K-12 education Archives

Missouri K-12 education community buckles up for potential eventful legislative session

January 19, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The coronavirus pandemic has created a world of challenges for America’s educational system, maybe to the point of driving some members of the Missouri Legislature to put a greater emphasis this session on changes to Missouri K-12 education. In the Senate, roughly 40 bills have been filed so far about K-12 education. The House has more than 30.

Missouri Capitol

Out of the gate, the Missouri Senate Education Committee is scheduled to consider Tuesday two contentious public education topics.

Senate Bill 23 would let parents use tax credits to pay for their kids to attend private school, get tutoring, school supplies, and other educational needs. Supporters refer to this type of legislation as educational savings accounts and opponents call it private school vouchers.

Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, is offering the proposal.

“This notion that one school can be all things to all kids is something that is false,” Koenig tells Missourinet. “I have five kids and they all learn differently. The reality is every child is different and every school can’t be everything to every child. It shouldn’t be a situation where you can only move your child if you are rich. And that’s the situation. If you’re are rich, you can pay for private school tuition or move your family into a school district that is better performing.”

Brent Ghan with the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) says the group strongly opposes such bills.

“What it boils down to in their kind of convoluted schemes essentially to direct taxpayer money to private schools,” he tells Missourinet. “We are not opposed to private schools but we draw the line when private schools receive taxpayer dollars whenever they are not accountable to the public like traditional public schools are.”

Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, is proposing a similar measure. Both could cost the state up to $50 million annually during a time when Missouri is watching every penny it has.

Eigel’s proposal, Senate Bill 25, also includes provisions that would expand charter schools in any school district located within a charter county as well as in any Missouri city with a population greater than 30,000 people.

Missouri Senate Education Committee Chair Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, is an advocate of charter school expansion. Charter schools are public and privately funded schools operating independently of traditional public schools.

“Most people within communities support their school. It’s kind of the center of their community, especially in our rural areas. People feel a lot of pride and loyalty to that school,” she tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly. “But there are always going to be some people who just for whatever reason don’t thrive in that particular school and would like to go somewhere else. I believe that parents should have the right to send their child somewhere else if it isn’t working for them in the current school that they are in. So, I think parents need more choice and I think our rural schools need more funding.”

Under current state law, charter schools are allowed in Kansas City, St. Louis, and any unaccredited Missouri public school district.

Ghan says the MSBA wants greater accountability for charter schools.

“Charter schools just don’t play by the same rules as our traditional public schools. They don’t have the same degree of accountability for taxpayer dollars,” he says. “Until we see greater accountability for charter schools, we are going to be very much opposed to their expansion to other districts outside of St. Louis and Kansas City.”

Ghan says another problem MSBA has is charter schools do not have members elected to their boards.

The committee will also hear a bill sponsored by O’Laughlin. Senate Bill 55 would ban any K-12 public school from being a member of a statewide activities association, like MSHSAA, if the school prohibits a home school student from participating in an event or activity offered by a public school.

Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City.

Missouri’s governor releases $133 million in funding; says he’d pardon the McCloskeys

October 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor has announced that he is releasing about $133 million in funding that was previously withheld, saying the state’s unemployment rate has improved and state revenues outpaced expectations.

Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City

Governor Mike Parson (R) made the announcement Wednesday afternoon in Jefferson City, while addressing Capitol reporters. He’s releasing $95 million in CARES Act funding and $40 million in general revenue. The governor says $61 million of the CARES Act funding will go to K-12 education.

“These funds will be disbursed to school districts through DESE similar to the (education) foundation formula,” Parson says.

The funds will be distributed through the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on a per-pupil basis.

Missouri Education Commissioner Dr. Margie Vandeven says schools continue to face unprecedented challenges this school year. She says the added expenses of operating schools during the pandemic has been a challenge, and that the money released by the governor will help.

Governor Parson says Missouri’s unemployment rate is less than half than originally projected.

“When we made those conservative budget decisions (budget restrictions), the projection was that Missouri’s unemployment rate would be around 16.3 (percent). However, our current unemployment rate is actually seven percent,” says Parson.

The governor says another factor is that September general revenue collections increased three percent from September 2019, from $917 million to $944 million this year.

About $10 million of the funding will be used to reimburse private colleges and universities for COVID-related expenses, including money spent to bring students back to campus safely.

The governor was also asked by a St. Louis television reporter about this week’s indictment of the McCloskeys in St. Louis.

Governor Parson is reiterating that he is prepared to pardon the St. Louis couple indicted for pointing guns at protesters outside their Central West End home in July. The governor says he would pardon Mark and Patricia McCloskey.

“Most certainly would, most certainly would,” Parson says. “We’ll let it play out and see how this all comes out in the courts, but I stand by what I said.”

A St. Louis City grand jury indicted the McCloskeys on Tuesday for unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering.

The McCloskeys addressed the Republican National Convention in August, saying they feared for their safety that evening. But St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat, says the protesters were nonviolent. She has described the McCloskeys’ conduct as “unacceptable.”