With the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) recently losing their accreditation status, it is clear that St. Louis Public Schools are in crisis. Since only fundamental changes in the way we approach urban education will offer relief from the crisis, I offered several aggressive education bills in my first legislative session.

The Missouri Teaching Fellows Program, Senate Bill 443, aimed to induce top-tier Missouri students to become teachers in Missouri’s low-income communities by offering them substantial assistance in paying back their student loans. This program was included in SB 389 (which unfortunately sold off millions of dollars from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority’s funds), as was an increase in Bright Flight scholarships, which serve to keep Missouri’s best students in the state. Not all of my proposals were embraced, though.

The Metropolitan School District Improvement Act, SB 690, was perhaps the most controversial of all the legislation I introduced. I had support from some of the education groups on pieces of my education reform package, but the city’s teacher unions were in opposition to many of my proposals within SB690. Under this bill, the school day would be extended by an hour to be eight hours and the school year lengthened by 30 days for a total of 204 days. There was a great deal of interesting debate on the Senate Floor about requiring school uniforms for students in the district; in the end this measure did not pass.

There are numerous articles on the success of looping grade levels for both students and teachers. Under my proposal, schools would be granted the opportunity to expand upon current looping programs, in which a teacher stays with a group of students for two or three years in order to enable the development of deeper relationships between students, teachers, and parents. The pilot program that I proposed required the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to conduct a study to measure student achievement, parent and teacher satisfaction, and discipline issues in the ten schools that would experiment with looping for five consecutive years.

My proposals also increased accountability through assessment for both students and teachers. Students would be more frequently tested and then tutored in their areas of deficiency in order to ensure they are not left behind. Another controversial piece of this legislation was to test teachers every five years in the subject they teach. Those who failed to earn 60 percent or higher would be given professional development and then be retested. Teachers who failed to get at least 60 percent twice would face a loss of tenure.

Incentive programs for teachers and schools were also introduced on SB690. Performance pay for teachers would be determined by peer review group evaluation as well as students’ assessment scores from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Performance pay for schools entails rewarding the faculty and staff of those schools which ranked among the top ten percent in the district in terms of improvement on standardized tests. Differential pay entails paying teachers of those subjects with teaching shortages (math, science, and special education) a higher salary.

SB 690 offered funding for after-school and early childhood programs, in addition to separate schools for disruptive students staffed by specialized teachers and social workers and a program to locate truant students and bring them back to school.

Although my omnibus education bill was not reported out of committee, teacher testing, performance pay, and differential pay were amended to SB 161. This large education bill originally established a quality rating system for early child care programs and carried numerous education amendments thought it did not pass this session.

Finally, SB 564 allowed for the creation of charter schools (public institutions with their own board) by the mayor’s office and by regional colleges and universities. This legislation was based on a similar and successful program in Indianapolis, but was not passed.


Senator Jeff Smith

Jeff, thanks for making public education a priority in the work you've done during your first term. I know your support of charter schools extends back to your work to start the Confluence Academies, but what role do you see charter schools playing in the future alongside traditional public schools? Do you see them as a complement to traditional public schools in terms of healthy competition and as a laboratory for methods or do you see charter schools as part of a more significant and far reaching change in the delivery of public education?

John Mann

The future of public education in The City requires a strong tuition voucher system so parents have a real choice. In Dogtown and other southwest neighborhoods the only neighborhood school is the Catholic school. A well designed, state wide, voucher program would actually raise PER STUDENT expenditure in the public schools. This was from a study done in Florida about six years ago.

Is it time yet to address the rampant use of tax abatement in the City of St. Louis? While many will say you can't fix a problem by throwing money at it, I argue there are vital services missing in the public education arena contributing to the problems faced in the SLPS.

I would like to see a bill that finally gives the power to abate the school's portion of the abatement to the ELECTED school board. I believe tax abatement is supposed to cease under this new appointed board, but am quite sure a way around it will be sought. If the schools are truly in such a financial crisis to warrant the takeover, then the SLPS is in no position to lose any tax money it is due. The abatement is bankrupting the district as the tax base moves out of the city. The SLPS gets much of its money from real estate taxes.

I do feel for those who don't feel the SLPS is a viable option for their children, especially since the number one public high school and middle school in all of Missouri are in the SLPS. We could have more. The parochial schools are becoming less of an option as the schools are closed, tuitions are raised, and the classrooms become overcrowded. Charter schools, while judged successful by the waiting lists, have yet to pass adequate yearly progress since their inceptions. So, to any knowledgeable parent, these are not the option either.

The solution to me is truly very simple, fix the SLPS by addressing the real problems of the district. A rating system is not the answer, mega looping is not the answer, longer days and years are not the answer, and believe it or not, uniforms won't help the real problems either. The real problems with the SLPS are what plague all urban areas- social, economical, and environmental.

Find a way to help parents who want to be involved but can't because of three jobs, no transportation, no phone, and raise the children by themselves, to be able to get involved. Find a way to penalize the parents who don't get involved if their able. Find a way to pay for new neighborhood schools so there is more access to the child's school and people can feel the sense of community. Find a way to repair one of the oldest districts in Missouri.

I understand the resentment, and everyone does deserve a free quality public education option for their child. We should all come together to make this district what it could be- not set up more failing schools that dupe parents into thinking they are better.

The SLPS has been plagued now for years with politicians and "consultants" who push the latest greatest thing in education. While some may be beneficial, most is not. Try and think for a moment why many districts work as a whole and the SLPS does not. Take for instance the starting pay of an SLPS teacher. If you pay the least, what kind of resume pool do you think the district has to draw from? Take for instance the 30% homeless rate among the SLPS children. What kind of education do you think a child gets when they move monthly or on the three month eviction cycle?

