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2004 Lower Ed. Stories

• 12/ 6/2004: Newspaper Story - After a hearing in Cole County Circuit Court last week, the lawsuit against the state's school funding system will proceed.
• 12/ 6/2004: Newspaper Story - After a court decision to delay the trial of Missouri's school funding formula, the attorney general's office has 15 days to decide whether the formula violates the Missouri constitution by not providing equal and adequate funding to the state's public schools.
• 10/12/2004: Radio Story - The shortage of flu vaccinations has officials concerned for the health of Missouri schoolchildren.
• 10/ 7/2004: Radio Story - Representatives from the St. Louis Public School District met with the Missouri Board of Education to update the status of their crippled budget.
• 10/ 7/2004: Radio Story - New national guidelines to prevent school terror have not phased top Missouri education officials.
• 9/30/2004: Radio Story - Missouri's director of homeland security says schools may not receive federal help in combating the threat of terrorism.
• 9/28/2004: Radio Story - School officals say gas price hikes make it hard to transport students cheaply. Current gas prices also hurt school bus companies like First Student.
• 9/14/2004: Radio Story - Supporters say Amendment three will increase funding for Missouri Department of Transportation. Opponents say the initiative will make an already tight budget more strained.
• 9/ 9/2004: Radio Story - Missouri's director of homeland security says he cannot guarantee state schools will receive federal terror prevention money.
• 8/31/2004: Radio Story - The Missouri Education Department reports that 50 percent more students took Advanced Placement tests than five years ago.
• 8/27/2004: Newspaper Story - Former Missouri Governor Roger Wilson criticized GOP gubernatorial nonimee Matt Blunt's record on education at a press conference Friday.
• 8/19/2004: Radio Story - After failing to meet the federal academic standards, the Department of Education says the No Child Left Behind Act needs to be evaluated.
• 7/ 1/2004: Radio Story - The federal government warns Missouri and the other 49 states that they must spend 2002 education grant money or lose it.
• 5/14/2004: Newspaper Story - When it comes to Missouri education policy, what the General Assembly didn't do this session may turn out to be more important than what it did. Namely, the legislators failed to revise Missouri's $2.4 billion Foundation Formula, the key school aid funding mechanism.
• 5/ 4/2004: Radio Story - The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that stops students expelled for violent behavior from affecting the school's annual drop out rate.
• 5/ 4/2004: Radio Story - Some Democrats say Missouri schools won't see the 4.7 percent increase over last year, even though it's more than the Democratic Governor Bob Holden recommended. Republican House Budget Chairman, Carl Bearden says they are playing politics.
• 5/ 4/2004: Radio Story - The legislature sent the governor budget proposals that include spending increases for lower and higher education and don't rely on a tax increase to fund the increases.
• 5/ 4/2004: Newspaper Story - The legislature passed lower and higher education budgets and continued working on the budget.
• 4/28/2004: Radio Story - The bill would make the state's standards the same as those on the Federal No Child Left Behind Act.
• 4/28/2004: Newspaper Story - The Appropriations Conference Committee approved increases for higher and lower education for the coming budget year.
• 4/28/2004: Radio Story - Legislators from the House and Senate met in a conference committee to reconcile their different versions of the state budget. One major compromise involves giving more money to higher education.
• 4/20/2004: Radio Story - A few democratic senators engaged in extended debate on the bill that funds public schools.
• 4/19/2004: Newspaper Story - Rod Paige addressed Monday an audience of between 200 and 300 people at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Mo. Paige, and a panel of five other education experts had a town hall meeting -- including two superintendents and a representative from Missouri State Teachers Association -- which focused on recent changes to No Child Left Behind education law
• 4/14/2004: Newspaper Story - The Senate Appropriations Committee added $20 million to the higher education budget while cutting $13 million from general revenue for elementary and secondary education.
• 4/14/2004: Radio Story - State Auditor Claire McCaskill criticized Governor Bob Holden for waiting too long to release money he'd withheld from public schools.
• 4/13/2004: Radio Story - The plan would give tax credits to donors to a scholarship plan that lets poor kids attend private schools.
• 4/ 7/2004: Newspaper Story - The House passed an $18.6 billion budget Wednesday that provides a bigger increase for educatin than the governor reccomended -- without tax increases. The budget was passed on the same day that the Revenue Department released numbers showing that state revenue collections are up significantly.
• 4/ 7/2004: Newspaper Story - State education officials said Wednesday that increased local support through property taxes, as a result of Tuesday's statewide voting, could increase funding inequities. The problem lies in the formula itself, which rewards local funding effort with more state aid.
• 4/ 6/2004: Newspaper Story - April 15 will be an especially key date for a House budget plan currently under consideration. Earlier in the year, the House, Senate, and Gov. Bob Holden agreed the state should expect about $6.4 billion in revenue, but the new House budget plan utilizes about $7 billion in revenue. But that difference won't be known until the mid-April deadline, said State Budget Director Linda Luebbering. She did not rule out the Republican figures outright, saying there was not enough information at this
• 4/ 5/2004: Newspaper Story - With over one hundred school districts asking their residents to approve increased taxation Tuesday, the public school funding debate could be significantly altered.
• 3/29/2004: Newspaper Story - While there are many legislators who have served on school boards, only a few of the state's 197 lawmakers have actually taught as liscenced teachers in a Missouri classroom. Though state government is their second career, many of these teachers-turned-lawmakers describe it as the next logical step in a lifetime of passion for, and commitment to, public service.
