In the face of this session's wide sweeping Missouri legislative educational reform, one wonders what, exactly, is motivating the sudden movement. And with the Missouri budget being eaten up by more than 42% in K-12 educational spending, maybe its time to start asking the question: Can we reasonably afford to continue to think about public education as we have in the past? Is every child in our state entitled to a free education?
The Missouri Constitution states:
A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law
So, there you have it. The Missouri Constitution mandates the entitlement, and while it is pretty hard to argue with the logic that knowledge and intelligence are essential in maintaining an informed and free electorate, is it really the responsibility of the state to educate our children? And, have they been doing the job of educating the children in aspects that keep us free and sovereign? How many high school students do you know who have barely more than the most basic understanding of governmental civics? Do we really want to continue to allow the state to have the authority to govern education?
Perhaps the answer to the question is that education became an entitlement program when it was evident that there was so much money to be had by tapping into the endless source of government funding (tax dollars) and our children have, subsequently, become commodities or human capital instead of children who need an education in order to lead us into the future.
And while we are looking at the Missouri Constitution, did you know it also mandates that 25% of the state budget be spent on education?
... but in no case shall there be set apart less than twenty-five percent of the state revenue, exclusive of interest and sinking fund, to be applied annually to the support of the free public schools.
Out of more than 80 education bills introduced in the Missouri House (46 bills) and Senate (31 bills), this session, more than 30 relate to advancing the Race to the Top initiative, or as we call it in Missouri, Educated Citizenry 2020. A hallmark trait of Educated Citizenry 2020/Race To The Top is the expansion of Charter Schools, throughout the state, beyond the borders of the urban school districts. This agenda is focused on implementing another program that will target underprivileged, urban youth to receive the benefits of yet another spread-the-wealth-campaign (remember bussing?) in hopes that more money will raise academic achievement while giving the federal government more control over the education of all of our children.
Representatives, Jay Barnes and Education Chair, Scott Dieckhaus introduced legislation, HJR10, that would amend the state constitution by repealing the prohibition of state funds to be used toward the support of religious schools. Well, that's how it's being sold to the public, anyway. What the bill really does is eliminate the religious school verbiage and allows funding (tax dollars) to flow freely across district boundaries (vouchers?) to any school a parent chooses for their child, whether public or private, and including of course, Charter Schools. It looks like a great parental choice proposal, but you have to wonder if it's just another vehicle to manipulate tax dollars and spread the wealth. Most folks look favorably on Charter Schools because they associate Charters with independence that is free from the usual mandates of public education. Since MO DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) adopted Common Core Standards, statewide, Charters are no longer safe from the long arm of control that it exercises, or intends to, on the cadre of public schools across Missouri.
Most people have figured out by now that more money does not necessarily equal higher academic standards or a better education. We, in Missouri, have lived through the failure of forced bussing and watched the nonfulfillment of No Child Left Behind across the country. Something most conservative voters do not understand is that the love affair legislators have with government controlled education is not just a "liberal" idea any more. Conservative leadership drives the educational reform (school) bus in Missouri and the agenda is not only to ease the burden of failing urban education by dispersing its populous and more tax money across the state, but to gain federal control of the entire educational system. No more local control, no more parental control.
Since conservatives famously lost the battle to prevent federal spending on local public schools (which they view as unconstitutional) a half century ago, Congress has year after year increased appropriations. In recent years, Congress identified two primary purposes: to raise student achievement and to narrow the gap between high- and low-income students and between minority and white students.
If legislators really want to establish sovereignty and solve education problems, as we all hope they should, then wouldn't they modify the state constitution to eliminate the mandate to spend 25% of the budget on education? If elected leaders are truly interested in upholding the principles of sovereignty and the constitution, and genuinely wish to raise educational standards, then perhaps, they should get out of the way of the people's right and responsibility to direct the education of their own children. Let go of the financial gravy train of educational funding (tax dollars) and return it to the people. Get out of the education business, altogether. One would only need to look at the growth and success of the homeschooling movement, across the country, as one example of what parental driven control and privately funded education can do for the education of the youth of America. Give the money back to the people to put into local and/or private education, guided by parents, who have the responsibility and greatest investment in the outcome of their children's success.
I think we should all understand, by now, that government doesn't know how to direct the education of children. Trying to solve the cultural problems of urban areas through public education doesn't work either. And doesn't it seem odd to you, that in one year, conservative leadership can fight so vehemently for individual liberty, where our healthcare rights are concerned, but are so willing to throw sovereignty under the (school) bus when it comes to educational freedom and Race To The Top? Entitlement programs do not liberate; they subjugate, and government controlled education has proven to be no different from any other entitlement program our country has ever established.
