2018 RSD Legislative Platform

 

2018 Legislative Platform

The Rockwood School District is led by the principle that quality education is a responsibility shared by the home, school, community and nation. We support the following legislative priorities in an effort to help all children thrive and realize their highest potential.

Priority Positions

Public education is foundational to strong communities and critical to the development of a prepared workforce. Missouri public schools are improving. The investment and support of the public schools’ innovative approach to educating our children is critical to the success of our state.

Flexibility for Innovation

We support innovation for public schools to create more equitable learning opportunities for positive educational outcomes for all children.

• We support goals to implement an adaptable and comprehensive state assessment tool that accurately evaluates continuous growth and life readiness of student learning.
• We support the recommendations from the DESE Proficiency-Based Task Force.
• We support and encourage partnerships between public high schools and post-secondary institutions.

Support Local Control and Professional Educators

Federal and state mandates are eroding local control of Missouri public school districts and restricting the ability of our public school leaders and teachers to meet the needs of all children effectively. We call on the General Assembly to support local control to enable public school districts to create initiatives that will guarantee success for all Missouri children.

• We support local decisions by public schools on issues regarding bonding, teacher compensation, school calendar, curriculum, and district boundaries.
• We support public school district input on local economic development incentives.
• We support keeping local dollars in local communities under the accountability and oversight of locally elected school boards.
• We support an independent State Board of Education and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that is autonomous of political influence.

Serving Students with Critical Needs

We are committed to the education and overall well-being of all children. We support funding of initiatives to provide training, services and resources to public school districts that meet the critical needs of all children.

• We support continued Medicaid funding for school services.
• We support public schools that use a trauma-informed approach to provide access to necessary services to address mental health needs, improve children's health and provide teacher training.
• We support providing resources to help struggling public school districts.
• We support legislation requiring all educational institutions receiving public funds to be held to the same accountability standards ensuring that all students receive an equitable and quality education.

Meeting our Financial Responsibilities

We want to ensure that fully funding Missouri public schools continues to be a priority including protecting categorical funding (e.g. transportation funds). It is critical that the General Assembly continues to fully fund Missouri public schools and invest in the future of more than 900,000 Missouri public school children.