I am posting this as an SLPS parent, city resident, and frequent visitor to the capitol who wants a quality public school system in St. Louis. Together we can make a difference, but we need to take a time out from specific legislation for SLPS until we reach the root causes of the problems. Some companies use the layered approach and ask why until there is no more why to ask- I suggest we do this before making any decisions that could negatively impact the children further.

Sincerely,

Chad Beffa
LIPS
Lobbying, Informing, Protecting and Serving
From the parents and teachers lips to your ears

While I disagree with much of what you have to say, Mr. Beffa (The elected board is over. Private/charter schools are not the answer. This is not just about real estate tax), I do agree that the real problem is about poverty and what's associated with that. You say "environmental and social problems." Call it what it is--poverty. People are so very hesitant to call it what it is. It's also really about racism. Another factor everyone is ignoring. See the conversations on this web forums that related to race. Outrageous that our community can continue to hide it's head in the sand while our children are suffering from lack of education. The adults can't get it together enough to learn from theirs and others mistakes and move past our historical and deep rooted race issues.

Oh, and "find a way to penalize parents" who don't get involved? You've got to be kidding me! Don't you realize the background of many of the SLPS parents? Many of them also had awful experiences in school and don't want to associate themselves with that institution. Many of them don't know how to get involved with their child's school. And are all schools welcomming to parental involvement? Really welcomming and not just giving lip service?

Everyone that can get their child out of SLPS and into a school where they can get a good education should (not everyone can get into Metro--a private school within the public school system, really). This is about your child's future.

IMGR8 says it all. How can anyone compete with that? I believe you need to re-read my comments. Economical is also included. I am glad you feel so good about yourself. It is a definite need in today's society to love one's self. I am sure your idle would have been Narcissus.

As far as the disengaged parents, a simple fine for child endangerment would suffice for me.

"A good school"- like one of those where you get molested? You are right; it is about the children's future.

"A good school"- like one of those who expel the students just before the MAP testing? Nothing like responsibility on the part of a private for profit corporation. You are right, it is about the children.

The elected school board is over? Apparently you have no clue on what the Transitional School Board of the St. Louis Public Schools is in place for.

Racism? How do the economical problems that face most of the St. Louis Public School children have to do with the belief ones own race is superior to another? Are you suggesting that the current policies or practices are based on that? The policies of the St. Louis Public Schools are almost exactly the same as Rockwood School District. This card is played far too often and far too quickly. Maybe check the dictionary and come up with a more suitable term.

While anyone would be a fool not to recognize the racial segregation in St. Louis, or that there were many policies in business based on prejudicial views, I think the school system has many more problems than such a miniscule way of thinking. The SLPS was once nationally recognized. What has happened since? If you know the answers, you know what plagues the district.

Perhaps you should draw the link from poverty to educational attainment and you would see the root cause. This is a spiraling effect. Schools that don't prepare the children for the collegiate level fail in their secondary design. Students, the majority of them minority based on economic viability and the ability to re-locate, do not go on to college and many times drop out because of prejudicial thinking on their part. They believe they can not make it and the system is set up for them to fail. Some, are just plain lazy.

Now, has the system in other arenas been designed with prejudicial influence? Have these same systems led to an economic disparity among races when education was not a determination in hiring? Are these same systems in place today to continue the economic segregation regardless of color?

I answer yes to all. I do believe however this new economic segregation shows no color barrier. I think the requirement for having a degree in the work force is designed to weed out the LOWER CLASS- not the different races. Education can be many things.

I implore you to reconsider your summation that all the SLPS woes are based on racism. While the economic classes remaining in St. Louis who attend the public schools are a majority of African Americans, the shortcomings effect all who remain.

By the way, Metro’s requirements are grades, community service, extra curricular activities, behavior, and a recommendation from their teacher or administrator.

Sincerely,

Chad Beffa
LIPS

All of those who have written before me make valid points. The issues surrounding public school education in St. Louis are numerous. Charter schools are an option but only for a few. School vouchers are an option for some. Not for all.

Race, class, gender and sexual orientation/identity issues play out in the halls of schools often. I wonder is anyone working on how to keep them safe in school

Didn't we have an anti-bullying law proposed in the Missouri legislature last year that included protection for sexual orientation? What happened to that? Did it pass?

I find it interesting Sen. Smith is quick to offer solutions which require more money. Public education, including the St. Louis School district have received ADEQAUTE money to operate the school system. Much of the money has been wasted on patronage jobs and and contracts for people connected to the school board members over the last 25 years. The discussion about race as a issue is just plain tiring. PLEASE, don't try to play the race card as an excuse for everything wrong in the St. Louis School district. The management and educators are mostly black.
The issue becomes people like Sen. Smith pandering to the school district employees by offering more money without real accountabilbity. I like to see a funding proposal that would include merit pay for teachers. Pay for results.
I am sure we will not see proposal pushed by Sen Smith.

I see where you're going with this, Lee. But don't you think there are more people with the responsibility in addition to the teachers? It really is a whole system of folks (including parents, communities, administrative systems, etc) that are factors in a student's success. And lets not forget the responsibility of the student!

I think teachers (along with everyone else mentioned above) should have some more accountability. But, teachers alone can not be accountable for a student's succes.

Take another reason of housing instability. I know when I volunteered in an elementary school in the city several years ago, for example, there was 60% turnover in student body in the year. Think about that from a teacher's perspective. Of the 30 students who came into your classroom at the end of August, only 12 of them are still there in May! How can that teacher be accountable for the outcomes in May of all 30 studnets now sitting in his/her room?