For those of you in the educational field, you know there has been lots of discussion surrounding the State Board of Education. I want to help everyone (including myself) breakdown why this is important stuff. First -- some quick background:
First, what is the State Board of Education? You can find their specific duties here but in a nutshell, they appoint the Commissioner of Education, accredit school districts (like ours), establish testing requirements, and create the bus safety regulations (amongst other duties). Who are the State Board members? They are appointed members by the Governor, confirmed by the state senate, no more than four members can be of one political party (8 total members). Now, to the political stuff. Governor Greitens, as any governor would, has been appointing members to various boards and commissions across the state, including the State Board. In doing so, Gov. Greitens has made it clear in his education agenda that he wants to expand the presence of charter schools across Missouri. A good article on "what is" a charter school, can be found here. In recent action, three of Gov. Greiten's new appointees are understood to be very pro-charter school expansion across the state. The previous State Board of Education took a slightly more conservative approach to dealing with charter schools -- holding them to similar accountability standards to the public schools. These new members are presumed to want to loosen this significantly, and their assumed first major step appears to (by public agendas) replace/fire Commissioner Vandeven from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Legislators are coming to Commissioner Vandeven's support and can be found here, here, and here. The potential ramifications for public school districts like Hallsville are related to funding and policy. If the state makes a shift away from public schools and opens the door to charter schools, this creates a 'feeding frenzy' toward them wanting public support (state dollars). Let me be clear, there is a role and place for charter schools across the country and Missouri. In relatively rural Missouri and in Hallsville, where our testing scores and academic outcomes are successful -- there should be no need for charter schools unless extenuating circumstances would exist. In the past, the State Board has looked at charter schools with critical eyes, rightfully so. Charter schools do not have elected school boards, are often ran by outside organizations, and research is very mixed on their success when compared to public or traditional private schools. The State Board should look as critically at them as they do the Public Schools--or even more. What's the fuss about? Well, Gov. Greitens trying to accomplish this charter school expansion, I believe, the wrong way. Five of the State Board members have not received confirmation from the state senate yet--and they already want to oust a widely respected Commissioner of Education. This effort began back in September and has continued. Gov. Greitens has withdrawn his own previous nominee to the State Board because she disagreed with him on this issue. Now, the State Board has scheduled a meeting for Nov 21st to discuss personnel. Interesting date - Tuesday of Thanksgiving week -- or in other words: a slow news cycle to hope it blows over quickly. I have sent an email to the State Board and copied Sen. Rowden, Rep. Reisch, and tried to send an email to Gov. Greitens for which I've had previous email conversation with him on, which was returned as undeliverable. Since I was unable to email Gov. Greitens, I called the Governor's Office. I've asked Sen. Rowden to ask tough questions of the motivations behind the urgency of these appointees who haven't been granted senate confirmation yet. For Gov. Greitens, I have asked that he not withdraw Tim Sumners name from consideration as a State Board member due to his stated concern of moving in the direction to remove the commissioner. It's concerning to see such great lengths being taken to make significant changes to Missouri education leadership in swift manners. Remember, the Commissioner of Education has been apolitical, above partisanship, until now. To prove that, over the last 30 years, we have only had 4 commissioners of education (including Commissioner Vandeven). If you feel compelled and concerned, you can reach the State Board of Education at sbe@dese.mo.gov and Gov. Greitens' office at: 573-751-3222 to voice your concerns. Remember folks, I was a lobbyist. I enjoy the policy making process to improve ourselves. These actions are not to improve our education system but to rush and sneak a drastic policy change in our public education. In these articles, Gov. Greitens' spokesperson says that funding has increased but they have not seen a 'corresponding performance increase.' This is good talking points, except Gov. Greitens' has approved and signed into law one year of funding increases that began July 1. Have there been any standardized testing to show this 'corresponding performance increase' since his slight funding increase? Nope. Smooth talking at its finest. Now, if I can be real for a moment, performance increases take so much more than funding increases. It takes work at home by families to provide stable homes. It takes work at school by teachers, staff, and administrators to provide quality education environments with the best curriculum and it takes work by the students to have a desire to learn. And yes, it takes work by the elected officials to properly fund education. If we have all of those, will we see performance increase? You bet. Gov. Greitens has a PhD from Oxford and he knows that this performance increases take more than just money. This answer is just for those of you out there who want easy answers and can believe talking points. I'm here to tell you there isn't easy answers to fixing and improving our education system. It isn't perfect, but ousting a respected leader by Democrats and Republicans alike ain't the way to implement change, Governor. Thanks for reading!
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AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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