Education
VP Harris tells teachers union she’s ‘fighting for the future,’ blasts Project 2025
Vice President Kamala Harris — the likely 2024 Democratic presidential nominee — outlined on Thursday some of her “vision of the future” while touting the administration’s education record in her keynote address to the American Federation of Teachers national convention in Houston. Harris has quickly drawn the support of major unions like the AFT in […]
Teachers union files federal lawsuit alleging MOHELA mismanaged millions of student loans
A federal lawsuit filed Monday accuses a quasi-governmental organization based in Missouri of illegally overcharging and actively misleading student loan borrowers. The American Federation of Teachers filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. against the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, better known as MOHELA. The lawsuit claims the student loan servicer illegally […]
Missouri uses money, laws to push evidence-based reading instruction
If you drop into an elementary reading lesson, you might see kids learning about the long U sound, building their vocabulary or practicing how to read aloud without sounding like robots. And if you visit Kansas City Public Schools this fall, you should see all students in the same grade learning the same thing. After […]
Survivors of childhood abuse ask for trial for former Missouri boarding school owner
Survivors of abuse are asking Missouri’s attorney general to proceed with the trial of the co-owner of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, a now-shuttered boarding school for troubled girls in Cedar County. Stephanie Householder, who ran the school with her husband Boyd Householder, faces 21 charges of child abuse and neglect alleged by former Circle […]
University of Missouri employees voice concerns about benefits, wages at union town hall
University of Missouri custodian Cathy Persinger had to move out of Columbia, because she can no longer afford to live in the city, she said during a town hall Saturday afternoon at the Unitarian Universalist Church. “When I asked (the university) for a raise because I was stressed out, they told me about food banks […]
Nearly 140,000 Missouri kids under 5 get free books every month
At the beginning of each month, 4-year-old Ada Caldwell, 4, runs to the mailbox to see what new book is inside. “She gets excited about going to get the mail,” said Ada’s mother, Tara Caldwell. “Not many things come in the mail anymore. She really likes that part of it.” The free books are sent […]
KCPD funding, child care tax breaks: Missouri’s August ballot issues explained
Kansas City officials have another chance next month to fend off an attempt by Missouri lawmakers to force the city to spend more of its revenue on policing. But despite opposition from Kansas City leaders and activists, there’s no formal campaign against the ballot initiative, which was previously passed by Missouri voters but later tossed […]
GOP plan to reverse final Title IX rule passes U.S. House, but Biden says he’d veto
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Thursday passed a measure to reverse an Education Department rule seeking to extend federal discrimination protections for LGBTQ students, though President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the legislation should it land on his desk. House passage of the resolution on a party-line vote, 210-205, is part of a barrage of […]
Major corporations, wealthy donors fuel growth of Missouri private school scholarship program
The largest donors to a tax credit program supporting private school tuition scholarships in Missouri are a Fortune 500 health care corporation, a cable company and the founding family of the Kansas City Chiefs. UnitedHealth Group Inc. has given the most since 2023 to the state’s K-12 tax-credit scholarship program, dubbed MOScholars, with a $2 […]
When ‘universal’ pre-K really isn’t: Barriers to participating abound
When Tanya Gillespie-Lambert goes to an event in a local park in Camden, New Jersey, she takes a handful of brochures about free preschool with her. She has no hesitation about approaching strangers — moms with kids especially — to plug the service in the local public school district, where she’s director of community and […]
Payment backlog leaves Missouri child care providers desperate, on the brink of closing
This spring, the state of Missouri owed Kimberly Luong Nichols $5,000 in backlogged payments for children at her Kansas City daycare who were part of a state subsidy program. For four years, she’s operated a licensed daycare inside her home, where she currently serves 10 children. Luong Nichols stopped drawing a salary last summer to […]
Kansas City charter school found locking up students’ phones left more time for learning
Facetime calls. Blaring music. Video games. “You name it, it was happening” during class at DeLaSalle High School, said Breona Ward, director of college and career progressions. Students’ cellphone use got in the way of learning at the Kansas City charter school. The difference Ward saw in her English classroom was “night and day” after […]