Weekly Update

January 5, 2024

Reform school or school reform?

As we prepared to publish our first newsletter of 2024, an interesting update regarding education policy landed in our inboxes before pressing send. Late Friday, the Missouri House posted a notification announcing the formation of a new committee—the House Special Committee on Education Reform.

While the speaker has yet to refer a bill to this new committee, we eagerly await to learn the kind of 'reform' this group expects to tackle.

Education reform can encompass a wide range of objectives, including improving outcomes, enhancing teaching methods, addressing inequality, promoting accountability, and reducing bureaucracy. The possibilities are endless, and one could argue that every bill routed through any education committee would attempt to address a reformation.

However, the word 'reform' often gets exchanged with the word 'choice,' and even 'choice' in the education space seems to refer to allowing parents and students to choose from different types of schools: traditional public, public charter, and private.

Like the word 'reform,' choice too has multiple contexts. Choice can take the form of personalized learning, vocational learning, and project-based learning. Reform is good, and choice is good. Because one size fits all only works for one size.

But in our polarized political world, 'reform' generally means 'choice,' and 'choice' means charter school expansion, education savings accounts, and open enrollment.

So, one hot take on this recent move is that an extra education committee gives the speaker a place to direct the controversial school choice education bills, allowing the regular education committee to tackle more popular reforms.

About Aligned

Aligned is the only state-wide non-profit, nonpartisan business group working in Kansas and Missouri on educational issues impacting the full development of our children, from supporting high-quality early learning to solid secondary programs that provide rigorous academic programs and real-world learning opportunities.

Our vision is that our public education systems in Kansas and Missouri have the resources and flexibility to prepare students to pursue the future of their choice.

We are currently focused on education policies that will strengthen early childhood education, teacher recruitment and retention, and school finance reform.

Learn more about our work.

Missouri News

Aligned Agenda

We have prioritized early childhood education funding and regulatory relief, teacher recruitment and retention, and school finance reform for the 2024 session. So far, we are tracking 14 bills that include some provision related to those areas. See our Aligned Priority tracking list here.

Two house hearings are on the agenda for next week:

Early Childhood Education and Childcare

HB 1488 (Shields) Tax Credits for Childcare

Committee on Workforce and Infrastructure Development

January 10th at 10:00 a.m. or upon adjournment

Teacher Recruitment and Retention

HB 1648 (Black) - Public Employee Incentives*

Committee on Government Efficiency and Downsizing

January 10th at 8:00 a.m.

*this bill includes legislation to allow schools to offer differentiated pay. See our issue brief.

To submit testimony online, click on the linked bill number above.

School performance report discussion axed from agenda

The State Board of Education will convene for its monthly meeting next Tuesday. Some of the items on the agenda include a report on the four-day school week and teacher apprenticeships in Missouri. The board was also slated to discuss the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 6 Annual Performance Report, but that agenda item was removed late Friday.

In December, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the 2023 Annual Performance Reports. The scores reflect a broader examination of a school or district's performance and are not based solely on student test scores. Other factors include:

Graduation and attendance rates
Advanced coursework
Scores on national exams like the ACT
Post-graduation pathways chosen by students

The Missouri Independent reported that fewer schools are scoring high marks under MSIP 6. For example, in 2018, under MSIP 5, 371 LEAs (school districts and charters) scored at least 90%. Under MSIP 5, just 26 LEAs met that threshold. One of the factors that some school officials believe has impacted this change is the growth metric. Under MSIP 6, an LEA must show growth using the Missouri Growth Model to receive full points. Under the previous iteration, LEAs could earn points through a combination of status and growth or status and improvement.

Doug Hayter, the executive director of the Missouri Association of School Administrators, said, "Where is the realistic picture of so many districts in MSIP5 apparently doing exceeding well, and then now, because we change the system, they've been dispersed."

Others argue that the growth metric shows the "value-added" by the school and that fewer schools sit at the top, reflects a more normalized distribution of school performance.

We hope this discussion is just delayed and not dead.

Flatlined finances

The Missouri Budget Project reports that current state revenue has flatlined and suggests that projected state general revenue growth won't be able to keep up with inflation or provide money for new services.

"In December, Governor Parson and Legislative Leaders announced a reduction in the current Consensus Revenue Estimate (CRE) and agreed to a revenue estimate for Fiscal Year 2025. These estimates serve as a base for lawmakers when developing the State Budget for the next year. The general revenue estimate for Fiscal Year 2025, the budget that lawmakers will be debating this legislative session, is $13.16 billion. This amount is essentially flat compared to the current year (growth of 0.2%)."

In other news

Kansas News

Can lawmakers find common ground when session begins next week?

On Monday, January 9th, at 2:00 p.m, the Kansas Legislature will convene to commence the 2024 session officially. We expect two significant topics to dominate the agenda: Medicaid expansion and tax cuts.

Medicaid expansion and tax cuts: seeking common ground

In what promises to be a session marked by spirited debates, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are gearing up to tackle the pressing issues of Medicaid expansion and tax cuts. These topics have long been at the forefront of political discussions in Kansas and often divide the legislature; there is hope that compromise will emerge sooner rather than later.

Solutions to education and workforce challenges needed

Beyond the spotlight on Medicaid and taxes, there is a collective aspiration that other vital issues, such as education and workforce solutions, will also make their way to center stage during the session.

Governor Laura Kelly's State of the State Address up next

Next Wednesday, Governor Laura Kelly will deliver her State of the State address, present her FY25 budget, and provide further insights into Medicaid expansion, child care, and special education proposals.

New Childcare Rules await AG approval

As childcare business owners wait for new guidance from the state that would lead to more slots to help meet the growing demand for quality care, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has yet to approve a rule change submitted in early October. According to Child Care Aware of Kansas, the state is not even close to meeting half its demand for care, with an additional 84,654 slots needed.

Read our explainer on this issue.

Budget News

Fitch Ratings, a global credit rating agency, issued its first credit rating for Kansas today, giving the Sunflower State an AA with a stable rating outlook. This rating is a mark higher than the AA- issued by S&P Global in February 2023. In a press statement , Budget Director and Secretary of Administration Adam Proffiit said, "This AA credit rating is affirmation that the path the state has taken to restore stability, predictability, and overall health to the state's finances is the right path to be on."

However, as a warning, Fitch wrote, "Failure to adopt structurally balanced budgets and provide adequate funding for K-12 education, pensions, and other core services" could impact future ratings.

In other news

A good business decision

Our partners at America Succeeds argue that the business community's role in education is more than just a philanthropic endeavor - "it's a strategic imperative that can significantly boost their bottom line."

In a blog post published last month, the policy organization writes that learning losses stemming from COVID will result in future earnings reductions for students and translate into a less skilled labor pool for business, underscoring why corporate support in education reform matters.

Work-based learning, alternative educational pathways, and advocacy and policy engagement are just a few ways businesses can be part of the solution.

This idea is why Aligned exists and why our policy agenda will remain student-focused.

Here's to productive student-centered legislative sessions in Kansas and Missouri!

All our best,