Opinion | Randol: Accountability Must Run Both Ways

As the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education submits its budget request for next year, they have decided to send public schools they have been appointed to oversee two conflicting messages: We expect more from you — but we are not prepared to keep our commitments.

Last month, the State Board of Education approved a new A–F grading framework for public schools and districts. That same day, the Board directed DESE not to request the funding needed to fully fund the foundation formula established in state law — leaving its request approximately $270 million short.

In other words, the State Board of Education is preparing to grade every public school while declining even to ask for the funding Missouri’s own law says those schools should receive.

I believe deeply in accountability. Parents and taxpayers deserve clear, honest information about school performance from every school receiving public dollars for education. Schools should be expected to set high standards, use public dollars responsibly and deliver results for students.

But accountability must run both ways.

We cannot demand excellence at a discount. And accountability without the resources or opportunity to improve is not accountability. It is merely a label.

The foundation formula is not a wish list. It is the state’s method for helping schools meet the responsibilities Missouri has placed upon them. This year we are already giving our public schools over $400 less per student than the law says the state should pay. When the state does not provide its share, those responsibilities do not disappear. The cost is simply pushed down to local school boards, communities and property taxpayers.

Even the Governor’s School Funding Modernization Task Force — directed to examine how existing funds might be distributed differently rather than seek additional funding — reported preliminary research indicating that Missouri’s schools may need $568 million to $624 million beyond what the current formula provides to be adequately funded.

That should give every Missourian pause.

We should expect results from our schools. We should demand transparency. But if Missouri intends to place a letter grade on every school, it must also be willing to place a grade on its own performance.

Did the state keep its commitments? Did it provide schools with the resources necessary to meet the standards it imposed? Did it give struggling schools a genuine path to improve — or simply a new label announcing that they are struggling?

The budget process is not over. The Governor and General Assembly still have the opportunity to fully fund the foundation formula. They should do so. The new grading framework should also be piloted carefully and used to help schools improve — not merely to sort, rank or stigmatize the children and communities they serve. Missouri communities know their schools better than any report card. As we prepare for Jefferson City to grade our schools, in return we should consider what grade those in Jefferson City deserve for supporting our children, our teachers, our schools, and our communities.

Missouri has every right to hold its public schools accountable.

But Missouri’s public schools — and the taxpayers who support them — have every right to hold the state accountable, too.

Melissa Randol

Melissa Randol serves as executive director of the Missouri School Boards' Association, representing school board members across Missouri through leadership development, training and advocacy.