In this Columbia, MO Forum, Show-Me Institute Education Policy Analyst James Shuls spoke to an enthusiastic crowd about what private funding of public schools really looks like.
"Isn't that just a voucher?"
"No," says Shuls, as he describes the three basic types of publicly-funded private schooling.
This talk was reprised the following morning at the Show-Me Institute's office in Saint Louis.

Crowds of parents and students rallied at Union Station in Kansas City to celebrate school choice, as part of the National School Choice Week Whistle Stop Train Tour. Students sang, danced, and cheered as speakers drove home the message that students are all different — but they share one thing in common. They all deserve a quality education.

Funding for K-12 public education is an important issue, especially now. The state’s school funding formula is underfunded and federal support for education is likely to decline in the next year. Show-Me Institute education policy analyst, James V. Shuls, discusses this topic on Missouri Viewpoints with Mike Ferguson. So what is the answer to Missouri’s education funding problems? According to Shuls, “The answer can’t always be more.” Rather, the state and school districts need to begin to rethink how we deliver education.

On November 7th, James Shuls presented his paper, The Salary Straitjacket, to the Missouri Mathematics and Science Coalition in Jefferson City, Missouri. This is the audio of that presentation, along with the slides Shuls used.

On the Show-Me Daily blog I have noted how Missouri’s education system is stuck in terms of academic achievement (here and here). To get our state moving in the right direction, we must empower schools and provide parents with educational options. The school in this video, City Academy, embodies these two principles.

In the tenth installment of the Show-Me Speaker Series, American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks spoke to an enthusiastic crowd on the topic of liberty and free markets.

Essential to the message Brooks conveyed is the idea that proponents of free markets should focus less on cold data such as tax rates and more on individual stories of human flourishing brought about by reduced barriers to trade and robust property rights.

This event was held at and co-sponsored by the Saint Louis University John Cook School of Business.

We were pleased to have Sufyan Katariwala as an intern at the Show-Me Institute this summer. He proved to be a hard worker and a real asset. Here’s Sufyan explaining why it was a good experience for him and can be for you too!

Once again, the Show-Me Institute joined with other organizations in celebrating the life and legacy of Milton Friedman on the anniversary of his birth. Friedman dedicated his life to promoting freedom and individual liberty and was a vocal proponent of educational choice.

In this video, Show-Me Institute Education Policy Analyst James Shuls discusses some of the problems with public schools as they are now, and how school choice can help improve student education and parental satisfaction.

Virtual learning isn’t the future…it’s here right now! Blended with traditional education, it can reform school districts, cut costs and help students. Show-Me intern Mary Kate Hopkins has more…

Jennifer Bukowsky is a criminal defense attorney in Columbia, Mo. She is a proud supporter of the Show-Me Institute and believes in our mission. In this video, she explains why.

In this presentation, UMSL economics professor David C. Rose discusses the moral underpinnings of a market economy. Among the areas covered are comparisons of moral behavior among cultures, and the costs and benefits of behaving morally for individuals.

Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding was once again a guest on Saint Louis local roundtable discussion show Donnybrook on March 22, 2012. Among the topics covered this time were: The unruly St. Charles County Republican caucus, the NFL "bounty scandal" and Rams' new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams role in it, Occupy St. Louis participants' recent defacing of the Compton Hill Reservoir, comment policy change on the Post-Dispatch website, developments in the Missouri republican party and the tea party's role, and whether employers should be allowed to ask for prospective employees' facebook passwords.

Click here to watch the video of the event.

On Tuesday, February 28, 2012, Amity Shlaes spoke at Saint Louis University's John Cook School of Business at an event organized and co-sponsored by the Show-Me Institute. The topic of the talk was Shlaes' latest book Coolidge — due for release June 26 — which discusses the presidency of Calvin Coolidge with a focus on the effectiveness of his laissez-faire policies in restoring the turbulent economy of the early 20's to "normalcy."

At a Show-Me Institute policy breakfast December 6th, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams spoke of the difficulty of removing a bad teacher from a city classroom. Isn’t it time for reform?

Make your own video and submit it here.

Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding reports on a Saint Louis-area charter school which will soon be shut down for under-performing. Charter Schools provide alternatives to traditional, district- or neighborhood-based public schools, and unlike many public schools, if they fail to serve their students, they can be shut down and the children sent to schools with a better performance record.

On December 6, 2011, the Show-Me Institute was honored to host Saint Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams along with University of Missouri economist and education expert Michael Podgursky in a discussion on the state of education in Missouri and what the future may hold in education policy. Seating was limited, but the capacity crowd brought their questions and participated in a lively and informative discussion.

As a state, Missouri has had some forms of digital learning for more than a decade. Rural schools, for example, share courses via interactive television as a way to offer courses (like foreign language and upper level math courses) they otherwise might not be able to offer students.

But there’s much more that can be improved. According to Digital Learning Now’s Report Card for Missouri, state law does not stipulate that student achievement data be used to evaluate the quality of individual online courses, nor does state law require that failing individual course providers be closed.

In this video, Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, explains how digital learning in the classroom helps students receive more personalized attention and high-quality content.

On Feb. 1, 2012, the Alliance for Excellent Education and its partners host the first-ever national Digital Learning Day. That day will celebrate innovative teaching practices that make learning more personalized and engaging. The learning day also will encourage exploration of how digital learning can provide more students with more opportunities to acquire the skills they need to succeed in college, a career, and life.

Early in the morning on July 29, 2011, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund spoke to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the downtown branch of the Kansas City Public Library. The topic was the relationship between Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan, and the positive effects on the national policy that Friedman's influence and Reagan's actions bestowed. The talk was in celebration and remembrance of Milton Friedman, and coincided with other talks around the nation also sponsored by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

Computer-based education is the wave of the future. Virtual schooling offers a suite of options for students not fully served by traditional, brick-and-mortar public schools. Students can access lectures and course materials online from anywhere with internet access and learn on their own time. Missouri public schools offer a number of virtual schooling options for interested students, some of which are discussed in this video.