To get input on everything from student transfers and failing school districts to funding for early childhood education, more than a dozen state representatives have set across Missouri this week to listen.
House Speaker Tim Jones created the House Interim Committee on Education in July. The committee kicked off a six-stop tour Monday with two meetings in the St. Louis area to get input on education issues. They will continue to hold hearings today and Wednesday in southeast and southwest Missouri.
“People are starting to have a sense of urgency,” said state Rep. Steve Cookson, R-Poplar Bluff, one of the committee leaders. “‘Not our kids, not our problem’ has got to be a thing of the past.”
That urgency follows the transfer of about 2,600 students from the unaccredited Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts this year after a state Supreme Court decision in June. The high court determined that students in unaccredited school districts have the right to attend better performing schools at the cost of their home district.
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Superintendent Pam Sloan, who oversaw the transfer of 449 students from Normandy into the Francis Howell district this summer, said to improve the situation, the students who need quality schools should be divided more equally among accredited districts. And failing school districts need more intervention earlier.
The state department of education has requested an emergency $6.8 million to help the Normandy School District finish out the year. It’s estimated that tuition payments for the students that have left will drain the district of money in March.
“For you all, I would want to know … Are they getting better?” Sloan said at a meeting Monday afternoon at St. Charles Community College.
Francis Howell Board President Marty Hodits said the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should be involved in determining where a failing district will bus students. Normandy students are riding the bus more than 22 miles to get to their Francis Howell schools.
“Is this really in the best interest of the students? The families will tell you no,” Hodits said.
Another superintendent with a large number of transfers into the district had the ear of the committee for about an hour. Art McCoy, of the Ferguson-Florissant School District, offered his take on how to best “fix” the law. While Normandy provided transportation to Francis Howell, Ferguson-Florissant had nearly as many transfer students that wanted to stay close to home even if they didn’t have transportation.
McCoy said that he believes school districts in the region could accommodate the transfer of 15,000 students who need quality schools. And if the tuition for those students was capped at $7,000, the unaccredited school districts might be able to survive. He also urged them to make sure that the Normandy students will be able to finish out the year in their schools, and find comprehensive solutions to help unaccredited districts.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves if we didn’t do whatever it takes,” he said.
A retired administrator, Roger Russell, told the committee there should be more accountability on how the receiving districts are spending their tuition money.
And James Shuls, of the Show-Me Institute think tank, spoke on a scholarship tax credit program.
“I think the answer here really is more choice, not less,” Shuls said.
The legislators wanted to hear ideas on other issues too — such as making more preschool spots affordable to families in Missouri.
Hazelwood and Ferguson-Florissant school district administrators testified about the effectiveness of their early childhood programs, and the need for more funding. Students who had early childhood education performed better on state standardized tests in reading and math in grades three through eight, said Joy Rouse, director of Early Education for the Ferguson-Florissant School District.
“We cannot wait,” Rouse said. “We must begin at the beginning and increase this investment now because it really pays off.”
At St. Louis Community College at Meramec on Monday evening, the committee heard from about 60 speakers, including teachers, parents, board members and school officials.
Among them was St. Louis Public Schools superintendent Kelvin Adams, who told the committee, “The whole notion of individual school accreditation is something the committee should look at” as opposed to accrediting a whole district. He also stressed the importance of early childhood education.
Susan Turk, whose son graduated from St. Louis schools, called on the Legislature to repeal the school transfer bill because of the financial crisis it creates for the unaccredited districts. “As written, it prevents students who choose to remain in their unaccredited home districts from having fair funding for their education,” she said.
“If not repealed, it should be amended to require receiving districts to ask no more in tuition per student than the home district gets in state and federal aid for that student.” She also asked that all transportation costs be covered by the state.
Many speakers said that the state needed to provide more education funding.
“The underfunding of the foundation formula does nothing but hurt students,” said Paul Morris, president of the Ferguson-Florissant School Board and a retired teacher. His sentiments were echoed by many of the speakers.
Earl Simms, senior director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association, said charter schools also could put public education options in those communities with unaccredited or provisionally accredited school districts.
Margaret Gillerman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
