Senator changes course on school standards bill
Instead of insisting that only the legislature could adopt the new standards, Missouri state Sen. John Lamping changed the bill to require state education officials to hold hearings on them.
Instead of insisting that only the legislature could adopt the new standards, Missouri state Sen. John Lamping changed the bill to require state education officials to hold hearings on them.
State Sen. John Lamping, a Ladue Republican, filed a bill to block Missouri from adopting the new standards because he said they were drawn up without proper input from the legislature.
Missouri lawmakers authorized an expansion of charter schools beyond St. Louis and Kansas City, plus creation of a new statewide charter school commission. But they didn't appropriate any money to pay for it.
Two months ago, Commissioner Chris Nicastro said the city's public school had progressed, but she wanted to see that progress sustained before the district regained accreditation. But after looking at how far it had come, she changed her mind, and the state board agreed to provisional accreditation.
Commissioner Chris Nicastro told the state board of education meeting that since losing accreditation five years ago, the district has made solid gains in academic performance and fiscal responsibility. But the state-appointed board that has been running the schools will remain in place.
Out of patience with prolonged subpar academic performance and concerned about administrative turnover, the state school board accepted a recommendation from Missouri’s commissioner of education.
The latest Missouri school report cards show very small growth across that state in MAP scores, and St. Louis area schools that are unaccredited or provisionally accredited did not progress very much. Local charters beat St. Louis Public Schools.
It will be able to use its own method of gauging school success in place of the federal regulations that often has made schools appear to be failures because groups fail to meet benchmarks on standardized test scores.
The six-state project is based on a report released last year by the Harvard school of education that called for more cooperation among business, employers and society as a whole.
Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro went to Washington last week to help make Missouri's case that it has the tools in place to provide the accountability the federal government wants. She hopes Missouri will win a waiver.