Page 518 – Show-Me Institute

Charter Performance III: Without Imagine

Posted on December 31, 2012May 5, 2026 by James V. Shuls

Communication Arts

This past year, the failure of the Imagine Academy network of charter schools was widely publicized. As a result, the charter network’s sponsor dropped Imagine and the schools closed. This is how charter advocates have suggested the market would work; when schools are not performing, they close. Because the Imagine schools are now closed, I have calculated the same comparisons from my previous two posts, removing all Imagine schools from the past five years. Of course, we cannot erase the failing of Imagine schools, but it is interesting nonetheless to see what kind of difference the closing of a poor school might have on the overall performance in the charter market.

The change in scores when Imagine schools are removed is most noticeable in Saint Louis, where most Imagine schools were located. In both communication arts and mathematics, Saint Louis charter schools have higher percentages of students scoring proficient or advanced than the traditional public schools of Saint Louis. Without factoring in Imagine, 32.9 percent of students in Saint Louis charter schools scored proficient or advanced in communication arts, 2.9 percentage points higher than the local public schools. Since 2008, the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced has risen in Saint Louis charter schools by nearly 88 percent.

Charter and Traditional Public School Performance in Communication Arts (Imagine removed)

Mathematics Comparison

The story in mathematics is much the same. In both cities, charter schools have higher percentages of students scoring proficient or advanced, when Imagine schools are removed. Kansas City charters scored 11.4 percentage points higher than Kansas City traditional public schools; Saint Louis charters scored 6.4 percentage points higher. Both charter sectors have shown steady growth. From 2008 to 2012, the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced has increased 55 percent in Kansas City and 82 percent in Saint Louis.

Charter and Traditional Public School Performance in Mathematics (Imagine removed)

On average, charter schools in Saint Louis and Kansas City have shown fairly consistent growth over the past five years. Kansas City charter schools have higher percentages of students scoring proficient or advanced than the local school district; Saint Louis charter schools are closing the gap between them and the traditional Saint Louis school district. The growth is even more dramatic when the now closed Imagine charter schools are removed from the comparison.

Charter Performance II: Math

Posted on December 30, 2012May 5, 2026 by James V. Shuls

This is the second of four posts on the subject of Missouri charter school performance. In my previous post, I showed that charter schools have displayed increasing performance over the past five years in both Kansas City and Saint Louis. And, in both cities, charter schools are performing at similar levels in communication arts as the traditional school districts. The math results are even more promising for charter schools.

Charter schools in Saint Louis and Kansas City have shown growth every year since 2009. Since 2008, the percent of students proficient or advanced in Saint Louis charters schools has grown 77 percent; in Kansas City charters it has increased 55 percent. Students in Kansas City charter schools now outperform students in Kansas City traditional public schools by 8.9 percentage points. The gains were slightly less pronounced in Saint Louis. Nevertheless, the difference in terms of percent proficient and advanced dropped from 6.1 percentage points in 2011 to 0.5 percentage points in 2012. The closing of the gap came not only from charter school gains, but also from a drop in Saint Louis public school scores.

Charter and Traditional Public School Performance in Math

There is still much to be desired in terms of overall performance of charter schools. But, unlike traditional public schools, which may be perennially failing yet remain open, charter schools can close if they are low-performing. Indeed, we have seen this in practice in Missouri with the closing of the Imagine charter school network. In my next post, I will examine the student achievement scores without the Imagine schools data.

Charter Performance I: Communication Arts

Posted on December 28, 2012May 5, 2026 by James V. Shuls

The performance of charter schools in Missouri often is the subject of much scrutiny. Ideally, we would evaluate schools not just on attainment, but also on growth. Unfortunately, I do not have access to data that allow me to do the latter (yet). Nevertheless, in this and my subsequent three posts, I will present a snapshot comparison of overall charter performance compared to the performance of the districts from which charter students come.

As you will see, Missouri charter schools have shown steady growth over the past five years. Though there still is much to be desired, there also is room for optimism.

The data I use in this analysis contain the results of the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) and End-of-Course exams (EOC) for the past five years. In Missouri, students in grades three through eight take the MAP test in communication arts, math, and science. End-of-Course exams are required in four subjects: algebra I, biology, English II, and government. Student scores are reported in one of four categories: below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced.

These data provide for a simple comparison of schools and school districts at one point in time, but should be viewed with some caution because the scores do not capture prior student achievement.

Below, I display the percentage of students in Saint Louis and Kansas City charter and traditional public schools scoring proficient or advanced on all required communication arts exams in each of the past five years. This includes students who took the MAP or required EOC exams in communication arts.

In both cities, the overall performance of students is low, with less than 35 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced in all four groups. Of the four, Kansas City charter schools have slightly higher achievement in most years, including 2012. Noticeably, charter schools in Saint Louis have shown steady increases in the percent of students scoring proficient or advanced since 2008. They have closed the gap with Saint Louis Public Schools in terms of achievement, from 7.6 percentage points in 2011 to 3.3 percentage points in 2012. Over the past five years, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in communication arts has increased 74 percent in Saint Louis and 26 percent in Kansas City, respectively.

Charter and Traditional Public School Performance in Communication Arts

Finally, The Numbers: TOD Problems (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on December 27, 2012May 5, 2026 by Kacie Barnes (Galbraith)

Simply put, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is an expensive way to create any visible signs of economic improvement. But it is kind of like growing carrots. You have no idea how those carrots are doing while they grow underground. The new fertilizer that your neighbor swears by seems to be doing the trick, and their pretty green tops shot up so fast. Then you pull one out of the ground to find this weird, oblong, mutated claw-shaped thing that kind of resembles a carrot.

