Right now, Missouri only classifies a school as unsafe if it has a high rate of violence and a high number of expulsions for three years in a row. Because expulsions almost never happen, the conditions are almost impossible to meet. As a result, no school is ever designated as unsafe, and families aren’t allowed to transfer out.

Changing one word, from “AND” to “OR,” would finally make the rule work the way federal law intended.

What doesn’t work

Since the law passed, there have been nearly 19,000 violent incidences in Missouri schools and over 4,000 weapons violations. In 2024, more than 12,200 Missouri students attended schools that had at least one violent incident in each of three consecutive years, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Even with these numbers, the state has not identified a single school as unsafe.

Missouri schools expelled zero students in 2024 and only five students in 2023. With so few expulsions, the Unsafe School Choice Option almost never applies, even in schools with serious safety problems.

The simple fix: change one word

In places like Poplar Bluff, University City, and the City of St. Louis, students face serious safety problems each year, yet their families have never been told about their rights.

Missouri should replace the word and with or.
A school should be designated unsafe if it has serious violence, or a high expulsion rate, or weapons violations.

This one change would help families learn when a school is unsafe and allow them to use the transfer option that federal law gives them.

More About the USCO

This one-pager explains how Missouri’s overly narrow definition leaves families without the protections ESSA guarantees and outlines steps policymakers can take to fix it.

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Here’s an overview of some of the legislation passed this session (some of which is still awaiting the governor’s signature):

$50 MILLION FOR MOSCHOLARS PROGRAM

• First public investment in the K–12 scholarship program, with $50 million approved in the state budget
• Could triple the number of students served, expanding access to private school, homeschooling, and
specialized support

TELEHEALTH AND HEALTH CARE REFORMS: SB 79

• Improves telehealth access by allowing both audio-only and audiovisual services on any HIPAAcompliant
platform
• Expands health benefit offerings by allowing certain organizations to offer health plans to members,
sometimes referred to as farm bureau or association health plans, without many of the burdensome state
and federal restrictions that apply to traditional insurance offerings

PROTECTING PROPERTY RIGHTS: HB 595 AND HB 343

• Prohibits cities and counties from requiring landlords to participate in voluntary federal housing
programs such as Section 8 housing vouchers
• Bans caps on security deposits and restrictions on tenant screening criteria like income, credit, and
criminal history

CAPITAL GAINS TAX EXEMPTION: HB 594

• Exempts 100% of long-term capital gains from Missouri state income tax for individuals
• Applies to all individual income reported as capital gains for federal tax purposes, starting tax year 2025
• Designed to encourage investment and entrepreneurship by reducing the tax burden on productive
activity

EXPANDING LICENSE PORTABILITY: SB 150

• Expands access to temporary occupational licenses across most licensed professions in Missouri by
repealing the harmful compact exemption, ensuring that more professionals moving to Missouri can
start working without unnecessary delays
• Provides expedited occupational licenses to law enforcement spouses moving to Missouri, allowing
those licensed in another state for at least one year and in good standing to receive a Missouri license
within 30 days of applying

Download a copy of the report here.

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Click here to download this publication.

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Download the document here. 

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Download a copy of the report here.

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Download a copy of the Fact Sheet 

The proposed St. Louis MetroLink extension, with its staggering $1.1 billion price tag, would be useless and expensive.

Demand for public transit along this proposed new light rail route, spanning 5 miles primarily along Jefferson Avenue, is such that there is currently NO bus route that serves this same route, yet we are to believe a light rail system is sorely needed and will be heavily used.

The projected ridership of 5,000 boardings per day is underwhelming, especially when compared to past forecasts for MetroLink ridership. In 2004, Metro predicted 80,000 daily boardings by 2025 for the Missouri side alone; yet, in 2023, the entire system averaged just 16,700 boardings.

We can look to the Loop Trolley debacle as a cautionary tale. Despite abysmal ridership numbers, St. Louis is stuck funding the trolley due to federal funding stipulations. The exact same thing will happen with this latest MetroLink extension proposal. It will cost over a BILLION dollars, have VERY FEW riders, and we will be forced to operate and fund it for decades. This project isn’t merely wasteful. It is an actively harmful expenditure of federal and local tax dollars.

The post Useless and Expensive: The Proposed St. Louis MetroLink Extension appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

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These questions and others are addressed in my latest report, which also presents a program-by-program account of how education dollars are spent in the state. To read the full report, click here.

To supplement the full report, below are six infographics designed to illustrate how billions of dollars flow into public education each year in Missouri, and how they flow out. Where does it come from, and where does it go?

The post Six Ways to Better Understand the DESE Budget appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Debunking a Myth About Rural Education in Missouri appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Visit treasurer.mo.gov for more information

The post How The Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program Works appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

2020-2021 Data Now Available at MoSchoolRankings.org

Missouri Has an Education Emergency

Missouri schools are failing to teach the core subjects of reading and math and the most recent test scores show that students are falling further behind.

