Worth County Superintendent's Column -- Missouri Education Policy Results

As I have been watching all of the State and National campaigning that has been taking place over the last few weeks, I have been troubled by what many people are saying about public education.  In fact, it seems that many people want to place every public school in the failing category.  Don’t get me wrong, schools across the nation, including Worth County R-III need to look for ways to better educate ALL students and prepare them for the 21^st century. Despite the loss of many resources, I am proud to say that our teachers and administrators have begun this year with that in mind.  Both buildings have started a couple new initiatives to better meet the needs of Worth County R-III students.  I also know that many districts in the State of Missouri are doing the same.

However, Missouri currently finds itself with a mixed bag when it comes to results in its education policy. On a positive note, when compared to other states that test as many students as Missouri on the ACT (75%), Missouri ranks fourth! Missouri scores on the National Assessment on Education Progress (NAEP) are some of the best in the country while our graduation rate has risen each of the last three years. Missouri’s graduation rate now stands at 79.3%, good for 7th best in the country. However, two of the state’s three largest school districts are unaccredited under the state’s school improvement program while many more high poverty districts, both urban and rural, are struggling to meet state standards and a significant achievement gap exists between African American students and their white and Hispanic peers.

In the area of school finance, Missouri currently underfunds its state foundation formula by approximately $400 million with projected underfunding of $700 million next year, earning the state a C‐ grade from Education Week this year. Additionally, in researching states across the country for the fairness in school funding, Rutgers University found Missouri to be one of only three states to be deficient in all three of its categorical indicators for funding. Transportation funding since 2009 has been slashed by $69 million, while Career Ladder has been eliminated ($37 million loss), Parents as Teachers has been cut in half ($16 million loss) and RPDC funding has been cut by $6 million. In order to find support, districts have been forced to seek revenue from their communities. Missouri ranks second in the U.S. with the highest percentage (65%) of school funding coming from local communities while ranking next to last in the percentage (31.5%) of funding coming from the state. Overall, Missouri ranks 49th in the nation in the amount of state funds spent on education and 46th in the nation in average teacher salaries.

In recent years, Missouri’s public education system has been attacked by outside interests. These outside interest groups have capitalized on Missouri’s failures, particularly in urban areas, to push agendas that are focused on moving away from the public education model. They view Missouri’s failures as a reason to abandon the entire system and replace it with school choice measures like charters, open enrollment, and vouchers to allow students to attend private schools. These groups have made significant political contributions to legislators who support their agenda which has resulted in increased pressure on the recipients of those contributions to accomplish the contributors’ goals.

With a scarcity of financial resources and hostility from outside influences, school districts are now dealing with the implementation of several new programs from the State Board of Education and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. These “Top 10 by 20” programs include a new teacher and administrator evaluation system, new core curriculum standards, and most importantly the fifth version of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP5) that will be used to accredit schools across the state. These programs have been quickly developed and implemented in the midst of record turnover within the administration at DESE and with little interest in substantive input from superintendents, principals, or teachers.

The United States has a 20% child poverty rate, the highest among first-world nations.  Educators deal with our culture’s failures in their attempt to break the cycle of poverty.  Successes are frequently overshadowed or overlooked while the failures are placed in the forefront of public debate.  Despite these significant challenges, changes and criticism, Missouri educators wake up every morning to meet the needs of their students to provide the highest quality of education possible.

Again, with all of this being said, Worth County R-III like many other school districts are always looking for ways that we can better educate the young people of Worth County R-III.  Our teachers and administrators have this as a focal point when we have professional development opportunities.  A large part of any type of improvement is communication.  If you would have any thoughts, questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let us know.