Wrap: Chris Howard is 18-years-old and homeless.

His stepfather has shot and stabbed him, in addition to other abuses in the past.

Howard currently lives at Youth In Need, a homeless shelter located in St. Charles.

He became a student at Shearwater High School in March, and now realizes how important his new charter school is for better education.

Charter schools are schools that receive public money, are sponsored by an outside organization, and attended by choice.

Charter schools are operated by outside organizations rather than the state, so the schools can set some of their own rules and regulations. 

Howard testified at a Senate Education Committee meeting in support of a bill that would expand the creation of charter schools.

Shearwater High School President Stephanie Krauss invited Howard and two other students to testify at the committee meeting.

Krauss says homeless children that move from shelter to shelter have a hard time joining a school because of their ever-changing addresses.

She says she opened Shearwater to eliminate any restriction from letting these kids have an adequate education.

Krauss says she supports St. Louis City Senator Joe Keaveny's (Kevin-ee) bill because it allows students to have easier graduation requirements.

One St. Louis City Representative Tishaura Jones sponsors a bill that would allow charter schools anywhere in the state and expand who is eligible to sponsor a charter school.

Jones says failing schools are not solely a Kansas City or St. Louis-urban issue, but a it's a Missouri issue.

She says that being a parent of a student living in St. Louis City, she knows that...

Jones says it's important to realize that people have choices with everything and education should not be an exception.

Representative Jones has reached across the aisle to gain partisanship from both parties, but not everyone is open-arms on school choice.

Western Michigan University education professor Gary Miron has been studying school choice programs in Europe and the United States for more than two decades.

He says he's an opponent to charter schools with negative results.

Through his research, he's found that most cases throughout the country have led to some schools not integrating students.

Marshall Representative Joe Aull says he's also opposed to expanding charter schools into out-state Missouri because a lot of the charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis are not performing at an acceptable level.

Representative Tishaura Jones and other school choice advocates work close beside parent supporters.

Bertha Gilkey-Bonds is the Missouri representative for the Black Alliance for Educational Options, which fights for access to better education for black children.

Gilkey-Bonds serves as a link between Missouri parents and the state government about improving the amount of options parents have for their children.

She says not allowing kids to transfer schools for a better education is un-American.

Gilkey-Bonds and the rest of the alliance gain support from parents around the state.

Alisha Franklin works as the chair person for the legislative committee for the alliance.

She says allowing parents to transfer their kids to other schools is a good thing for the St. Louis Public School system because it creates competition.

One of Franklin's children, Lance Livingston is a second grade student at Imagine Academy, one charter school in St. Louis.

Livingston says he likes his current school because...

He says he wants to be either a meteorologist or football player, but attends a charter school...

Livingston is one of the many children who transferred out of the St. Louis Public School system.

Education reform is an issue being taken seriously in Missouri.

From Jefferson City, I'm Kyle Tons.