Governor Mike Parson delivered his annual State of the State address this week. We hoped to see bold ideas to tackle the workforce crisis in the child care and education sectors and support for innovative learning approaches like competency-based learning. However, details on how to support children and teachers were generally vague.

That said, Parson did announce that his budget includes bumping pay for starting teacher salaries to $38,000. According to a salary benchmark report published by Missouri National Education Association Research, the average starting teacher salary is $33,205. We don't know how this pay increase would impact veteran teaching staff; however, we do know that education leaders are grappling with ways to retain talent. 

On January 10th, DESE Commissioner Margie Vandeven testified before the House Budget Committee on HB 3014 and said, "Missouri currently loses half of its certificated teachers in the first five years." DESE's ESSER III (federal stimulus funding) spend plan outlines proposals to support the educator workforce by offering teacher recruitment and retention grants to all local education agencies (LEAs). The state plan would direct funding towards LEAs with hard-to-fill positions, such as those serving higher numbers of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. 

The ARP ESSER plan would fund mentor programs for early career teachers, surveys to study working conditions and services to address social-emotional needs of teachers."

Aware that these are one-time funds, Vandeven added, "The educator workforce is the number one school level factor where we can make the greatest difference." 

Early Care and Education

Pre-K funding 💵

Missouri districts and charters (LEAs) have been eligible to receive state aid for Pre-K through the foundation formula since FY2019. LEAs can claim up to 4 percent of their overall free- and reduced lunch population to draw down additional dollars. That said, only one-third of LEAs utilize this funding stream.

Last fall, Aligned partnered with the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) and Kids Win Missouri to study this issue. We surveyed LEAs across the state and learned that one of the barriers facing Pre-K expansion for some is that the 4% threshold fails to provide enough aid to start an early childhood program.

Read the survey results here.

Legislation sponsored by Senator Lauren Arthur and Representative Brenda Shields will raise that threshold to 10 percent over four years. Providing LEAs a mechanism to claim more state aid will make it easier to open new classrooms for 3- and 4-year-olds.

SB 816 (Arthur) - Modifies the calculation of average daily attendance for early childhood programs. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22

HB 2341 (Shields) - Modifies the calculation of average daily attendance for early childhood programs. Read Second Time on 1-10-22. NO CHANGE

Early childhood quality ✔️ 

The Quality Assurance Report (QAR), a voluntary pilot program to provide a framework for a statewide quality rating system for early care and education, will sunset this year. Therefore, we are supporting legislation to repeal the sunset provision.

Read Aligned's QAR explainer here.

HB 2365 (Shields) - Makes the early learning quality assurance report permanent. Read Second Time on 1-11-22. NO CHANGE

SB 846 (Eslinger) - Repeals the expiration date on the early learning quality assurance report program. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22

SB 800 (Hegeman) - Repeals the expiration date on the early learning quality assurance report program. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22

Early childhood governance 🏛️ 

In 2021, Governor Mike Parson created the Office of Childhood through executive order. With the new office up and running, Senator Lauren Arthur and Representative Brenda Shields have offered bills that make statutory changes that authorize the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to manage child care services instead of the Children's Division within the Department of Social Services (DSS). The legislation also moves the Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC) away from DSS and places that board under DESE.

HB 2151 (Shields) - Read Second Time on 1-6-22. NO CHANGE

SB 982 (Arthur) - Read First Time on 1-5-22. NO CHANGE

Earlier this month, Governor Parson issued Executive Order 22-01, which repurposes the CBEC, establishes the Missouri Early Childhood State Advisory Council, and designates the State Interagency Coordinating Council members to serve as the Advisory Council. Click here to read the executive order and see the composition of the new board.

Teacher Shortages

Alternative certifications 🧑🏻‍🏫

Expanding the Visiting Scholars program will allow school leaders to hire subject-matter experts with college degrees in hard-to-fill subject areas or hard-to-staff schools.

Read our Visiting Scholars issue brief.

The following bills include language to amend the current visiting scholars' provisions.

HB 1928 (Pollitt) - Modifies requirements for a visiting scholar's certificate of license to teach. Read second time on 1-6-22. NO CHANGE

SB 999 (Gannon) - Modifies provisions regarding employment of retired education personnel by school districts. Read first time on 1-5-22. NO CHANGE

Pay flexibility 💸 

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

Read our Differentiated Pay Issue Brief.

