During the 2012 legislative session, Missouri lawmakers failed to pass public school funding reform and failed to do much to address the increasing number of students trapped in failing districts. Education funding continues to consume a large share of the state budget, and public school districts receive billions in local property tax revenues. Meanwhile, student academic achievement in Missouri remains low when compared to other states.

As innovation continues to change the way we work and communicate, forms of virtual education are beginning to take hold in Missouri and elsewhere. Virtual education has been shown to reduce the costs of educating public school children, increase course diversity, and help students graduate.

In recent years, federal, state, and local governments have spent increasing amounts of taxpayer money on Missouri’s public schools. Analysis of Missouri spending and test data, however, finds no relationship between increases in per-pupil expenditures and increases in student achievement. While many well-intentioned reform efforts have been unsuccessful — such as decreased class size and adopting a uniform set of curriculum standards — a few reforms have been effective.