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Black Senators hold up Missouri GOP’s critical race theory legislation
Black Democrats in the Missouri Senate held the chamber for roughly three hours Wednesday as they condemned a Republican-sponsored bill targeting diversity training and race curriculum. The debate at times got heated, such as when Democratic Sen. Barbara Washington accused Republican Sen. Rick Brattin of disrespectfully interrupting her during a discussion of the nation’s history […]
Lawmaker proposes tool to fill ‘hard-to-staff’ positions in Missouri school districts
A Missouri House committee heard a bill Wednesday that seeks to give school districts a way to recruit educators into “hard-to-staff” positions – though some worried it could have ill effects on teachers of popular subjects. State Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, told the Missouri House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee that his legislation has the […]
Lawmaker proposes local control plan to opt Missouri districts out of state standards
A Republican legislator wants to find a way for some Missouri school districts to opt out the state’s accreditation program. State Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, pitched her bill to the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee on Tuesday as a way for districts to “get out from the heavy hand of the department of education.” […]
Push for open enrollment picks up steam as Missouri GOP focuses on education bills
The push to allow Missouri students to transfer out of their home district and direct tax money toward their new school of choice is picking up momentum, with a state Senate committee set to approve a pair of bills this week. The bills — one that would allow public districts and charter schools to open […]
Missouri committee debates transgender sports, healthcare, drag shows for nine hours
The Neiss family drove from St. Louis to Jefferson City on Tuesday, a trip they’ve made many times over the past four years. The reason is always the same: Legislation they fear will harm their transgender son. On the agenda Tuesday night in the House General Laws Committee were a litany of bills aimed at […]
Sweeping education bill clears Missouri Senate committee without anti-transgender provision
A Senate committee removed a controversial proposal targeting transgender athletes from a wide-ranging education bill Tuesday, but the committee’s chair indicated more debate to come on the issue. On a six to three vote along party lines, the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee approved legislation that would dictate how history and race are taught […]
Drag performers at Columbia event push back against Missouri Republican attack
A drag performance last week at a diversity event attended by Columbia middle schoolers was “high-brow and innocent,” not the salacious sexual display alleged by Missouri Republicans, the marketing director for the group behind the performance said Sunday. At the annual Columbia Values Diversity Breakfast, timed to be near the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, […]
Missouri AG says lawsuit shows ‘dystopian’ ties of big tech, federal agencies to suppress speech
A “shadowy organization” in the Department of Homeland Security leads the effort to undermine free speech by coercing social media companies, Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Friday in a speech to the Missouri chapter of the Federalist Society. In his first public speech to a nonpartisan audience since taking office Jan. 3, Bailey talked about […]
Missouri lawmaker works with Humane Society to stop use of gas to kill shelter animals
Some of Missouri’s animals’ last moments are spent in a gas chamber, suffocating in carbon dioxide – but a bill by Rep. Adam Schwadron, R-St. Charles, would bar shelters from using this type of euthanasia. “Humanely treating our animals in our shelters is something that’s very important for us in the state,” Schwadron said. “And […]
Critical race theory dominates Missouri Senate committee hearing on education bills
Lawmakers debated critical race theory for two hours Wednesday, as the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee heard public testimony on a pair of bills that both seek to create a so-called “Parents Bill of Rights.” The two bills would establish a statewide transparency portal for public schools and enshrine parental rights, like a right […]
Missouri Republicans renew early focus on parental rights, critical race theory
Parental access to school records – and how history and race are taught in Missouri classrooms – will be among the first topics considered by lawmakers this legislative session. During the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee’s first meeting Wednesday afternoon, committee members will hear testimony on a pair of bills dubbed the “Parents’ Bill […]
Lee’s Summit school district’s countersuit against Missouri AG seeks to set a precedent
The Lee’s Summit R-VII School District spent $72,824 last year fighting the Missouri Attorney General’s office. It is the last district standing in an onslaught of civil suits former Attorney General Eric Schmitt brought against school districts who enforced mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly all the lawsuits were dismissed, most at the request […]