The following bill permits an alternative pay structure.

HB 1770 (Lewis) allows school districts to create differentiated teacher salary schedules. Read second time on 1-6-22. NO CHANGE

Download our "3 ideas to address teacher shortages" infographic here.

Personalized Learning

Competency-based education 📝

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

Read an overview of this concept from the U.S. Department of Education.

HB 1956 (Richey) - Establishes the Competency-based Education Grant Program and Competency-based Education Task Force. Read second time on 1/6/22. NO CHANGE

SB 660 (Arthur) - Establishes the Show Me Success diploma Program, The Competency-Based Education Grant Program, The Competency-Based Education Task Force, and a competency-based credit system for high school students. Referred to Senate Committee on Education on 1-10-22. NO CHANGE

Click here to see the current status of all Aligned Priority legislation.

Click here to see all the bills we are tracking.

Click here to see all upcoming hearings on education-related bills.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) announced BJ Tanksley as its new director for the Office of Broadband Development, the state’s leading agency for expanding access to high-speed internet. Tanksley previously served as Missouri Farm Bureau’s Director of State and Local Legislative Affairs.

Former State Representative Dean Dohrman (R-LaMonte) is replacing Michael Ruff as the director of the Joint Committee on Public Employee Retirement Systems.

The Secretary of State revoked the notary commission of a St. Louis woman who pleaded guilty to purchasing more than 900 fake COVID vaccination cards from China.

Jeff Roorda, the spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police in St. Louis, has launched a Senate bid as a Republican. He served as a democratic state representative from 2005-2010 and 2013-2015. He is running in the 22nd district to replace incumbent and term-limited Senator Paul Wieland.

The Show-Me Strong Recovery Task Force, created to find pandemic-related recovery solutions, issued several recommendations, which include:

• improving child care availability and affordability; 
• expanding hospitality industry apprenticeships; 
• creating a single business portal to streamline interaction with state agencies; 
• promoting existing programs to support small, women-and-minority-owned businesses; 
• developing strategies to help improve supply chain disruptions for manufacturing, distribution, and commercial trucking; 
• establishing a program to connect more Missourians to high-speed internet and expand a cell tower network to expand wireless access across the state. 

Click here for the full weekly report.

Budget Review 

House budget subcommittees meetings are gearing up. These subcommittees initially review and deliberate on budgets proposed by agencies. Many of the first meetings are essential agency reviews because some members of the subcommittees are not full-time members of the main Appropriations Committee. Having these part-time members gives more legislators a broader experience and knowledge of the legislative budgeting process and state government. 

The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) started its budget process this week. While not as big as K-12, their budget is still in the hundreds of millions. KBOR handles the state public universities, community, and technical colleges.

The first committee meeting reviewed federal COVID relief funds that the KBOR system has received. COVID has affected higher education in many ways, but remote learning is the most significant factor. This hybrid teaching method has gained popularity with students and could be used more in the future. The Regents have noticed and are considering reducing their physical footprint in response. 

The Senate budget subcommittees are likely to start meeting next week when agencies will begin their budget requests.

Click here to read the full report from our legislative consultant.

Photo credit: KCTV5

Aligned co-founder and chairman of Kansas City-based U.S. Engineering Tyler Nottberg led the effort to bring light back to the Kansas City area this week to support frontline workers. Lights shone on the Plaza for a full five minutes this week while both Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadium lit up their jumbotrons and Sporting KC lit up their entire park.

When the pandemic first hit, Tyler rallied his colleagues to secure testing kits and laboratory services. Later he penned an op-ed to call for leaders to direct pandemic relief towards child care. Never one to claim the limelight, Tyler's motivation this week was to highlight the heroic efforts our frontline workers put forth each day to save lives and show us a way through this seemingly unending crisis.

We appreciate Tyler's leadership here at Aligned, but more importantly, we appreciate his role as a civic steward. Thank you, Tyler, and THANK YOU to our amazing essential workers; we can never give them enough love and support.

Also, big thanks to the Kansas City Plaza, the Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Chiefs, Sporting KC, and all the others who came together to #ShineForThe Frontline.

Stay warm, friends; there is a light leading us out of this!

Torree Pederson

President

Aligned

Torree@WeAreAligned.org

(913) 484-4202

Linda Rallo

Vice President

Aligned

Linda@WeAreAligned.org

(314) 330-8442