A report card grading states based on parental rights crowned Missouri with a C-.
The Center for Education Reform ranked the Show Me state in 19th place on the Parent Power Index partly due to having a governor who is quiet about parental rights and a law that restricts charter schools to just Kansas City and St. Louis.
“Our lowest performing districts is where they are restricted to,” said Susan Pendergrass, director of education policy with the Show-Me Institute, a think tank that advances free-market policies statewide. “Outside of those districts, the charter school could open, but the local school board would have to be the sponsor at the charter school, which is a non-starter in Missouri.”
The PPI measures each state’s ability to afford parents the power to make decisions for their child’s education, to provide transparency, to value the condition of each child’s family, and to put children first before the education system.
“A lot of the discussion is about the teacher shortage, teacher retention, teacher pay, and teachers, teachers, teachers but I don't hear a lot of talk about parents,” Pendergrass told the St. Louis Record. “It's just a lot of talk about teachers, but not so much about what can we do to empower families and to empower parents.”
Florida was the top-ranking state on the Index followed by Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Although the office of Gov. Parson launched the Missouri Connect and Learn Initiative, when it comes to digital learning Missouri was slapped with a D grade.
That’s because the Missouri Connect and Learn Initiative just isn’t reaching that many students, according to Pendergrass.
“In states with higher grades like Florida you just simply notify your superintendent that you're signing your child up for virtual school instead of their school but in Missouri, you have to ask permission,” she said. “The legislature fixed it last year so that virtual students don't have to ask for permission, but it's not being implemented in good faith. The implementation rules got weird.”
When it comes to choice programs, Missouri scored a D even though lawmakers did approve the Education Savings Account program.
"It's only for students with disabilities and low-income students but the biggest barrier is that they have to be in one of these very small communities of 30,000 or more," Pendergrass added. "Missouri is considering a bill that says any parent in the state can take their state funding of $6,400 to the school of their choice. That is a stretch for us, but if it were approved, it would move us to the top 10 of the ranking for sure."