Springfield State Senator Curtis Trent has been pushing education legislation all session that he claims will require schools to re-think how they evaluate school performance, making it based more on academic achievement.
Trent says that the ultimate goal is for parents to have more control over the educational destiny of their children.
As of the 2023-24 school year the average cost of educating a student (K-12) in Missouri falls between 13 to 19 thousand dollars a year, depending on the district.
Springfield public schools rank 115th among school districts in Missouri. Missouri is ranked 38th nationally, and among 81 countries generally we rank 16th in science, 9th in reading, and 34th in math.
Lawmakers have been debating incentives attached to the measure.
(photo courtesy of senate.mo.gov)