• 3/17/2004: Radio Story - Democratic Senators marked the halfway point in the legislature by criticizing Republican lawmakers. Two areas Democrats are particularily frustrated with are Medicaid and Education.
• 3/16/2004: Radio Story - Some Missouri schools are reporting inflated enrollment when asking for funding for summer schools and then not hosting summer school at all.
• 3/16/2004: Radio Story - Bond addressed the House and Senate about his proposal for federal funding for the Parents as Teachers program, which is now international.
• 3/ 9/2004: Radio Story - Another Republican has joined the group of GOP senators that support raising taxes to fund public schools.
• 3/ 8/2004: Radio Story - A report says Missouri general revenue collections are up 7.8 percent. House Budget Committee Chair Carl Bearden says it is a sign the state's economy is becoming strong.
• 3/ 2/2004: Radio Story - A statewide survey reports more than 100 Missouri school districts plan to ask more money on April's ballot. Missouri's education commissioner says they need the money to cover state budget cuts in excess of 100-million dollars.
• 3/ 1/2004: Newspaper Story - Stashed away in a school district's annual budget is a fund that, ideally, should never be touched.That fund, known as a district's "reserves," is designed to help a public school district survive a year, maybe two or three, of financial difficulty.
• 2/23/2004: Newspaper Story - State education officials said Wednesday they feared that local school board choices would impact Missouri's compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which determines how much federal aid Missouri receives.
• 2/18/2004: Newspaper Story - Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, and Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, introduced an amendment to a House education appropriations bill that would move all state funding for the MAP tests to Missouri's state aid distribution formula. That would allow individual school districts the option of how -- or whether -- to finance the administratin of the exams.
• 2/17/2004: Radio Story - Missouri's Senate votes to lower the standards for students to pass the MAP test.
• 2/17/2004: Newspaper Story - Monday's rally for more public school money was met Tuesday by a House appropriations bill that would effectively hold steady state aid distribution to public schools.
• 2/16/2004: Radio Story - More than 2,000 educators, parents, and students gathered outside the state capitol with one message, they need more money. Lawmakers listened to their requests, and students got to see the legislative process firsthand.
• 2/16/2004: Newspaper Story - Though unschooled in the detailed art of school finance -- many didn't know what the Foundation Formula was, or how much money was being thrown around -- the roughly 2,000 young protesters chanting "Save our Schools!" on the steps of Missouri's Captiol were quite clear on what was at stake: their educations.
• 2/16/2004: Radio Story - Governor Bob Holden told state superintendents he still won't release withheld money for public education.
• 2/16/2004: Radio Story - Roughyl 2,000 teachers, administrators, school board members, parents and students gathered at the state capitol to rally the governor and legislators to increase funding for education.
• 2/12/2004: Newspaper Story - The Joint Committee on Education Funding approved a new philosophy of delivering state aid based on "student need." The current system provides money based on local tax wealth.
• 2/12/2004: Radio Story - Republican House Speaker Catherine Hanaway announced a proposal to limit administrative spending to ten percent of a school's budget.
• 2/10/2004: Radio Story - School districts without built-in snow days could have a tough time meeting the state's minimum number of days in school, 174.
• 2/10/2004: Radio Story - Plan would charge more for filing lawsuits and accessing public documents.
• 2/ 9/2004: Newspaper Story - Another month of unexpectedly high revenue collections leads to another round of Republican criticism that Gov. Bob Holden should release education withholdings.
• 2/ 9/2004: Radio Story - House Budget Committee chair Carl Bearden says Governor Bob Holden should release education witholdings even if the money would harm the chances for funding-levies on an April ballot. Bearden says schools probably will not see money from the state until May.
• 2/ 3/2004: Radio Story - Lawmakers are moving to prohibit strip searches in Missouri schools.
• 1/28/2004: Newspaper Story - Some Senate Republicans have expressed support for revenue increases to help balance the budget. Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Jackson County, introduced bills that would increase gambling boat admission fees and court fees with the proceeds earmarked for education.
• 1/26/2004: Newspaper Story - A Missouri legislative panel was told Monday that it could take nearly $1 billion to "adequately" fund Missouri schools.
• 1/21/2004: Newspaper Story - Partisan rancor marked Gov. Bob Holden's State of the State Address Wednesday, as his education, job, and revenue plans all fell under heavy assualt from Republican leadership. The program he announced was essentially the same as the program he put forth last year, with a continued emphasis on a tax increase to help fund Missouri's public schools.
• 1/15/2004: Newspaper Story - A House and Senate bill to rework various components of Missouri's MAP testing regimen will help allow schools to meet a federal standard that is actually lower than the goal Missouri educators set for themselves.
• 1/15/2004: Radio Story - Longer feature on legislation to lower testing standards for Missouri schools under the No Child Left Behind law.
• 1/15/2004: Radio Story - Republican lawmakers filed legislation to lower school MAP testing standards to avoid possible loss of federal funds from the No Child Left Behind law.
• 1/12/2004: Newspaper Story - The lawsuit, filed last week, asserts that the state's complicated public school funding formula is neither equitable nor adequate in its distribution of state funds.
• 1/12/2004: Radio Story - School buses in Missouri don't have to have seat belts because mandating them would require major redesigns and overhauls to the buses
• 1/ 6/2004: Newspaper Story - Nearly half of Missouri's school districts file suit against the state's system for funding local schools.