Missouri’s Department of Secondary and Elementary (MO DESE) has not offered the level of transparency regarding student performance that is necessary to create an education system focused on higher standards, reducing achievement gaps, and results-based accountability.

The status quo is leaving thousands of students behind without the fundamental skills to pursue higher education or compete in the modern labor market.

About the Project

In response to DESE’s failure to perform one of its most basic functions, we launched The Missouri School Rankings Project and MoSchoolRankings.org.

The mission of The Missouri School Rankings Project is to make student performance data more transparent by providing parents, policymakers, educators, and taxpayers with access to easy-to-understand information about every Missouri school and school district in order to motivate actions that will result in dramatic reforms to Missouri’s education system.

Visit MoSchoolRankings.org

The post We Gave DESE a Report Card appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Visit MoSchoolRankings.org

About the Project

In response to DESE’s failure to perform one of its most basic functions, we launched The Missouri School Rankings Project and MoSchoolRankings.org.

The mission of The Missouri School Rankings Project is to make student performance data more transparent by providing parents, policymakers, educators, and taxpayers with access to easy-to-understand information about every Missouri school and school district in order to motivate actions that will result in dramatic reforms to Missouri’s education system.

Why School-level Data Matters

Parents Need Information to Choose

Parents need accurate information to make informed decisions about which school will best serve their children. MoSchoolRankings.org provides a detailed picture of student performance for each school.

Comparison Reveals Problems and Solutions 

The MoSchoolRankings.org comparison tool allows users to compare student performance from up to 3 schools at a time.

By comparing schools that serve similar student populations, we can identify successful schools and learn from them.

The ability to compare individual schools also allows families who are relocating to make informed decisions about which districts or school boundaries to move into. The comparison tool also highlights that many Missouri families, who are not able to move, are trapped in low-performing schools and districts.

Spending Data

The public sector should make it easy for citizens to see how their money is being spent. The powers that be shouldn’t tailor spending numbers to include some things and exclude others. So we’re providing everything, and users can decide what they consider to be relevant. The entire data set of nearly 500 variables for each district available for download. And the DESE accounting manual can be accessed on the site.

The Rankings

Each student performance metric is given a grade of A through F. The grades are combined to produce a grade point average, or GPA, which is then converted to a single letter grade. Each school and district receives a letter grade and is ranked accordingly. Information on how grades and ranks are calculated can be found on the Grading Methodology page.

The performance rankings are calculated using several performance metrics that measure student performance.

These metrics are:

• Student performance in ELA and mathematics
• Low-income student performance in ELA and mathematics
• Student growth in ELA and mathematics
• A comparison of student performance in ELA and math to each school or district’s expected performance based on its enrollment of economically disadvantaged students
• 4-year graduation rate
• ACT scores

If multiple schools or districts had the lowest possible score for an item (for example, if 0 percent of their students scored Proficient or higher in math), then they would share a rank.

Key Terms

Definitions and further explanations of the terms used to determine rankings can be found in the glossary section.

Some key terms to understand while exploring the portal are:

Achievement Levels

• Below Basic—the student has only a minimal understanding of the material.
• Basic—the student has a partial understanding of the material.
• Proficient—the student has an adequate understanding and is able to apply subject matter as defined by the Missouri Learning Standards.
• Advanced—the student demonstrates a thorough understanding and ability to apply subject matter.

Academic Growth

A statistical model used to identify differences in student academic growth from one year to the next among schools or districts with similar baseline scores.

Adjusted Achievement 

For each school or district, the percentage of low-income enrollment was multiplied by the baseline rate and subtracted from the baseline. The result is the school’s (or district’s) predicted score. If a school’s (or district’s) expected score is higher than its actual score, it underperformed. If a school’s (or district’s) expected score is lower than its actual score, it overperformed.

Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) and Targeted School Improvement (TSI)

Schools with these designations are low-performing schools. 

Additional Information About Districts and Schools Includes:

• Percent of low-income students
• Percent of students with disabilities
• Full-Time Equivalent teachers
• Average teacher salary
• Total expenditures
• Total expenditures per pupil

About the Research

The Missouri School Rankings Project is led by Show-Me Institute’s Director of Research and Education Policy Dr. Susan Pendergrass. Before joining the Show-Me Institute, Susan Pendergrass was Vice President of Research and Evaluation for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, where she oversaw data collection and analysis and carried out a rigorous research program. Susan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, with a concentration in Finance, at the University of Colorado in 1983. She earned her Masters in Business Administration at George Washington University, with a concentration in Finance (1992) and a doctorate in public policy from George Mason University, with a concentration in social policy (2002). Susan began researching charter schools with her dissertation on the competitive effects of Massachusetts charter schools. Since then, she has conducted numerous studies on the fiscal impact of school choice legislation. Susan has also taught quantitative methods courses at the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies, at Johns Hopkins University, and at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. Prior to coming to the National Alliance, Susan was a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education during the Bush administration and a senior research scientist at the National Center for Education Statistics during the Obama administration.

