JEFFERSON CITY — St. Charles and ºüÀêÊÓƵ counties are one step closer to getting charter schools after approval of a on Monday by a state legislative committee.
Currently, state law only allows charter schools in ºüÀêÊÓƵ and Kansas City and in unaccredited school districts and some provisionally accredited districts.
The House Special Committee on Education Reform approved a measure that would expand charter schools into St. Charles and ºüÀêÊÓƵ counties and Columbia.
Originally, Reps. Justin Hicks, R-Lake Saint Louis; Brad Christ, R-south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County; and Cheri Toalson Reisch, R-Columbia, each filed independent pieces of legislation pertaining to the districts they represent. On Monday, the committee combined the bills into one so that charter school expansion in the three areas will all be considered together.
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If the charter school proposal gets enough votes by the full House, it would then move to the Senate for consideration.
Those advocating for more charter schools across Missouri say they give options to parents who may not be happy with public schools but can’t afford private schools.
When he presented his St. Charles County proposal earlier this month, Hicks said the effort is about ensuring parents have options and kids aren’t “pigeonholed†into public schools.
Charter school critics say they drain resources away from Missouri’s public school districts, which are struggling to retain teachers and produce satisfactory educational outcomes.
Rep. Kevin Windham, D-Hillsdale, on Monday opposed the measure. He said he was “dismayed†there is an effort to expand charter schools into new counties, when “we didn’t look hard enough to find the problems with the current charter school system and didn’t find the need to correct those.â€
Since first opening in ºüÀêÊÓƵ in 2000, charter schools have a mixed record. More than half of the 37 charter school operators that opened in the city have since folded due to financial or academic failures, including La Salle and Hawthorn last year.
Earlier this month, the Missouri Charter Public School Commission gave two new ºüÀêÊÓƵ charter schools the green light to submit applications.
would be a north ºüÀêÊÓƵ grade school, and would be a middle school in the city’s central corridor.