Charter Schools in Missouri

Law:   Passed in 1998

Rank:   14th strongest of the nation's 40 charter laws

CER Grade:   B

Schools:   26

Students:   12,130

CITY LIMITS: Missouri's charter law does not permit the establishment of charter schools except in Kansas City or St. Louis. CER Charter Law Rankings, April 2000.

EARLY DISMISSAL: The St. Louis Board of Education challenged the Missouri charter law by claiming it is unconstitutional and in violation of several state laws. However, the Missouri School Boards Association's lawsuit was ultimately dismissed. The Center for Education Reform, along with seven existing charter schools filed an amicus brief in the case supporting the constitutionality of creating new public schools. CER News Alert, December 7, 1999

CONSTRUCTIVE DEVELOPMENTS: This fall the city of St. Louis will see the opening of the new YouthBuild St. Louis Charter High School, spurred by the success of the Construction Careers Center, a partnership with the building trades and construction industry that opened last year. The new YouthBuild charter school will provide a high school education combined with construction career training to high school dropouts. One of the school's aims is to help fill the roughly 20,000 to 30,000 St. Louis construction job vacancies expected in the next five years as current workers retire. From CER Newswire July 30, 2002.
EVERYTHING'S UP TO DATE: Charter activity in Kansas City is relatively high, due to a proactive reform attitude among city officials, and as of Spring 2000 was the location of all the open or approved charter schools in the state. CER Charter Law Rankings, April 2000

INCOMING: Kansas City's charter effort is having a positive impact on public school enrollment, according to analyses by the KC-based Learning Exchange. KC enrollment has been on a steady decline, going from approximately 72,000 children in 1970 to 32,000 in 2000. With 15 charter schools serving 4,354 students, enrollment is increasing for the first time. When combining both charter and district enrollment for the year, public school enrollment is up by 600 students compared to last year. CER Monthly Letter, February - March 2000

IT'S THE LAW: A state education department report found that most charters had failed to comply with the state's requirement that only 20 percent or fewer teachers could be non-traditional, without a credential. While there's a legitimate quarrel with the idea that a credential necessarily means quality, those charters need to adhere to the law and fix the situation before they fall prey to the same kind of lower standards from which they've tried to break. CER Monthly Letter, January 2000

Missouri Charter Schools Information Center 35 N. Central Ave., South 335 Clayton, MO 63105-3871	Contact: Laura Friedman Tel: 314-726-6474 Fax: 314-721-4729 Email: MOCSIC@AOL.COM
Website: www.mocsic.org
CSIC is a non-profit support, networking, resource and information clearinghouse for educators, legislators and other Missourians interested in charter schools. CSIC works to educate and advocate for charter schools and provides development assistance to Missouri charter schools.
The Learning Exchange 3132 Pennsylvania Kansas City, MO 64111	Contact: Tammy Blossom Telephone: (816) 751-4143 Fax: (816) 751-4101 Email: tblossom@lx.org
Website: www.lx.org

Department of Elementary Education P.O. Box 480 Jefferson, MO 65102	Contact: Susan Cole Tel: 314-751-3175
Website: http://www.dese.state.mo.us/divinstr/SSIP/charter/