile, board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge of Pasadena Hill near St. Louis says she’s heard about some teachers reporting difficulties in getting students involved since the coronavirus threat closed schools statewide in mid-March.

“That’s a very real problem that’s been brought to my attention,” she says.

Vandeven says some teachers who had a hard time connecting with families before the coronavirus outbreak are having even more problems now with kids learning from home.

“People are saying ‘Well if you’re not requiring a grade, if you’re not requiring a test, if you’re not requiring this the kids are not participating.’ That’s a deeper question that I think we need to explore,” says Vandeven. “As we move forward, how do we communicate with families? That partnership has always been essential, but how do we effectively communicate with our families in typical times and then we would have a much greater possibility for that to carry over into a situation like this?”

Vandeven says districts must take the lead to keep kids engaged.

How much of a role lack of broadband internet and technology has to do with the students dodging their work is unknown, but the board did discuss a survey detailing the digital divide in Missouri.

The survey of about 450 of the state’s 555 school districts and charter schools shows about 21% of Missouri students – or 150,000 of them – do not have access to broadband internet and cannot afford the technology.

The latest Federal Communications Commission data shows nearly 600,000 rural Missourians lack access to broadband internet.