Contact Us about the Project 

The post The Missouri School Rankings Project appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Find more on the performance of schools in Missouri at MoSchoolRankings.org

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The 2022 Blueprint: Moving Missouri Forward presents 15 policy ideas aimed at moving Missouri forward to a brighter future. The Blueprint covers a broad range of issues—from education to health care, from public pensions to corporate welfare, and from tax policy to government transparency. Our expert policy team has thoroughly researched and analyzed the problems facing our state today, and their work informs the policy solutions that follow. We believe that with the right policies Missouri could lead the nation in wealth, quality education, and a vibrant and flourishing civil society.

Download the 2022 Missouri Blueprint

The post 2022 Missouri Blueprint appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Download Infographic Here

How ESAs would be funded

• ESAs are not paid for through the state budget – Under the proposed ESA legislation, individuals and businesses would make a donation to a scholarship granting organization and in return receive a tax credit. Those donations would then be used to grant scholarships to qualifying students who could use the funds to enroll in another school district, a charter school, a private school, or cover the costs of homeschooling.
• ESAs do not directly impact the funding formula – As a result of this funding structure, ESAs may result in decreases in the general revenue through tax collections, but they will not directly impact the foundation formula funding for public schools in Missouri.
• Tax credits go to donors, not scholarship recipients – There is no connection between the individual or businesses making donations and those receiving scholarships. For example, making a donation does not guarantee access to a scholarship for your child and conversely, families do not receive any tax credit for paying for private school tuition or homeschooling expenses.
• There are no federal funds being redirected to support proposed ESA legislation – ESAs would be funded solely through donations that would be encouraged/rewarded through tax credits. No direct funding, either from the state foundation formula or from federal education funding is involved.
• Learn more here

ESAs actually increase funding for public schools

• Two amendments to HB349 would actually increase funding for public schools in Missouri if Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are finally passed.
  • The first amendment ties the operation of the ESA program to increasing state reimbursement for school transportation costs to at least a 40% level. In recent years the state has only reimbursed district schools for 10%-15% of their transportation costs, so this would be a major increase in funding, especially for rural schools. The same provision has been added to SB55.
  • The second amendment creates a “hold-harmless” condition that guarantees that any district that has students leaving their schools as a result of receiving an ESA scholarship will still receive state funding for that student for five years. This means that over a five-year period district schools could receive $31,875 in state funding for every student who receives an ESA even though they no longer have to pay for that child’s education.
  • See the final text of HB349 passed by the House: https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills211/hlrbillspdf/0711H.03P.pdf

ESAs are not vouchers and not the same as 529 plans

• Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are very different from vouchers used in other states:
  • Vouchers involve state funding being directly paid to private schools through a voucher distributed to families sending their children to those schools. Under the proposed ESA legislation, funds would be distributed directly to families who could then choose to use those funds in a variety of ways. As highlighted above, the funds sent to families would come from a non-profit scholarship granting organizations funded through donations NOT from the state budget.
  • Vouchers limit families to spending funds for private school tuition. The proposed ESA program would allow families to use funds for a wide variety of educational costs including costs for homeschooling, testing costs, tutoring needs, therapies for students with special needs, transportation to school, tuition at public charter and district schools outside of their home district and private school tuition. As a result, ESAs give families many more options to find an educational environment that meets their children’s specific needs.
• ESAs are not the same as 529 plans
  • Under current federal law, families can open a 529 savings account for their children, use funds in that account to pay for private K-12 tuition and receive the same tax benefits (about $500 in savings a year) as they would if they used the 529 account to pay for college tuition. While this is a benefit to families who can already afford private school tuition, it does not make accessing a private school a possibility for low-income families in the same way that an ESA would. The Show Me A Brighter Future Scholarship program that has been proposed would be funded the same way as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, but instead of disbursing funds to families through a scholarship granting organization, the state treasurer would set up a 529 account for families receiving a scholarship and they would then use that account to pay tuition.
  • Learn more here

The post How Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) Work appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Download the infographic here

Additional Findings

• Missouri students are being left behind academically. A poll released today by the Show-Me Institute reveals that nearly 40 percent of Missouri parents believe their children are being left behind academically this year, compared to less than 7 percent last year.

• Missouri’s limited educational freedom places a high burden on parents. Nearly half (46 percent) of Missouri parents report spending over $250 on school supplies for the 2020-21 school year. A similar number of parents (48 percent) report spending over 10 hours per week helping their children with school instruction this academic year.

• Parents would like other options for their children’s education. Almost half of all Missouri families (47 percent) would change their child’s educational environment for the remainder of the school year if they had the chance.

The post New Poll Shows Missouri’s Educational System in Crisis appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

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