As the state legislature heads into its spring break, the House has sent eight education bills to the Senate
By: Annelise Hanshaw
Missouri Independent
The Missouri House this week passed bills cutting extraneous teacher training requirements and adding supports for literacy in elementary schools. At the halfway point of the legislative session, the House has approved eight education bills.
The Senate has passed one bill related to education, which would allow students in urban school districts to miss school to accompany their parents to the polls and change the terms for Independence School Board members from six to three years.
Literacy
On Thursday, the House approved legislation aimed at improving literacy rates in elementary schools in a 131-10 vote.
The bill would create a test to screen students in grades K-3 for reading deficiencies. It pushes for intensive reading instruction and interventions for students falling behind. And those with a “substantial reading deficiency” at the end of third grade will be held back unless they qualify for an exemption.
Students with disabilities, English-language learners and those who have already been held back once are eligible for exemptions.
“The goal is not (third-grade) retention,” the bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Cathy Joy Loy from Carthage, said Tuesday. “The goal is literacy, making sure that children learn to read early so that retention becomes unnecessary.”
The prospect of holding students back one grade level made some lawmakers nervous, though they came around to support the bill as a whole.
State Rep. Kem Smith, a Democrat from Florissant, said she was initially hesitant about the retention provision. But she talked to relatives in Mississippi, which has retained third-grade students for over a decade, and they commended the policy.
“The retention piece is important because it says to people around the state that we really understand the importance of literacy and the impact it has on our communities,” Smith said.
She added a provision to the bill that compels parents to get involved, notifying them at the end of second grade if their child is deficient in reading.
The legislation also bolsters efforts to promote phonics instruction, restricting the use of the three-cueing method as a primary source of reading instruction.
Teacher training
The House also passed a bill to reduce teachers’ workload by eliminating “redundant” training requirements.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Ann Kelley, a Republican from Lamar and former teacher, said the legislation is intended to “give flexibility” to schools.
She described the excitement of the week leading up to the first day of school, recalling the frenzy of teachers decorating and organizing their classrooms.
“Then, on your first day, teachers are informed they have x days to complete all the computer trainings that are required,” she said in a House debate Monday. “Which takes many, many, many hours. This is time that is taken away from teachers, time that could be spent preparing for students.”
Watching the same videos each year shouldn’t be a requirement, she said, though her bill would allow schools to make that call for their staff. The legislation mandates training for three consecutive years. Beyond that, it is up to administrators to decide what is necessary for their staff.
“The current one size fits all approach would not adequately consider the unique needs of our diverse educational environments,” she said Wednesday. “This legislation places decision-making back in the hands of local school boards and educators. They know their teachers and their specific needs better than anyone else.”
The bill received support from both sides of the aisle. Retired teacher and state Rep. Connie Steinmetz, a Maryland Heights Democrat, applauded the flexibility the legislation gives to schools.
“It only makes sense that we would allow the school districts to be able to pick and choose which (training courses) that the teachers should do, especially after they’ve done it for three years,” she said.
State Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly and retired educator, recalled the hassle of reviewing the same videos each year. Eliminating these requirements would make teachers’ jobs “a little bit better.”
“If there’s any bill Missouri teachers want us to pass this year,” he said, “This is it.”
The bill passed with just two opposed: Republican state Reps. Mazzie Christensen of Bethany and Lisa Durnell of Willow Springs.