Kehoe champions school choice expansion in Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Gov. Mike Kehoe stood in support of the expansion of charter schools during a school choice week celebration held by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation and the Children's Education Alliance of Missouri.
"I really believe that by creating an environment of choice, from being in business, a competitive environment really helps raise the tide and when the tide raises all ships raise at that time and encouraging other institutions no matter what form they are to be more competitive, to produce a better outcome so that student is ready to go into the workforce is very important to me," he said.
In his State of the State address Tuesday, Kehoe laid out his plans to expand "school choice" in Missouri by opening open public school enrollment, allocating $50 million in general revenue for the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program and updating the state's school Foundation formula funding to better incentivize performance.
The open school enrollment is led by state Sen. Curtis Trent (R-Barton County) and state Rep. Brad Pollitt (R-Sedalia) through Senate Bill 215 and House Bill 711 both bills allow the acceptance of students to schools outside of their districts as long as space is available.
The ESA program also gives tuition to eligible parents to help pay for tuition at the school of their choice.
Supporters argue that it allows students with specific educational needs to get a quality education.
"Really at the heart of this is the idea that one size does not fit all, we don't believe that in any other part of our lives, and it doesn't make sense to believe that in education," CEAM associative executive director Peter Franzen said.
Former Gov. Mike Parson last year signed a bill that expanded charter schools to operate in Boone County. Boone County public school administrators sent a letter to Parson asking him to veto the bill.
Local superintendents also signed a letter of opposition to the bill, arguing a local charter school would drain much-needed resources from the traditional public school districts in Boone County. The Missouri State Teachers Association also opposed charter schools.
According to DESE's website, charter schools are "free from some rules and regulations that apply to traditional public school districts."
Retired public school teacher and school choice advocate Becki Uccello supported the issue after she had to pull her disabled daughter from public school after her needs weren't properly met.
"All kids learn differently and all kids have different skills as well as weaknesses, and I don't think we can expect one system to fit everybody's needs," Uccello said.
Critics of the bill say a lack of safeguards like out-of-district enrollment capacities could take a public school down, if too many students decide to leave.
"There are students with special needs that maybe need to go to a different school to have their needs met, I think that's OK," state Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) said. "What you don't want to have is a situation where a school is gutted and all the students leave to go to a different school because the tax dollars follow those students and you can have a situation where a school can shut down."
Smith adds that public schools are often the backbone of rural communities with rural schools can be negatively impacted.
"All the activities of the town are centered around the school, so if you allow 50% of the students to leave, the school probably shuts down and then you've got a problem and then towns die," Smith said.
State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff (D-Columbia) highlighted funding issues school districts can run into when facing charter schools opening.
"In the end, we end up with some winners and some losers," Steinhoff said. "The losers, I believe, tend to be public schools that have fewer and fewer resources and still trying their best to educate the students that they're tasked with educating."
The open school enrollment Senate Bill was first read on Jan. 8 while the House bill was scheduled for a public hearing Wednesday.