The State Board of Education (SBOE) met on February 10, 2026, in Jefferson City.
130+ Public School Calendar Exemption Requests Denied
One hundred and thirty eight (138) school districts requested calendar exemptions for the start date of the 2026-2027 School Year calendar.
The Statute states that “each local school district may set its opening date each year, which date shall be no earlier than fourteen calendar days prior to the first Monday in September” and that “the state board of education may grant an exemption from this section to a school district that demonstrates highly unusual and extenuating circumstances justifying exemption from the provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section” (RSMo 171.031).
These school districts requested an earlier start date because the 2026-2027 school year has a start date of August 24, 2026; this would create a significantly uneven number of days in the average fall and spring semester calendars (68 vs 82 days) for many school districts. These districts cited various reasons for these exemption requests to start the school year earlier than August 24, which includes exceeding the required instructional time for students, creating a more even calendar to ensure a more consistent curriculum for each semester, and/or not inhibiting students’ workplace placements, Career and Technical Education courses, or early graduation plans.
DESE’s presentation gave legal context and parallels to the phrase “highly unusual and extenuating circumstances” as being ones that “are ‘circumstances beyond school district control’, including inclement weather or fire, and to ‘exceptional or emergency circumstances’, including inclement weather, a utility outage, or an outbreak of a contagious disease.” With this context that DESE legal counsel provided, the board members agreed that “these are not highly unusual, extenuating circumstances” and denied the requests.
Missouri NEA believes, for both the statute and the denied requests are a rejection of local control and opposes the actions taken at the State board meeting.
Rule Amended for Special Education Teacher Certification
In response to significant shortages and declining enrollment among Special Education teachers in Missouri, DESE is attempting to address this need by amending 5 CSR 20-400.560, which
“reduces the number of overall hours required for certification and clarifies the competencies a teacher candidate must demonstrate. The purpose is to increase both the number of highly qualified Special Education teachers. All teacher candidates will still be required to pass the assessment for Special Education certification” (DESE).
“The Association believes that requirements for admission into a college of education program should be rigorous yet flexible enough to allow admittance to those who demonstrate potential for effective practice. Admission to education programs should not be based solely upon standardized test scores but rather upon multiple considerations, including test scores, faculty recommendations, grade point average, personal interviews, portfolio 40 review and recommendations of persons in related fields (D-3).
The State Board heard the preliminary budget report for 2027– the DESE requests overlaid with the governor’s recommendation. Within this budget request, DESE is requesting $4.473 billion and the governor is proposing $4.282 billion. The discrepancy exists because of the Formula funding, special payments, and modifications to the formula. The governor is using last year’s Foundation Formula number and his proposal has an overly optimistic view of revenue generated from sports wagering and unclaimed lottery winnings.
The next step for the budget is to move through the legislature in both chambers; the budget must be Truly Agreed to and Finally Passed by May 8, 2026. The governor will then either sign/veto by June 30, 2026.
This was the first time a majority of the new board has heard about Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Programs (MOCAP). With the members having just seen the concept of MOCAP in the state, they had many inquiries about virtual learning overall and expressed concerns about student achievement and outcomes for those who learn virtually as opposed to in-seat students. With the number of questions, Commissioner Eslinger suggested a webinar between meetings for board members to dive deeper into MOCAP; this route of offering webinars for the State Board has been a frequent occurrence this school year due to the board being so new.
Additional Items of Note
- The Missouri State Board of Education gets organized. With essentially a new State Board of Education for Missouri–4 of the 7 current members of the board are new with one remaining vacancy and one member on an expired term–the new members have created the State Board’s first governing documents (bylaws and procedures) along with three subcommittees to dig into various areas of the board’s purview: Strategic Planning Committee, Legislative Committee, and Governance Committee. In the coming year, the State Board will also create a subcommittee that focuses on Student Performance and Outcomes.
- St. Louis Public Schools presented their plans to regain full accreditation to the State Board.
- The Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) presented to the state board about the training and programming that they offer school boards and districts across the state in addition to the Center for Education Safety (CES). The board was impressed with MSBA’s training and resources available but also had inquiries into the customization that can be created for board member training along with the lack of training for Charter School Boards. Charter School boards are not elected individuals and they do not have to abide by the same laws that give guidance to public school board member trainings (RSMo 162.203). Missouri NEA believes that “Charter schools serve students and the public interest when they are authorized and held accountable by the locally elected school board” (A-6).
- Literacy: The State Board heard both an update from DESE on Literacy Initiatives along with a LETRS Program Evaluation by Preis Consulting. Both presentations were more informative in nature and given as an update on educator participation in literacy training and educator feedback on the training offered.
The next meeting of the Missouri State Board of Education will be held on March 10, 2026, in Jefferson City, Missouri. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Samantha Hayes at 800-392-0236 or Samantha.Hayes@mnea.org.