You still got a carrot, but it definitely was not what you were expecting. Believe it or not, government-subsidized economic development programs often end up with the same result. It may seem like these new Transit-Oriented Developments will create jobs and attract new investment to the area. And you might see some new stores pop up and think, “Wow, this is progress.”

But what is underneath? In the Saint Louis area, governments provided about $2 billion of economic development incentives for retail development from 1990 to 2007. Over this time, only 5,400 retail jobs were added to the region. You might say, “That is better than no jobs, Kacie, stop being such a Debbie Downer.” But the East-West Gateway Council of Governments released a report that estimates each one of these jobs costing about $370,000 each.

That is insane! If you knew the real cost before these types of projects were put into place, would you still support them?

We Like the ‘burbs: TOD Problems (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on December 26, 2012May 5, 2026 by Kacie Barnes (Galbraith)

If I could create something that would decrease poverty, raise incomes, provide more jobs, or lower gas prices, I would. But these are the types of problems that we cannot fix in the same way that we would fix a broken chair leg or leaky faucet. Russell Roberts, an economics professor at George Mason University, notes that “we want to change outcomes without consequences with the ease of adjusting the thermostat on the wall of our house.” He explains that the economy cannot be controlled in the same way. The economy is “the product of human action but not of human design,” he said.

New Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Saint Louis is a tool the government uses as an attempt to design where and how we live. They want to make more people ride the Metro, reduce car trips, and increase economic development in the area. There is nothing wrong with wanting economic development, but the government cannot see into the future. I used to work for the government, so trust me — they know just as much as you or I do. They cannot prove that Transit-Oriented Development will achieve their goals.

Just because the government creates shops and housing around a Metro station, it does not mean that more people will want to ride the Metro. Those who already used the Metro will continue to ride it, but those of us who prefer to drive our cars will continue to drive our cars.

Surveys suggest that four out of five Americans prefer a home with a yard as opposed to living near shops, transit, or jobs. It is a waste of resources to create TODs because they simply are not capable of achieving the intended goals. If the government really wants us to ride the Metro, they will have to do something more drastic, such as shutting down all the roads, or making it illegal to drive. But I think it is safe to say those things will not happen.

Problems With Transit-Oriented Development (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on December 24, 2012May 5, 2026 by Kacie Barnes (Galbraith)

Many people believe that the government can give us things for free.

I recently attended a public meeting about proposed new development around five Saint Louis/Illinois Metro stations (Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD). The speaker discussed how we can have anything we want — new grocery stores, Walmarts, restaurants, you name it. One guy raised his hand to ask a wise question. He wondered whether an increase in taxes will pay for these projects.

You could see the minor panic on the speaker’s face when he had to talk about how we would pay for such a thing. He indicated that the funding would come from many sources, and we likely could receive money from above. Oh right, money falling from the sky, I have seen that happen from time to time.

What he meant, of course, is the likelihood of receiving contributions from other levels of government to help pay for these projects. And people at the meeting were nodding their heads as if they were saying, “OK, good, so I am not paying for this.” Wrong! Just because you are not writing a check directly to these projects does not mean that you are not paying for it. Almost all of us (taxpayers) pay for the federally subsidized projects that occur all over the country.

It is a problem to disassociate ourselves with government because it does not help us achieve the best outcomes. If we think that someone else is picking up the tab for these projects, we are more likely to support superfluous developments. It is like someone telling you that you can have a new BMW for free, and they mention something about monthly payments that start a year from now. But the car is just so nice that you tune that part out because you now have a slick new ride.

We need to be more aware of the ways that government spends our money. It can help us make wiser choices about the development of our communities, and it can empower us to realize when we do not want the government to be involved.

David Stokes on KZRG

Posted on December 21, 2012May 5, 2026 by David Stokes

David Stokes breaks down the Tax Increment
Financing District proposal before the City of Joplin.

MUST READ: The Minority Report From The Tax Credit Review Commission

Posted on December 20, 2012May 5, 2026 by Patrick Ishmael

As Show-Me Policy Assistant Kacie Galbraith noted last week, I was not high on the idea of reconstituting the Missouri Tax Credit Review Commission (TCRC) this year because I assumed the commission would, at best, reaffirm its previous findings. I said at the time that “[w]hat I want to see is leadership on the issue from our elected officials, not a cycle of committee meetings where nothing gets done.”

In fact, the TCRC’s new recommendations actually kick the tax credit reform can even further down the road, presenting an even less ambitious reform proposal than it did in 2010. Among other things, the TCRC recommended higher caps than it did just two years ago on giant fiscal violators such as the Historic Preservation Tax Credit program. Missouri’s tax credit disease has become worse over the last two years. In response, the TCRC has recommended . . . dialing down the reform dosage from its previous reform prescription.

What a disappointment.

That does not mean that nothing worthwhile came from the TCRC, or at least, despite it. Based in part on commission member Craig Van Matre’s early draft report, eight commission members also produced a blistering minority report. That report actually cites free-market luminaries such as Frederick Hayek and Henry Hazlitt for intellectual support and takes a rhetorical hammer to the state’s tax credit woes. That report is embedded below.

It really would have been something if the TCRC had adopted the minority report rather than retrenched the tax credit status quo. Sadly, the body on the whole took the tax credit debate in precisely the wrong direction.

Tax Subsidies For The Wealthy

Posted on December 20, 2012May 5, 2026 by David Stokes

Tax Increment Financing is one of the most common forms of local government corporate welfare. Here in Saint Louis, developers are attempting to use it in one of the most vibrant and economically healthy neighborhoods. A new high-rise apartment and Whole Foods grocery would be wonderful, but it should not involve taxpayer subsidy.