Despite passing 100 bills, the Missouri General Assembly failed to get most of its education priorities across the finish line before the end of its annual legislative session.
Both parties blamed the other for not passing more education legislation.
Bills to restrict classroom screen time and bring back cursive writing, improve literacy and establish an "A" through "F" grading system for Missouri schools saw success in the House because Democrats and Republicans were able to work together, said Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, D-Columbia, a former teacher.
House education committee Chair Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, another former teacher, said there isn't always a place for partisanship in education.
"Both Republicans and Democrats want our students to be well educated," Lewis said. "I mean, there are some divides on some issues, but in many of the issues there's a lot of common ground."
But after the House sent its education bills to the Senate during the first half of session, Lewis said the measures languished in the Senate.
"And then (they) got used as pawns in the political games that occur sometimes in the Senate, and I don't play the political games that way," Lewis, who is running for a state Senate seat, said.
"I believe if it's good policy, it's good policy, and you should vote for it and get behind it."
Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, criticized the committee chair, Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, throughout this year's session for choosing to hear what she called culture war legislation — including bills to keep teachers from recognizing a student's preferred gender and teach about abortion by third grade.
The former teacher also said she opposed Republican legislation that asks more of school districts and teachers.
"At the same time that they continue to mandate more and more, nothing has been lifted away from teachers," Nurrenbern said.
But Brattin said he and the Republican senators who sponsored education legislation stood firm on their priorities.
"I'm sorry they don't like them, but they can't win on their ideals," Brattin said. "They can't win on those. That's why they are a superminority."
Brattin is running for Congress and will not return to the Missouri legislature, but he said hopes his party will likely take up literacy, screen time and school choice legislation again next year.
"You're going to hear this from the next education chair because these are big issues," Brattin said.
He added, "Some years you have some real monumental years and movement, and some years you don't and you just regroup and try to go after it the next year."
Child literacy
A literacy bill that passed the House would have fully eliminated the three-cueing system that students use to read using word structure, meaning and visual cues.
Under the legislation, teachers would need to teach students on a number of new factors based on the science of reading, including phonics, comprehension and vocabulary.
Representatives in favor of the bill cited several other states, including Mississippi, that have drastically improved child literacy after passing similar legislation.
Daniel Watson, a youth organizer for the Coalition With STL Kids, testified in favor of the bill at a January hearing. One goal of the organization is improving the literacy rating in St. Louis Public Schools.
According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, more than 40% of the district's students perform below basic on reading assessments.
Watson also said he attended both the Normandy and Clayton school districts as a child, and they taught language arts very differently.
"We have two districts, two realities, one state, barely five miles apart. And that's why I'm here," he told the committee.
Reading builds confidence and understanding of the world, Watson said.
"With the inflation and gas prices and just how the economy is right now — that just shows the importance of literacy, because you want to put yourself in the best position to be able to be employed and to be a productive member in society."
Though disappointed the legislation didn't pass this year, Watson said he would be back to testify next year, when he hopes the plan is improved.
Under the legislation, third graders with reading deficiencies may be held back — a point of contention for many.
Steinhoff said she would struggle with the bill if it didn't have exemptions for disabled students and English-language learners.
"If you've got a kid who can't read at the third grade level, there's a very, very, very high chance they will never be on grade level," Steinhoff said. "So, why not take the chance that you could improve their ability to read and get them in a better place with their peers?"
Nurrenbern said she didn't like the bill because the legislature passed reform in 2022.
"One of the biggest arguments there is that we need to let the paint dry," Nurrenbern said. "We've done a lot with literacy in Missouri and I think we're starting to see some really important gains."
School grading
Watson also supported a bill to establish an "A" through "F" system for grading Missouri schools because he said low-performing districts need to take accountability.
Republicans in favor of the legislation echoed his position.
"Show them why you know you're an 'A' school," Lewis said. "(But) if you're an 'F' school, you need to recognize why you're an 'F' school and change, right?"
Lewis said his party did accept Democrats' suggestions to provide funding for the schools that show improvement on metrics such as literacy, rather than just the "A" schools.
"The devil's always in the details, and you have to work those details out," Lewis said. "We need to make sure that it's not going to be used as a stick to beat up on a school."
But some remained staunchly opposed to the bill, including Nurrenbern, who said the legislature should rethink the state's way of testing students before basing a new grading system on their scores.
"The governor on down really want to go out there and paint a picture that our public schools are doing terribly, that they're underperforming," Nurrenbern said, adding she believes it's a way to excuse allocating more money for private school vouchers.
Because Kehoe called for "A" through "F" in an executive order, the state education department is next in line to try implementing the grading system.
Screen time
Another bill that passed the House but not the Senate would have required schools to adopt a policy limiting screen time in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
Jaime Alexander, who has children in the Pattonville and Rockwood school districts, urged the House not to pass the legislation when it was heard in committee because she said her son and other gifted students in the Pattonville district rely on iPads for accelerated learning.
"Look at what we do all day, right? We're on screens all day as well," Alexander said. "When I was a kid, it was the TV, and we lamented how much time kids were spending on TV."
Schools should be able to decide when the technology can be used effectively, and not as a crutch, Alexander said.
Rockwood Superintendent Curtis Cain said the matter is better left up to schools.
"It's an ongoing dialogue and it's a part of what we do as a school district," Cain said. "I think that there's concern about where that direction in fact would be coming from."
But Steinhoff, Lewis and Nurrenbern supported the effort, as well as Brattin, who said computer centered-learning makes it hard for some parents to help with homework.
"Kids are completely dependent on these devices, their attention spans (are) that of a flea," Brattin added. "It's really made education as a whole take about 10 steps back."
Brattin also favored a provision of the bill that would have instructed the state literacy council to research reintroducing cursive writing in schools because he said the pencil-to-paper connection aids learning.
"All these things that for hundreds of years we've been doing and have been kind of the basics, we threw it out," Brattin said. "And now we've realized — the, 'Oh crap,' moment — that we went way too far."
Funding concerns
Francis Howell School District parent Harry Harris is concerned about school funding.
"You've shortchanged our schools. You've given away money to private education," Harris said.
Harris referenced the legislature's allocation of $10 million more than last year for private school vouchers and passing of a budget that falls short of fully funding the education formula by $190 million.
Cain is one of many superintendents worried about this year's budget creating uncertainty.
"Our students have enough to think about and to concern themselves with. Funding the public education should not be what our youth have to think about, or our parents," Cain said.
With the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education poised to provide new funding formula recommendations by December — and more tight budgets ahead — Steinhoff said aiding education will become more difficult.
"We start taking away their resources, we start adding more to the plate with legislation — I think we've got some more tough years ahead of us in the world of education," Steinhoff said.
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