The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) assesses student reading comprehension in grades 4, 8, and 12 to a sample of students representing the nation's learners. Since 2003, all states have participated in grade 4 and 8 assessments. The results are from samples in both public and non-public schools, not the entire population.

According to NAEP, average reading scores for both fourth and eighth graders were lower in 2019 compared with 2017. Kansas and Missouri were among two of the 17 states that saw a decrease in scores.

State Senator Cindy O'Laughlin wants to "right the ship" for Missouri children. For the past several years, the senator from Shelbina has sponsored legislation to address reading comprehension. She's hoping this is her year. And after taking a different tack, she's on track to get her bill over the finish line.

Last fall, O'Laughlin convened a working group comprised of like-minded lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to develop a consensus package they could all get behind.

SB 681 would mandate that public schools start assessing students in reading comprehension beginning in Kindergarten and then make sure those who may be lagging get the extra help to catch up.

Aligned has testified in support of this legislation. This week, our team member Dr. Stacey Preis was quoted in the Missouri Independent saying, "Obviously, if you can't read, it's going to be very hard to learn anything else. So this will let teachers have more opportunities to catch these things early on."

We have more on SB 681 below. With the end of session in sight, the is one to watch closely.

The Senate Appropriations Committee worked at break-neck speed to complete its mark-up work on the FY 2023 budget. For the first time in more than two decades, senators funded the school transportation line item to its statutory limit. State law says that "a district shall receive an amount not greater than seventy-five percent of the allowable costs of providing pupil transportation services to and from school."

The Senate has allocated $214 million for school transportation, a 127% increase over the House recommendation. In the 2022 fiscal year, the Missouri General Assembly approved $113 million for school transportation.

The committee also broke from the House recommendation and reinstated the Governor's starting teacher bump by allocating $37.1 million, which would raise starting salaries to $38,000.

The Senate accepted the House position on the following items:

• $22 million in Career Ladder program for teacher recruitment/retention
• $20 million for the Children’s Trust Fund
• $9.4 million for rate increases for the First Steps program
• $5.8 million in additional funding for Parents as Teachers.

The full Senate will begin debate on the thirteen budget bills next week. The House and Senate will need to work out all differences in the conference committee. We expect that transportation and teacher pay will be hot topics.

You can read more budget details in our weekly report.

This section include updates only on bills that are currently moving. Links to status reports for all priority areas are below.

Early Care and Education

HB 2365 (Shields) - Makes the early learning quality assurance report permanent. Third Read and Passed 136-0. Referred to Senate Committee on Education.

SB 823 (White) - Modifies provisions relating to child protection. This bill includes legislation to move the Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC) away from DSS and place that board under DESE to align with the new Office of Childhood.

Voted Do Pass from Special Committee on Public Policy on 4-21-22.

HB 2151 (Shields) - Moves the Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC) away from DSS and place that board under DESE to align with the new Office of Childhood. Voted Do Pass as substituted from Senate Committee on Seniors, Families, Children, and Military Affairs on 4-21-22.

SB 982 (Arthur) - Same as HB 2151. Heard in House Special Committee on Public Policy on 4-12-22. Voted Do Pass from Special Committee on Public Policy on 4-21-22.

See the status of all early care and education legislation.

Teacher Shortages

Alternative certifications

The following bills are moving and include language to amend the current visiting scholars' provisions:

HB 1750 (Basye) - Changes provisions relating to school boards. Hearing conducted in Senate - Education on 4-19-22.

HB 1753 (Basye) - Authorizes pilot recovery high schools. Referred to House Committee on Rules-Legislative Oversight. Placed on Informal Calendar on 4-12-22. NO CHANGE.

HB 2652 (Haffner) - Changes procedures and practices for public schools and school districts. Placed on Informal Calendar on 4-4-22. NO CHANGE.

Pay flexibility  

Differentiated pay will give school superintendents and local school boards greater flexibility to address teacher shortages.

The following bill permits an alternative pay structure.

HB 1770 (Lewis) allows school districts to create differentiated teacher salary schedules. Voted Do Pass from House Committee on Rules - Legislative Oversight on 4-19-22.

