JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A bill establishing a recall procedure for local school board members advanced out of a Missouri House committee Tuesday as that bill and others targeting school boards have gained early momentum.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the bills come as school boards have faced public pressure over their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and curriculum controversies.
Political disagreement in at least one St. Louis-area district has led to threats from residents and an increased police presence at meetings. Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is also running for the U.S. Senate, had announced 45 lawsuits as of Monday against school districts in opposition to their masking rules.
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee approved a bill setting up a procedure to recall school board members that would make Missouri the 24th state to allow such recalls.
The committee also held hearings on bills to allow voters to add agenda items to school board meetings through a petition process and to move school board elections to November.
The Senate Education Committee conducted a hearing on another bill creating a recall procedure.
Both recall bills outline grounds for recalls, including lack of responsiveness to parents’ concerns and promotion and implementation of measures that are counterproductive to students’ best interests.
Critics of the bills say the recall elections would be a waste of money and a “constant election cycle” would bring politics into decisions meant to be about children’s best interests.