Contact: Mark Jones (MNEA)
573-508-8528
(Jefferson City, MO) Today, the Missouri State Board of Education announced the appointment of Lisa Sireno as the Interim Commissioner of Education for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The Missouri National Education Association, the state's largest union of teachers and school staff, called on Interim Commissioner Sireno and the State Board of Education to fight for full school funding and end the chaotic rush to grade schools under Gov. Mike Kehoe's Executive Order 26-01.
"Instead of racing to grade schools while refusing to ask for the funds that would keep more than 4,500 Missouri teachers in the classroom, Commissioner Sireno and the State Board have an opportunity to correct DESE’s course," said Rebeka McIntosh, a Grandview classroom teacher and president of Missouri NEA. "A-F grading is the same top-down, cookie-cutter approach that has failed our students for decades. It treats students as data rather than individuals. It can't see the counselor who keeps a student coming to school or the teacher who stays late to help a child catch up."
In September, the State Board voted to request $270 million less than Missouri's school funding formula requires. The nonpartisan Missouri Budget Project estimates the gap equals the salaries of more than 4,500 teachers or 8,100 support staff statewide.
"Interim Commissioner Sireno takes this job as our state faces a looming budget shortfall. Missouri students need her and the State Board to stand up for full funding of our local public schools, so students get the one-on-one attention they need to succeed," said Patrick Layden, Missouri NEA executive director and a former Independence principal. "A $270 million funding gap will be devastating. In Independence, that could mean 79 fewer teachers giving students the time and attention they need. The State Board is failing your child by refusing to stand up for full funding. This is an opportunity to correct course and fulfill its duty."
The State Board is moving forward with Kehoe's A-F grades despite its own members' questions about implementation and incomplete data. The State Board has rewritten its plan several times, changing deadlines and creating uncertainty for local schools.
"The Governor and the State Board have their priorities backward," McIntosh said. "Every student in Missouri, regardless of ZIP code, should have caring, well-qualified educators with the resources they need to succeed. If the State Board won't ask for every dollar our students were promised, educators will walk into the Capitol and demand it ourselves."
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The MNEA represents over 40,000 teachers, education support professionals, college faculty, retired teachers, and students studying to be teachers in school districts and on college campuses throughout the state. It is the Missouri affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).
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