Missouri Statutes That Protect Local

ControlDr. Mary Byrne, Ed.D.

Missouri Coalition Against Common CoreOctober 5, 2013

Outstanding Schools Act 1993

http://www.dese.mo.gov/schoollaw/LegFolder/SB380.htm

MO Senate Bill 380

Chapter 160 Schools--General Provisions Section 160.514 Academic performance standards, adoption by state board, standards--procedure for adoption--development of written curriculum frameworks--adoption of written curriculum by boards of education.

160.514. 1. By rule and regulation, and consistent with the provisions contained in section 160.526, the state board of education shall adopt no more than. . . are necessary in this era to preserve the rights and liberties of the people.

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.514

The state board of education shall convene work groups composed of education professionals to develop and recommend academic performance standards. Separate work groups composed of professionals with appropriate expertise shall be convened for each subject area listed in section 160.518. Active classroom teachers shall constitute the majority of each work group. Teachers serving on such work groups shall be selected by professional teachers' organizations of the state.

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.514

The state board of education shall develop written curriculum frameworks that may be used by school districts. Such curriculum frameworks shall incorporate the academic performance standards adopted by the state board of education pursuant to subsection 1 of this section. The curriculum frameworks shall provide guidance to school districts but shall not be mandates for local school boards in the adoption or development of written curricula as required by subsection 4 of this section.

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.514

. . . Local school boards are encouraged to adopt or develop curricula that are rigorous and ambitious and may, but are not required to, use the curriculum frameworks developed pursuant to subsection 3 of this section. Nothing in this section or this act** shall prohibit school districts, as determined by local boards of education, to develop or adopt curricula that provide for academic standards in addition to those identified by the state board of education pursuant to subsection 1 of this section

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Missouri Revised Statutes 160.514

Chapter 160 Schools--General Provisions Section 160.518

Statewide assessment system, standards, restriction--exemplary levels, outstanding school waivers--summary waiver of pupil testing requirements--waiver void, when--scores not counted, when--alternative assessments for special education students--adjustments administered, when--waivers of resources and process standards, when.

. . . the state board of education shall develop a statewide assessment system that provides maximum flexibility for local school districts to determine the degree to which students in the public schools of the state are proficient in the knowledge, skills, and competencies adopted by such board . . .

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.518

2. The assessment system shall only permit the academic performance of students in each school in the state to be tracked against prior academic performance in the same school.

3. The state board of education shall suggest criteria for a school to demonstrate that its students learn the knowledge, skills and competencies at exemplary levels worthy of imitation by students in other schools in the state and nation.

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.518

Chapter 160 Schools--General Provisions Section 160.526 Development of academic standards and assessment system, criteria--assistance of experts--notification of implementation of system, legislative veto--professional advice and counsel.

. . . the state board of education shall consider the work that has been done by other states, recognized regional and national experts, professional education discipline-based associations and other professional education associations. Further, in establishing the academic standards and statewide assessment system, the state board of education shall adopt the work that has been done by consortia of other states and, subject to appropriations, may contract with such consortia to implement the provisions of sections 160.514 and 160.518

NOTE: CCSS were not developed through work of other states, but work of non-educators in a non-government organization; no appropriations have been authorized by the legislature.

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.526

Within six months prior to implementation of the statewide assessment system, the commissioner of education shall inform the president pro tempore of the senate and the speaker of the house about the procedures to implement the assessment system, including a report related to the reliability and validity of the assessment instruments, and the general assembly may, within the next sixty legislative days, veto such implementation by concurrent resolution adopted by majority vote of both the senate and the house of representatives.

Missouri Revised Statutes 160.526

Duties of the commissioner. 161.122. The commissioner of education shall supervise the department of elementary and secondary education. . . shall confer with and advise county and school district officers, . . .on all matters pertaining to the school law; visit and supervise schools, and make suggestions in regard to the subject matter and methods of instruction, the control and government of the schools, and the care and keeping of all school property; attend and assist in meetings of teachers, directors, and patrons of the public schools; and seek in every way to elevate the standards and efficiency of the instruction given in the public schools of the state. The commissioner shall study and evaluate and test the progress, or lack thereof, in achieving these objectives and shall promptly make public by free electronic media the results of all studies and evaluations and tests insofar as consistent with student or parental privacy rights contained in federal or state law.

Missouri Revised Statutes 161.122

Superintendent of schools, employment of authorized (first class charter counties).

. . ., any board of education, other than boards in urban districts, in charge of a public school system maintaining a classified high school, previously approved by the state board of education, and employing a superintendent devoting his full time to supervisory and administrative work, may employ and enter into contract with a superintendent of schools for the school district for a period of not to exceed three years. . .

Missouri Revised Statutes Section 168.191

The board’s role and authority was never meant to allow others to:

1) to give away their authority determine Missouri’s educational standards/tests to external non-government agencies, and

2) peruse Missourians’ personal data without parental consent or student knowledge; (via the Cooperative Agreement with the Dept. of Ed)

(See http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/sbac-cooperative-agreement.pdf)

The State Board of Education overstepped its

bounds

“. . . society requires that the education of youth should be watched with the most scrupulous attention. Education, in a great measure, forms the moral characters of men, and morals are the basis of government. Education should therefore be the first care of a legislature; not merely the institution of schools, but the furnishing of them with the best men for teachers. A good system of education should be the first article in the code of political regulations; . . .

Noah Webster, Schoolmaster to America, H. R. Warfel, (New York: Octagon Press, 1966), pp. 181-182; see also Faith of Our Founding Fathers, Tim LaHaye, (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 76-77

The Founders: Noah Webster, "Father of American Scholarship and Education,"

on the Legislature and Education

. . . the people . . . are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty. . . . The influence over government must be shared among all the people. If every individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate authority, the government will be safe; because the corrupting the whole mass will exceed any private resources of wealth: . . .”

– Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: the Administration of Justice and the Description of the Laws, 1781; The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition, Editor: Paul Leicester Ford, (New York and London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5) Vol. 4

The Founders: Thomas Jeffersonon the Legislature and Education