Missouri State Board of Education Meeting Report (Feb. 7, 2023)

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Notes from the February 7, 2023 meeting of the Missouri State Board of Education Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Agenda, Minutes, and Recordings from February 7, 2023.

New: Monthly State Board Report now available at MNEA Connects Podcast. Listen here

 

Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Report

To generate this report, DESE puts together a budget request to send to the Governor’s office so that his office can layer his budget recommendations for Education based on DESE’s request. Once DESE receives those recommendations from the Governor’s office, the Office of Financial and Administrative Services creates this Budget report. There will be several other hearings that may adjust this budget; on the day of the State Board Meeting, February 7, the House Subcommittee did their first markup of the report; the budget report will then go to the Senate subcommittee to follow the same process. 

The Governor's office added some items that were not originally on the DESE budget request and some of the items that DESE requested the Governor did not agree with and did not recommend funding. 

This table gives a quick overview of select items from the report; these select items were extracted to reflect trends and priorities from the state on various initiatives in Missouri Education at this time. To view the full Budget Report with all items, follow this link.

FY 2024 New Decision Item
Department Request
Governor’s Recommendation

Foundation Formula Impact

$76,782,003

$117,537,883

Full Transportation Aid

$233,350,220

$233,350,220

Teacher Baseline Salary (Blue Ribbon Commission Recommendation to amend RSMo 163.172 from $25,000 to $38,000)

$7,617,055

$0

Teacher Career Ladder (60% state funding, 40% local funding)

$31,858,050

$31,858,050

Grow Your Own (GYO) Funding

$5,050,000

$0

Expanded Pre-K

$0

$55,980,843

Child Care Subsidy Rate Increase

$0

$78,476,232

Child Care Provider Tax Credit

$0

$837,600

School Safety Grants

$0

$20,000,000

Reading Literacy (to create Coordinator of Literacy position at DESE, meeting costs for the Literacy Advisory Council, and Office of Literacy to develop guidelines and align literacy instruction for EPP)

$229,891

$0

Workforce Readiness (Competency-Based Education Grant and Task Force, Computer Science Program, and Workforce Diploma Program)

$2,775,168

$2,775,168

Early Learning Quality Assurance (HB 2365; supervisor to expand continuous quality improvement process for early learning programs and quality assurance report)

$70,983

$0

Registered Youth Apprenticeships

$495,000

$495,000

Bipartisan Safer Communities (Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; federal funding from Title IV, Part A of Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; includes Social-Emotional Learning funding))

$0

$15,082,238

Project Extended IMPACT (extends the reach and scope of the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS)). 

$3,144,142

$3,144,142

Pathways for Instructionally Embedded Assessment (PIE) (federal funding to develop and evaluate a prototype assessment that includes multiple measures of student achievement using instructionally embedded and end-of-year assessments; focus is on mathematics)

$898,000

$898,000

Adult High School Childcare

$0

$410,000

Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Summary was also presented. To review 2023 Fiscal Summary, click here. 

 

 

Update on the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 6

The update focused on what to expect from the pending Annual Performance Report (APR) release in early March. 

MSIP 6 Policy Goals were restated in the presentation. These goals include:

  • Articulate the state’s expectations for high achievement and improvement of student performance.
  • Distinguish performance of schools and districts.
  • Provide accessible and actionable information.
  • Increase the focus on the preparation and welfare of each individual student. 
  • Promote continuous improvement and innovation.
  • Recognize excellence.

Due to the drastic adjustments with how the APR is calculated in MSIP 6 compared to MSIP 5, all stakeholders involved are concerned about what the APR results for MSIP 6 will be. To review how MSIP 6 is structured and how new APR scores are calculated, review the overview and MSIP 6 Comprehensive Guide from DESE.  The key changes in MSIP 6 include: 

  • Differentiates the performance of public schools and districts along a continuum.
  • Provides accessible and actionable information about schools and districts.
  • Empowers local boards of education to improve and innovate by adding a Continuous Improvement component. 
  • Emphasizes the importance of academic performance by holding public schools equally accountable for status and growth.
  • Focuses on the preparation and well-being of each student at all levels.

With these vast changes in how MSIP 6 is structured and how APR is calculated, APR results between MSIP 5 and MSIP 6 are not comparable. On the day of APR release, there will be two versions of the report: a public report and a detailed Tableau report. Regarding these changes to this iteration of MSIP, DESE states that MSIP 6 not only holds districts accountable for how well they perform but how much they improve. 

Referencing RSMo 161.855.4, the first year of any “new academic performance standard, changes to MSIP, or first year of statewide assessment system and performance indicators shall be utilized as a pilot…and shall not be used to lower a public school district’s accreditation or for a teacher’s evaluation.” Due to this statute, classification under MSIP 6 based on APRs will not occur until 2023-2024. The 2021-2022 classifications for school districts will only be based on Superintendent certification, reserve fund balance, local board member orientation and training, and compliance with state and federal law. 

Stakeholders have two upcoming opportunities to engage with DESE and the Office of Quality Schools in preparation for the APR release: February 16 (virtual) and March 2nd (in-person in Columbia). MNEA will be attending both meetings. More information on those meetings can be found at DESE’s School Improvement webpage. 

 

 

Governmental Affairs Update

The update focused on proposed bills surrounding open-enrollment, transparency and Parents’ Bill of Rights Act, the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations, Tax credits for Childcare, school choice (Charter expansion and vouchers), and MOCAP. There was mention of bills surrounding gender related issues and participation in sports but it was indicated that DESE is watching from afar since these bills do not directly relate to DESE but they do impact students. 

DESE indicated that there was good momentum in committees surrounding the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations but no movement on the floor as of right now.

For more detailed updates on Legislative activity regarding Education, sign up for Legislative Updates by MNEA Legislative Director, Otto Fajen, here. 

 

 

Consideration of Work Group Members for Developing K-12 Learning Standards for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

The State Board charged DESE with creating K-12 Missouri Learning Standards (MLS) for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). According to statute (161.514 RSMo), to create any standards, procedures for development require DESE to create a work group of 27 individuals chosen by various entities (i.e. Senate, House of Representatives, Professional Teachers’ Organizations, etc.). 

The timeline to create these standards is quick as the State Board hopes to have draft standards to them by May 2023. Phase 1 of this work is to convene meetings with the work group February through April; the first meeting of the workgroup will be in-person in Jefferson City February 23-24. Proceeding meetings during the semester will consist of both virtual and in-person meetings depending on what the workgroup decides. After the State Board reviews the draft standards and approves them, the goal is to enter the rulemaking process for the new standards. 

DESE presented the list of names that they have selected so far for the 27-person work group, but this list was incomplete as not all entities submitted names to fill the seats. The State Board approved the partial list of names presented but they expressed concern about a lack of adequate representation for all school district communities in Missouri. With no representation for Urban schools in the current recommendations, the Board added two more representatives from Kansas City Public Schools and St. Louis Public Schools, bringing the total number to 29 for this work group. 

The Association has submitted the names of practicing educators who are intentionally working on SEL daily; there is great concern that, currently, the approved workgroup representatives include few practicing educators.

 

In Other Business

The next meeting of the Missouri State Board of Education will be on March 7, 2023. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Samantha Hayes at 800-392-0236 or Samantha.Hayes@mnea.org. Details of state board agenda items can be found here.