DO YOU KNOW: What options do parents have and how can they change the future of education?

Are you unhappy with your child’s education?

Does your child need tutoring help to succeed in school?

Does your child have special needs that are not being met by a one-size-fits-all education system?

Would your child benefit from a unique education system, like a charter or virtual school?

Thousands of parents across Missouri answer “Yes!” to at least one of these questions every year, but many of them currently have no options to find a better educational path for their child because of the way that public education is structured in the state.

States across the nation have proven that this is not the way that public education has to be.

Other states have created robust charter school systems, provided statewide access to online virtual education and even created Education Savings Accounts which provide parents funding for tutoring, textbooks, services for special needs students and assistance in attending private schools.

A wide variety of studies have shown that increasing school choice and parent power over their children’s education have resulted in increased test scores and student achievement.

Whats more, 29 out of 31 studies have shown that increasing school choice has also led to improvements in traditional public district schools.

Here in Missouri, the growth of public charter schools in St. Louis City and Kansas City, have had similar results — increasing student performance both in the public charter and district schools.

The evidence is clear that increasing school choice and giving parents, not administrators, the power to choose the best educational option for their children has a dramatic and positive effect on student outcomes.

What options do Missouri parents have?

Currently, parents in St. Louis City and Kansas City are the only parents in the state who have any choice or power in determining their children’s future, and those parents only have one option, public charter schools, other than sending their children to frequently underperforming public district schools.

Parents in Missouri do not currently have the option to send their children to a virtual school unless they pay for the tuition out of their own pocket.

Likewise, parents throughout the state do not currently have access to any funding source to help them get additional tutoring or services for their children or to send their children to private schools which may better serve their children’s needs.

The majority of Missouri parents have no other option than to send their children to their local district school, regardless of that school’s performance and regardless of what their child’s individual needs may be.

How to change the future

The good news is that the Missouri legislature is likely to consider a number of bills in 2018 which could expand school choice options to more parents throughout the state.

The Missouri General Assembly Joint Committee on Education held a hearing on public charter school expansion earlier this month, and it is likely that bills will be introduced to create statewide virtual education and to establish some form of Education Savings Account.

In order to truly give parents the freedom to choose their children’s futures, legislators and school officials need to hear from parents across the state about why these issues matter.

CEAM can help parents learn how to make their voices heard, both in their local community and in Jefferson City.

Visit http://p2a.co/wxMje9C or text CEAM to 52886 to help parents have more power over their children’s futures.