Gov. Mike Parson is expected to decide now whether to sign or veto the sweeping education bill. In the Missouri House of Representatives, the plan passed with 82 votes, the minimum required for House passage.
Senate Bill 727 would:
•Use tax dollars to expand access to private schools. Increase your income level to qualify for MOScholars education scholarships.
•Allows Boone County to open charter schools.
•Increases the minimum salary for teachers under state law from $25,000 to $40,000 per year, with additional inflation increases in the future.
•Increases the state law minimum teacher salary from $33,000 to $46,000 per year with at least 10 years of experience and a master's degree, with additional inflation increases in the future
• Limiting school days to four days a week and giving small incentives to districts that hold classes five days a week
• Increase the number of teacher recruitment and retention scholarships
• Change the way state aid to schools is calculated by including enrollment and days of attendance in the education funding formula.
More than 200 members of the Missouri State Board of Education sent a letter to the governor asking him to veto the plan. Melissa Randle, executive director of the Missouri School Boards Association, said nonprofit education groups oppose several items in the bill. First and foremost, she said, the policy is not fiscally sustainable.
The estimated cost of this package, when fully implemented, is more than $450 million annually.
“If the state fails to meet its promise of additional funding, the burden will fall on local school districts. School boards must appeal to local taxpayers to request tax increases to maintain the funding promise in this bill. We will have no choice but to do so,” Randle told Missourinet. If schools are unable to realize these funding increases, school districts will be subject to penalties, particularly in connection with the mandatory increases in teacher salaries drafted in this bill. Especially in our small, rural school districts, we are seeing many of them forced to close over time. ”
Randle declined to say whether she expected litigation over the proposal.
During House debate on the proposal, Rep. Phil Cristofanelli, R-St. Louis, said: Mr. Peters passed the bill in the House.
“This is the most substantial investment in public education this state has ever seen,” Cristofanelli said.
Rep. Jamie Berger (R-Benton) said the bill would provide significant funding to schools and therefore help public schools.
Rundle said another heartburn-inducing item would allow Boone County to open charter schools.
“We felt that the taxpayers in these communities should have the right to vote,” Rundle said. “If they want charters, let them vote at the local level and choose to allow charter expansion in their communities. But if they want to spend money on traditional public schools, let them vote at the local level and choose to allow charter expansion in their communities. If you're going to have that level of accountability for that money, then taxpayers need to have a say in that. That was not allowed to be added in this bill. No amendments were submitted.
Randle reiterated the rationale for initially allowing charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis.
“At the time, when this system was first implemented in Kansas City and St. Louis, those two districts were not certified by the state. There are no provisional or uncertified districts in Boone County,” she said. .
Why is Boone County the only county mentioned in the bill?
“That’s probably a good question for Sen. (Caleb) Rhoden,” she said. “I know he has made it one of his top priorities, if not his top priorities, to implement a charter system, especially in Columbia.”
Randle also opposes provisions that would expand access to taxpayer-funded private schools. The current tax credit funding limit for donors who provide MOScholars scholarships is $25 million annually.
“This bill would expand that number to 75 million people,” Randle said. “Also, basically through this voucher program, individuals who have additional financial resources can take state funds and pay for private education with taxpayer dollars, and how that education is We are no longer responsible for what is provided.”
Despite her opposition to many provisions, she praises lawmakers for trying to address Missouri's low teacher salaries and push for more funding for public schools.
To view Senate Bill 727, click here.
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