Education
Missouri schools lack public enforcement policies for transgender athlete restrictions
It has been a year since a state law required Missouri schools to have athletes compete according to their sex as assigned at birth, and few student manuals and school-board policies reflect the change. Enforcement, which was murky last year, remains unprescribed with many districts stating that they will follow the law without describing how. […]
GOP incumbents faced opposition from ‘school choice’ PACs in Missouri legislative primaries
The mailers started showing up in Rep. Jeff Farnan’s district months before the Aug. 6 primary, labeling the Republican from Stanberry a tool of teacher’s unions with an agenda of “open borders” and “higher taxes.” By the time voters went to the polls, the Missouri chapter of the American Federation for Children had spent $90,000 […]
Do some kids learn better online? A new Kansas City virtual academy thinks so
Bridget Bolder sent her daughter, Mia, to kindergarten at a neighborhood public school. After all, it seemed the “normal, regular thing to do.” But Bolder started to worry that some of her daughter’s classmates were exposing her to inappropriate topics. Early in the school year, Mia had to tell a teacher about a boy groping […]
U.S. Education Department outlines testing period for phased rollout of new FAFSA form
WASHINGTON — With the U.S. Department of Education using a staggered approach in opening up the 2025-26 application period for federal financial student aid, the agency said Tuesday it will partner with a small number of community-based organizations to participate in the first testing period beginning Oct. 1. Earlier in August, the department said it would use […]
Missouri legislative leaders call for hearings over child care subsidy ‘crisis’
Missouri lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling for emergency interim committees to investigate the state’s monthslong child care subsidy backlog.
Kansas City’s $424 million bond proposal would close, renovate and move schools
Superintendent Jennifer Collier understands why families weren’t inspired by the last Kansas City Public Schools building plan. “It really just felt like … trying to convince people why they should be OK with us taking away their school,” she said. A new plan to build at least two new schools and renovate others, reshuffle students […]
Missouri standardized test scores show progress, continued challenges statewide
Missouri students are showing progress on standardized tests administered by the state, with results in some categories approaching — and even exceeding — pre-pandemic levels. But in other areas — most notably English language arts — students continue to struggle. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education revealed preliminary scores in the Missouri Assessment […]
U.S. Education Department to gradually roll out new FAFSA form by Dec. 1
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday it will use a phased rollout to launch the 2025-26 form to apply for federal financial student aid, which will make the application fully available two months later than usual. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — will be available to […]
Missouri education officials apologize for ongoing backlog of child care subsidy payments
Missouri’s education department hopes to resolve a backlog of payments to daycares across the state in the next two months, agency staff told the State Board of Education on Tuesday. The department previously predicted the backlog — which has left many daycares on the brink of closure — would be overcome by the end of […]
Much-attacked final Title IX rule goes into effect while still blocked in 26 states
WASHINGTON — Though the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX extending federal protections for LGBTQ students went into effect nationwide Thursday, a slew of legal challenges has temporarily blocked over half of all states from enforcing the updated regulations. After the Department of Education released the final rule in April, 26 states — all with GOP attorneys general […]
University of Missouri bows to Republican pressure and eliminates campus DEI division
The University of Missouri will eliminate its division focused on diversity, social equity and inclusion on the Columbia campus, completing the dismantling of administrative structures put in place after protests in 2015 brought national attention to issues of racial equality. The move coincides with the departure of division Vice Chancellor Maurice Gipson. It is designed […]
Year-round school is out at three KC-area schools, but another says it’s boosting test scores
When Natalie Brooks moved her daughters into North Kansas City Schools, she didn’t realize her neighborhood school was one of two in the district that put kids in class an extra 31 days. She became an advocate of the program, believing it helped to skip long summer breaks where her daughters might forget what they’d […]