See the status of all teacher shortages-related legislation.

Personalized Learning

Competency-based education

A competency-based approach awards students credits within a more individualized time frame and demonstration of mastery. 

HB 1956 (Richey) - Establishes the Competency-based Education Grant Program and Competency-based Education Task Force. Voted Do Pass from House Committee on Rules - Legislative Oversight on 4-19-22.

See the status of all personalized learning legislation.

Reports

See the current status of all Aligned Priority legislation.

See the status of all the bills we are tracking.

See all upcoming hearings on education-related bills.

See all the bills which we have testified "in support".

Kansas Commissioner Randy Watson speaks at state school board meeting. Photo credit: Associated Press.

A deeper dive into the teacher vacancy abyss

Last week we reported on teacher staffing challenges in both Kansas and Missouri. Recently Rafael Garcia from the Topeka Capital-Journal reported on 'out-of-the box' solutions that can help address vacancies.

He quotes Kansas Commissioner Randy Watson as saying, “When I applied for a job 40 years ago, there were up to 100 applicants for every job in Kansas that I applied to. As we get into this fall, that number is going to be lucky — even in our most populous places — to even have 10. We’ll have shortages.”

Last fall, Kansas State Department of Education issued a report that revealed a 62% rise in teacher vacancies, increasing from 771 in the fall of 2020 to 1,253 today.

Top reasons cited:

1. No applicant. (482)
2. Not fully qualified based on endorsement area. (594)
3. Preferred nonqualified over fully qualified. (39)
4. Budget. (12)
5. Qualified applicant refused offer. (16)
6. Personnel. (45)
7. Not fully qualified based on professional attributes. (62)
8. COVID-19. (3)

Kelly vetoes controversial "parents' rights" legislation

Governor Laura Kelly vetoed SB 58, which would have established a parents' bill of rights for parents of students in Kansas public schools.

According to the summary, the bill would have required the board of education of each school district to develop and adopt policies to guarantee parents’ rights related to access to instructional materials and the ability to object to or challenge their use.

In her veto message, Governor Kelly stated, "This bill, however, is about politics, not parents. Over one hundred Kansas parents testified against this bill. It would create more division in our schools and would be costly. Money that should be spent in the classroom would end up being spent in the courtroom."

Status of Kansas Priorities

The Kansas State Legislature will gavel in on Monday, April 25th, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.

Here's where they left everything before gaveling out.

We learned that this week the First Five Years Fund (FFYF) partnered with the National Head Start Association (NHSA), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) to deliver a virtual congressional briefing that highlighting the importance of federal ECE funding in conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Pre-K and Child Care Caucus.

Federal funding for high-quality child care (CCDBG) only serves 1 in 9 eligible children. In addition, workforce compensation challenges hinder efforts for many child care providers to reach capacity. For example, the goal of Head Start is to disrupt intergenerational poverty, but funding limits make it challenging to hire and retain quality teachers.

PDG-B5, a competitive federal grant program that gave states funding to strengthen their early childhood systems, has resulted in opportunities to build out data infrastructure.

Kansas and Missouri both received PDG-B5 funds.

• Kansas created the Early Childhood DataTrust to help analyze that state's return on investment.
• Missouri created the Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) to collect, store, and maintain aggregated data from multiple sources, which will help identify gaps and overlaps in services.

These are just a few highlights of how states benefit from federal support.

Watch the complete briefing.

Did you know that in 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin learned of the effects of a California oil spill and planned a grassroots demonstration to raise awareness about the environment? He chose Harvard professor Denis Hayes to coordinate national efforts. Hayes settled on April 22nd because it fell between Spring Break and final exams, and he wanted students to participate.

Just like Aligned, Hayes was "student-focused."

Happy Earth Day! 🌎 

Torree Pederson

President

Aligned

Torree@WeAreAligned.org

(913) 484-4202

Linda Rallo

Vice President

Aligned

Linda@WeAreAligned.org

(314) 330-8442

Download our 2021 Annual Report.