State Sen. Cindy O'Laughlin Archives

Missouri Senators, K-12 community work to navigate underperforming school problems

March 3, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The coronavirus pandemic’s increased challenges in education have fueled the Missouri Legislature’s efforts this session to make school choice measures a priority. Debate about these bills have been very heated at times.

Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications

On Tuesday, the Missouri Senate Education Committee and representatives of the state’s K-12 public education world instead had a heart-to-heart about ways to address academic achievement levels within public schools. Their discussion centered around a legislative bill that could close some underperforming K-12 public schools in Missouri.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, involves any public school performing within the bottom five percent of schools for more than three years over a five-year period. Districts would be required to close these schools and transfer students to a higher-performing one within the district; create a partnership to open an in-district charter school; or reimburse a district or charter school for taking in the transfer students.

Additionally, any district with more than two schools falling into the bottom five percent for more than two years would be classified as provisionally accredited.

O’Laughlin wants to require the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to publish online each year a list of Missouri schools performing within the bottom five percent of schools for more than three years and designate them as a “persistently failing school”.

Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, said there will always be a school and a district in the bottom five percent:

Eric Scroggins with St. Louis-based Opportunity Trust, a nonprofit organization funding charter schools, spoke in support of the plan:

Ron Berry, a lobbyist for the American Federation of Teachers, cited the towns of Lesterville, Calhoun, and Windsor. He said the communities have many low-income individuals with a revolving door of students moving in and out of those districts:

O’Laughlin, the committee chair, asked Berry for suggestions:

Sen. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, agreed with Berry. He recommended adding another step in the process to help prevent schools from closing:

Scott Kimble, with the Missouri Association of School Administrators, spoke in opposition to the bill:

Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, said some districts are not investing their funding where they should:

Steve Carroll, lobbying for Kansas City area schools and St. Louis Public Schools, said he does not think the bill addresses the heart of the problem:

Razer agreed with Carroll:

Schupp said boosting teacher pay is not for its own sake:

Tammy Henderson with the North Kansas City School District said the district has 21,000 students with about fifty percent of them getting free or reduced-price meals. She shared some solutions that have worked in her district:

O’Laughlin and Schupp agreed the group should put their heads together:

O’Laughlin told Kimble the tone of the conversation needs to change:

The committee has not voted on Senate Bill 133.

Bland Manlove: Missouri’s special session should address the root causes of violence (AUDIO)

July 21, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

While she would like to see other issues addressed, a key Democratic lawmaker from Kansas City supports Governor Mike Parson’s (R) special session call for witness protection.

State Reps. Richard Brown, D-Kansas City, and Ashley Bland Manlove, D-Kansas City, participate in a roundtable discussion with Missouri Governor Mike Parson and law enforcement officers at the Kansas City Police Department on July 20, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

State Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, D-Kansas City, a member of Missouri’s Legislative Black Caucus, says witness protection is a bipartisan issue.

“So we want to make sure that there’s enough funding behind that to relocate people as necessary, or keep them in some type of protective custody until the case is resolved,” Bland Manlove says.

She says police officers cannot complete cases without evidence, like witness statements.

Kansas City has had 106 homicides in 2020, which is about a 35 percent increase from last year. Kansas City Police Chief Richard Smith says there’s a sense of urgency in Kansas City, and that action must be taken.

Bland Manlove and several other state lawmakers from both parties joined the governor this week at the Kansas City Police Department, to hear his presentation about the special session. It begins Monday in Jefferson City.

Bland Manlove would much rather address what she calls the root causes of violence.

“Such as the breakdown of the home, education, health care and how all of those have effects on our day-to-day lives,” says Bland Manlove, who serves on the House Budget Committee.

Governor Parson told Missourinet last week that the only reason he’s calling a special session is for violent crime, and the growing homicide rates in the state. St. Louis has had 135 homicides this year.

“I’d like to see mental health addressed from not only a mental disorder issue, but mental health, a lot of families are broken, so they don’t know how to move through life in an efficient way,” Bland Manlove says.

She says some residents need life coaching, saying some have never been taught how to write checks.

She tells Missourinet that she appreciates Governor Parson calling a special session on violent crime, noting that the Legislative Black Caucus requested that he call one in September 2019. She’s noted that Kansas City and St. Louis have consistently ranked in the top ten deadliest cities for at least a decade.

As for the governor, he traveled to northeast Missouri’s Hannibal on Tuesday afternoon to meet with local leaders and law enforcement officers about violent crime and next week’s special session. Parson held a roundtable discussion at Hannibal-LaGrange, where he was joined by State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, State Rep. Louis Riggs, R-Hannibal and other lawmakers.

The sheriffs from Marion, Ralls and Lewis counties also attended. Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish is the president of the Missouri Sheriff’s Association.

Click here to listen to the full five-minute interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, D-Kansas City, which was recorded on July 20, 2020: