by Samantha Hayes, Director of Professional Policy & Practice
Modernization Task Force
Following the Money: What Missouri NEA is Watching in School Funding Modernization
Missouri's school funding system is under review. Governor Kehoe's Executive Order 25-14 established a Modernization Task Force charged with generating a report on potential new state funding models for K-12 public and charter schools. The report is due to the Governor by December 1, 2026.
What gets decided in this process matters enormously. Funding shapes everything from class sizes to support staff to whether your school can afford to keep the lights on.
Who's at the Table? And Who's Not?
The Task Force initially included 16 members, with additional appointments made in June 2025. Here's the problem: the Executive Order specifically called for "a teacher from a school in Missouri, appointed by the Governor" to serve on the task force. Currently, there is no practicing teacher on it.
That's a significant absence. Teachers work in classrooms every day. They know what adequate funding looks like. They know what happens when it runs short. And yet, they're not in the room where decisions are being made about how to fund their schools.
Missouri NEA is attending all workgroup and larger group meetings to ensure educator voices are heard, even if they're not officially seated at the table.
Workgroups: What They're Debating.
The workgroups are where the real work happens, where proposals take shape, and where decisions get made about how Missouri will distribute education funding.
Each workgroup includes Task Force members and external experts with experience in education funding. The Task Force is currently in its "workgroup" phase. Four workgroups are meeting virtually and are open to public viewing. They are debating:
- Funding Targets
- Student Counts
- Local Effort Factors
- Performance Incentives
All the meetings are publicly available. Live links and recordings are posted on DESE's Task Force website. If you care about how your school gets funded, this is where to pay attention!
What Missouri NEA Believes About Funding
The Missouri NEA has clear, specific positions on education funding, grounded in decades of advocacy:
- Equity and Adequacy First. State support for public education should be no less than one-third of the state general revenue. The total wealth of the state should be distributed as equitably as possible so every child in Missouri. Regardless of ZIP code. Gets adequate resources.
- Broad-Based Revenue. State and local revenues should come from a progressive, broad-based system of personal and corporate income tax. This reduces heavy reliance on property taxes and protects those on subsistence income from bearing an unfair share of education costs.
- No Funding Games. The Association strongly opposes Tax Increment Financing (TIF) that decreases local funding for school districts. Money designated for education should not be decreased when funds from other sources are allocated to public education.
- Predictability Matters. State support must be predictable for long-range and year-to-year planning. If the foundation formula changes, no district should receive less money per eligible pupil than in the year before implementation. Schools need to know what's coming so they can plan responsibly.
- Simple Majority for Local Support.
Local school tax levies and bond issues should pass by a simple majority. And property values should be fairly assessed and regularly reassessed. Assessor's offices need adequate resources, data, and professional staff. Accountability to regular state review.
- Why This Matters Right Now
School funding decisions made in 2026 will ripple through Missouri classrooms for years. They determine whether teachers can do their jobs. Whether support staff can do theirs. Whether schools in wealthy districts get more while schools in struggling districts get less. Whether your child's school thrives or survives.
Missouri NEA will be in every workgroup meeting. Watching. Advocating. Making sure that when this report goes to the Governor, educator voices have been heard and equity has been centered.
You can watch too. The meetings are public. Your voice matters in this process.
Missouri State Board of Education
A New Board, New Questions, New Direction
The Missouri State Board of Education looks drastically different than it did a year ago. In the span of months, Governor Kehoe filled nearly every seat on the board with his own appointments. The shift has been swift. The impact is already visible. And educators need to understand what's changing.
How We Got Here
Last fall, two nominees to the Board faced an uncertain path to Senate confirmation. Dr. Thomas Prater and Dr. Tawni Fararini were nominated to fill vacancies left by Dr. Don Claycomb and Peter Hershand. But in the spring of 2025, Governor Parson withdrew both names, concerned they wouldn't win legislative approval.
That opened the door. Kehoe seized the moment.
On April 14, 2025, Kehoe announced four new appointments to fill not just those two vacancies, but also the expired seats held by Charlie Shields and Carol Hallquist. Then on October 3, 2025, he announced his fifth appointment: Dr. Gretchen Shull to fill Kim Bailey's seat. Shull will serve as an interim on the board until fully approved by the Senate during the 2026 legislative session.
That's rapid turnover. And it matters.
The Missing Seat
In 2018, the General Assembly passed Section 161.026 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, which added a teacher representative to the State Board of Education. That seat has remained vacant since 2018. Seven years. No practicing teacher on the board.
With a majority of newly appointed members, the gap feels more pronounced than ever. Teachers should be at the decision-making table when classroom policies are debated and approved. Currently, they are not.
A Board That Questions Everything
The new composition has already changed how the board operates. This board asks different questions. It sets new standards for what gets approved and when.
DESE staff now present action items to a board that demands clear evidence of positive impact. Innovation waivers. The annual budget request. Larger policy decisions. The board is requesting more information. Taking more time. Requiring more rigorous justification before voting yes.
This isn't inherently good or bad. It depends on what questions are being asked and who's asking them. But the dynamic has shifted. DESE is adjusting its approach to match the new level of scrutiny.
The Political Nature of Service
Board President Mary Schrag is serving on an expired term. She's serving at the pleasure of the Governor, which means her position is uniquely political. The Governor doesn't need Senate approval to remove her. That arrangement makes her position more vulnerable than that of other board members.
What This Means for Educators
A board with mostly new members. A missing teacher representative. New questions being asked about established policies. A Board President serving at the Governor's pleasure.
These changes shape what gets approved in your school. How waivers are evaluated. How budgets are justified. How policies are made.
Missouri NEA is watching closely. Attending board meetings. Advocating for educator voice. And working to fill that vacant teacher seat, so classrooms are represented in decisions that affect them.
Pay attention. This board is writing the next chapter in Missouri's education policy.
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
The State Board of Education and DESE are refreshing their strategic plan for the next three-year cycle. This is a unique refresh, as the State Board and DESE have invited a variety of stakeholders to provide input on each part of the refresh process. Missouri NEA is part of this stakeholder group that will provide input on the new Strategic Plan.
Further, stakeholders in Missouri had the opportunity to provide feedback on the refresh via a survey open in August and September. The survey was designed to gather feedback from a variety of stakeholders — including families, community members, business leaders, and educators — on the areas of focus that should be prioritized in Missouri’s Pre-K-12 public education strategic plan. These insights will help guide the committee in refreshing DESE’s education policies and initiatives.