Failure to do so will result in a mass of children from the unaccredited St. Louis Public School district transferring to accredited schools in St. Louis County districts virtually overnight.  The ruling also appears to allow students from the unaccredited Riverview Gardens School District to transfer to schools in neighboring St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties.

Missouri currently has nine provisionally accredited districts, two of which, Kansas City and Normandy (St. Louis County), are close to being unaccredited.  One district, Hickman Mills in Kansas City, is on track to go from accredited to unaccredited by 2011.  With an additional eight districts on track to losing full accreditation by 2011, this ruling could have a drastic, statewide impact on the future of problem schools and districts and their neighboring schools and districts.  Three significant reforms could alleviate the burden that these districts will no doubt feel as a result of this court ruling.

First, the legislature must remove the geographic caps on opening public charter schools beyond the St. Louis and Kansas City School districts.  Allowing for quality, accountable charter schools to open in all areas of the state will give parents of children who are stuck in failing school districts many more options than just transferring to another zoned school site.  Expanding charters across the state will provide an incentive to many of the high performing charter school operators to open schools in Missouri. Just as critical, the legislature should pass laws to increase accountability on charter school operators and sponsors.

Second, the legislature should pass legislation expanding the private sector’s current use of tuition-assistance programs for disadvantaged families in Missouri.  The St. Louis region has an effective and efficient way of providing immediate scholarships to families located within the City – through programs such as the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation.  In the last three years alone, more than 1,700 children have found alternatives to government assigned schools – without state assistance.  With enabling legislation allowing private charitable contributions to a state program available to other families in financial need, Missouri could join other states like Florida and Iowa that have successful private contribution-based, tuition assistance programs.

Finally, open enrollment legislation across school districts should be enacted into law.  Open enrollment would allow for the orderly transfer of public school students wishing to find another public school option nearby.  Both Iowa and Arkansas have flexible working policies that Missouri lacks.  These laws and rules provide for early, reasonable transfers to other public schools of choice without litigation to any school district or the State Board of Education.

While this case was remanded back to a lower court for further review, the court was clear that Missouri law was written in “straightforward and unambiguous language” allowing students in unaccredited districts to transfer to a school in the same, or an adjoining, county at the cost of the unaccredited district.  To not undertake significant education reforms in the 2011 legislative session that allow for expanded parental choice in educating their children could result in a free-for-all of transfers to schools in neighboring counties.  With 18 districts scattered across the state provisionally accredited, or close to losing full accreditation, how long will it be before such a costly free-for-all spreads statewide?

Since 1875, the Missouri State Constitution has said the General Assembly “shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state.” (Article IX, Section 1(a)).  The children of every zip code, not just those residing within 63105 (Clayton) or 63124 (Ladue), deserve the best our state can offer.

This piece was published as an OpEd in the outlets linked below:

St. Louis Beacon 7/28/2010

St. Louis Post Dispatch 7/29/2010

Missouri’s $743.5 million application was hit hard in critical areas, including limits on charter schools and overall conditions for reform in the state.  Delaware and Tennessee were the only winners in the first round.  Delaware was awarded more than $100 million and Tennessee, a state in the same suggested bidding range as Missouri, was allotted more than $500 million.

Here is what some of the reviewers of Missouri’s application had to say:

• “The state has a charter school law that only allows charter schools to operate in Kansas City and St. Louis.  Although a considerable percentage of students in these locations are in charter schools, the effect of this law limits the educational choices available to students who do not live in these cities.”
• “Low points are given to the Missouri proposal on this subsection concerned with charter law because the Missouri charter school law has limits on both geography and sponsors.”
• “The applicant makes almost no effort in this section of the application to describe the extent to which the State, in addition to information provided under other State Reform Conditions Criteria, has created through law, regulation, or policy, other conditions favorable to education reform or innovation that have increased student achievement or graduation rates, narrowed achievement gaps, or resulted in other important outcomes.”

These statements paint a dire picture of the current state of education reform in Missouri.  The real question is: Will Missouri learn its lesson from missing out on the first round of money and work toward reforms now that will make us seriously competitive in the second round?  Applications for Round Two are due June 1^st, with winners being announced in September.

It is obvious from the comments above that expanding charter school options outside of the St. Louis and Kansas City school districts would dramatically improve the chances of being competitive for part of the $3.4 billion remaining to be awarded.  But, two bills in the Missouri legislature that would expand access to charter schools to most of the state, SB 838 and HB 2200, have yet to even receive a committee hearing.

Missouri should take note that both first-round winners made moves to expand access to charter schools before submitting their first-round applications.  Furthermore, states that finished close to the Round One winners already have passed, or are currently debating, legislation that would expand charter schools as a way to cross the finish line and stand on the podium with the other expected 10 to 12 winners in Round Two.

The Missouri House’s budget made significant funding cuts to Missouri education, and the Senate’s budget borrowed from stimulus funds held for next year to restore those cuts.  While legislators will continue to sort out the budget mess in Jefferson City, it is clear that education funding in Missouri is on shaky ground.  This program would be a good way to implement needed education reforms in the state as well as bolster the state’s coffers.  This unprecedented pot of money is likely a once in a lifetime opportunity.  It would be a disservice to the children of this state if we let it slip away.