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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION NO. 40
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE LOY .
6636H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
Relating to accountability of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
WHEREAS, Article IX, Section 1 of the Missouri Constitution guarantees public
2 education and places responsibility with the General Assembly; and
3
4 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education serves as the
5 state's public education agency , ensuring high-quality learning from early childhood through
6 high school, preparing students for college and careers, and supporting educators; and
7
8 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's core roles
9 include, but are not limited to, setting standards, accrediting districts, managing state and
10 federal funds, overseeing teacher certification, providing support services for diverse learners,
11 and administering programs for children with disabilities and early childhood; and
12
13 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's role has
14 increasingly grown beyond counting students, managing funds, and reporting outcomes. T oo
15 many other programs have been added to the Department's responsibilities, which has
16 weakened the mission of elementary and secondary education; and
17
18 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's growth has
19 not translated into better academic outcomes or safer schools; instead, the growth has diluted
20 the Department's accountability; and
21
22 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has become
23 increasingly bureaucratic, program driven, and compliance focused; and
24
25 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is substituting
26 paperwork and ideology for measurable student success; and
27
28 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should exist to
29 provide and administer public education; and
30
31 WHEREAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should not
32 exist to:
33
34 (1) Govern classrooms;
35 (2) Advance social or political agendas not authorized by law;
36 (3) Create new programs without clear legislative guardrails and accountability; and
37 (4) Drown schools in compliance paperwork that pulls resources away from students;
38 and
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40 WHEREAS, the role of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
41 needs to be limited in order to return its functions to its proper constitutional role:
42
43 NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOL VED that the members of the House of
44 Representatives of the One Hundred Third General Assembly , Second Regular Session, the
45 Senate concurring therein, hereby recognize that the Department of Elementary and
46 Secondary Education's role should be narrowed and the Department's ef fectiveness should be
47 strengthened by clearly defining what the Department should and should not do; and
48
49 BE IT FUR THER RESOL VED that the General Assembly requests that the
50 Governor clarify the duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and
51 authorize the Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and
52 the State Board of Education to do only the following:
53
54 (1) Require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to act only as
55 provided by the Missouri Constitution;
56
57 (2) Generate a public education scorecard providing clear , simple, transparent data
58 on student counts, graduation rates, academic outcomes, and legally required reports;
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59
60 (3) Operate a lean accreditation system focused on outcomes and academic growth,
61 not politics or pedagogy;
62
63 (4) Eff iciently move dollars from those appropriated by the General Assembly based
64 on a clearly defined formula to best impact the academic success of students. In order to
65 prevent fraud and waste, annual performance audits shall be conducted, and such audits shall
66 be clear and concise as to every dollar spent, including where dollars sent to a local
67 educational agency are distributed and the correlation with academic success for each local
68 educational agency; and
69
70 (5) Of fer support when schools and parents ask for support; and
71
72 BE IT FUR THER RESOL VED that this resolution be sent to the Governor for his
73 approval or rejection pursuant to the Missouri Constitution.
✔
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