Ed Emery: Trust parents to make the right educational choices for their children

(From Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar)

Regular readers of my legislative reports know I am a frequent critic of Missouri’s failures in the education of our children.

It’s not that I find fault in the purpose and intent of our public schools, but rather the lack of results. 

Far too often, by DESE’s own website, our traditional public schools fail to meet the needs of students and the hopes of their parents. The results are often disappointing, at best, and sometimes scandalous, at worst.

I am convinced that parents and students are best served by providing them choices, whether in doctors, groceries or education. Parents know what’s best for their children and committed parents will choose the right environment for their children’s education, if given the opportunity. 

Two measures brought before the Missouri Senate in recent days address different shortcomings in public education, and each offers parents the opportunity to choose an alternative approach for their children.

Senate Bill 525 was brought up for discussion in the Senate chamber last week. This measure would allow the creation of a recovery high school in the Kansas City area. Intended as a pilot program, this school would specifically address the education needs of students recovering from drug or alcohol addictions.

We are in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic in America and our children are not immune from this menace. Young people are also increasingly subject to alcohol dependency. 

During the committee hearing on this legislation, more than a half-dozen young people introduced themselves and briefly shared their history of substance abuse. One could not help but be moved, thinking about young lives sidetracked by drugs and alcohol. I believe each in their own way was pleading for lawmakers to provide alternative education for other teenagers caught in the throes of substance abuse.

At the most basic level, a recovery high school is like any other charter school. It’s a public institution, receiving public funds, and under the authority of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

The difference SB 525 provides is that admission would be limited to students who are already committed to recovery from substance abuse. This is a critical distinction because it allows students to remove themselves from some of the negative influences that led them down a troublesome path in the first place. The proposed pilot recovery school authorized by this legislation would also provide more personalized counseling and therapy than is possible in the conventional setting.

During committee testimony we heard from Andrew Finch, president of the National Association of Recovery Schools. He recounted the successes of more than 40 recovery schools currently operating around the United States. He told the committee that students enrolled in these specialized programs have significantly higher graduation rates and lower addiction relapse results than students with similar addictions who attend their neighborhood school. 

The bill is opposed by both the Missouri Association of School Administrators and the Missouri School Boards’ Association and was filibustered on the floor. We were unable to bring it to a vote.

Senate Bill 707, another education reform proposal brought before the Senate recently, would allow contributions to an Empowerment Scholarship Account. An ESA allows parents and other individuals to set money aside for elementary and secondary level education expenses. 

Contributions would qualify for state income tax credits. Money in scholarship accounts could be used to send a child to public school outside the student’s assigned district or to a charter school. The funds could also apply to private or home school expenses. The legislation limits eligibility to special needs students, children of active duty military members, wards of the state and children who have been subject to bullying.

Research was presented during the committee hearing that suggested ESA programs in other states actually save taxpayer money and that allowing families educational choices improves student performance. 

One witness testifying before the Senate Education Committee explained that children in school choice programs are more likely to graduate high school and go on to attend and complete college. In contrast, we also heard about the opposite result in our public schools. We were presented DESE data that showed Missouri schools failing, with an alarming number of our institutions reporting 0 percent of students demonstrating proficiency in math and English.

Far too often we discuss public education in terms of institutions. The time has come to measure “public education” not in terms of money spent on buildings and districts, but on students and their success. The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to trust parents to make the right choices for their children, and to give them the tools to do that.