Sly James: Boosting our schools benefits all Missourians - and especially children | Opinion
Last month, Gov. Mike Parson signed a wide-ranging education bill boosting state education spending by $468 million annually, and that’s a very good thing for all Missourians. The bill sets $40,000 as the minimum teacher salary and doubles potential pre-K seats in public schools. For too long, Missouri has failed to increase resources to our classrooms and teachers, and while some are concerned about future funding, I applaud this spending increase. Moving forward, we should all be diligent in holding legislators accountable to the ongoing improvement of our public schools.
Senate Bill 727, 127 pages long, includes provisions such as charter school expansion — pleasing school reformers — and pre-K expansion for progressives like me, who have long advocated for an investment of this scale in early childhood education. But when critics as well as supporters are vocal about their likes and dislikes, sometimes the details get missed. And the details are important here, especially as it relates to our kids and their education.
Missouri’s education spending and teacher pay have long been neglected, leading to widening disparities and declining student performance. The evidence here is indisputable. Missouri’s near-bottom rankings in these spending categories contribute to our students falling behind. In 2009, Missouri ranked 17th — in the top half of states — in the percentage of eighth graders proficient in reading. Today we rank 32nd. The same goes for math proficiency, where we dropped in rank from 22nd to 28th in the country.
The most common misconception around S.B. 727 is around its spending, and specifically that it requires additional new spending each year that critics think is unsustainable. But what this legislation actually does is focus on updating the state’s funding formula to ensure equitable distribution. For instance, Missouri will now count total student enrollment, and not just average daily attendance, when allocating state funding. S.B. 727 phases out a punitive system that withholds needed resources from high-poverty rural and urban districts with attendance challenges. The new approach will bring Missouri in line with other states, adding significant funding to most every school district in the state, and accounting for nearly half of the $468 million of new funding in the legislation.
One key detail that hasn’t received enough attention is how significantly this bill expands publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs. Research shows that upfront investments in high-quality pre-K can lead to lasting positive benefits for children and their families. S.B. 727 doubles the level of state funding available for pre-kindergarten programs in Kansas City and throughout the state — an annual increase of $60 million. This is a big step forward for Missouri, and for the many families who cannot afford private pre-K programs and remain on waitlists, unable to provide this vital resource to their children.
Although some have criticized the cost of this legislation, such criticism overlooks years of disinvestment that brought us to this juncture. Comprehensive legislative bills like S.B. 727 require inevitable compromises from both sides. However, the bottom line is that our children and educators deserve these belated investments. Amid the current political landscape, Missourians and our Kansas City communities should view this as a genuine victory on their behalf.
Sly James is former mayor of Kansas City and co-founder of consulting and communications firm Wickham James Strategies and Solutions.
