Legislative Advocacy Network Focuses on Funding, Court Decisions

Parents and staff members with the Mehlville School District and two other local districts discussed some of the top education issues facing the Missouri legislature at a meeting of the Cooperating School Districts’ Legislative Advocacy Network on Thursday.

The meeting was the second such gathering that leaders of the Mehlville, Bayless and Affton school districts have held to keep parents and employees informed of legislative issues. Mehlville Deputy Superintendent Eric Knost said the hope is to meet once a month.

“We do not want to attach this to a party but just raise awareness,” Knost said. “We need to be charged and ready.”

Dr. John Urkevich, the executive director of Cooperating School Districts, explained that this year is a critical one for education in Missouri to the approximately 15 people who attended the meeting at Bierbaum Elementary School.

“This is probably one of the most challenging times for public education since I have been alive. It’s being challenged on many fronts, some fairly so, others unfairly so,” Urkevich said.

According to Urkevich, the most pressing issue in front of the legislature is a result of a Missouri Supreme Court decision last summer. Urkevich explained that in Turner v. Clayton, the Supreme Court found that any students living within the boundaries of Missouri’s unaccredited school districts have the right to transfer to an accredited school district in the same or adjoining county.

The two unaccredited districts are Riverview Gardens and St. Louis Public Schools, so Ukrevich said that any student from these two districts could decide to enroll at a nearby suburban school district. The ruling also applies to students who attend any of the city’s many private institutions.  

Ukrevich said the broad nature of the decision, which does not set any parameters to govern these transfers, has necessitated that the legislature address the issue in some way. If lawmakers fail to act, Ukrevich said the courts may once again step in.

“I think everyone realizes that they have got to fix it,” he said.

He added that the costs of transporting students alone could pose significant fiscal problems to districts. The ruling also raises a host of other questions, such as how districts that received an influx of students would pay for the staff and facilities necessary and how depleted inner city districts would cope with a potential student exodus.

“Rural educators see this as a St. Louis problem, but it can dilute the [funding] formula for every school,” Ukrevich said.

Several lawmakers have already filed bills proposing various fixes, but Ukrevich said it was too early in the legislative process to tell what any final compromise will look like. He urged the parents and staff members present to contact their elected representatives about the issue once one of the bills “gets some legs.”

Knost echoed Ukrevich’s call to action when the meeting ended and said he will continue to update and inform district parents and staff.

After the meeting, parent Ken Smith said he came because he wants to be involved in the education of his two children in the Mehlville school system.

“I care about my kids' education,” said Smith, who is also involved with the Bierbaum Elementary PTO. “Right now, funding is being drained away. If the parents don’t get involved, the schools won’t get the attention they need.”