Education in Missouri…Where Does it Stand?

Story from a Mother.
The job of motherhood is not one to be taken lightly. It requires sincere thoughtful attention, diligent effort, and tireless concern. A mother has to look out for her child and predict every possible issue. Unfortunately, that cannot always happen. Life does not always happen the way you think it will.
When I had my second child, I had the expectations of milestone achievements similar to my first. No doubted, every child is different, but you expect some similarities. But then reality hit me and my second was nothing like my first. Things weren’t quite so obvious at first, but as time went on, we knew something was very different. Then he got diagnosed with autism. While we were somewhat expecting that, it was still very hard to cope. Daily challenges are one thing, life challenges are another. We have both.
Now, looking into the education in Missouri beyond the preschool years, I am facing another crisis. My child is not ready to be mainstreamed yet, but the school says he is. I am his mother and I should have to right to decide his future, not some officials.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2007 found that 69 percent of Missouri 8th grade students were not ranked “proficient” in reading and 70 percent were not ranked “proficient” in Math. Yet, they think my child can be properly educated in this system. It seems fairly obvious even non-special education students are having a rough go. I should have the right to decide where my child spends his days, and if I did, I would chose the private school about 7 miles away, that can better educate my son.

Who Will Help the Children?

As a young mother, I worried about quality naps, diaper rash, developing fine and gross motor skills, hitting the developmental milestones at the right time, proper nutrition, and of course happiness of my children. These were all things I would try to control, (although no one has total control of these issues, but I gave it my best). Now, as my children are leaving 'my nest' and entering kindergarten, I must relinquish many news concerns to teachers, at least for part of the day.

The problems with the public education system are not new and you would think people would try new things to fix them, not keep trying to same failed policies.
Recently, gubernatorial candidate, Kenny Hulshof announced his plan for education in Missouri. His plan includes more charter schools in Kansas City and children gaining access to scholarship tax credits. His opponent Nixon, however, wants to keep the status quo, the same plans that have been and will continue to fail our children.

Nixon even has the audacity to criticize Hulshof for accepting political contributions from another school choice advocate, Rex Sinquefield. Nixon says " I have never accepted money from Mr. Sinquefield or any of his Political Action Committees, and I certainly never will. Mr. Sinquefield's pro-voucher agenda undermines our public school system and as a product of Missouri's public schools, I believe we must strengthen our school system, not weaken it."
Two points here: Nixon would NEVER be offered money by Sinquefield, secondly, its Nixon's plans that will keep our schools failing, not Sinquefield's. Nixon's plans will simply keep things the way they are...broken!

Education reform plans, such as those by Hulshof and Sinquefield, are plans that intend to strengthen the schools, grant good education to all children, and stimulate growth and change within the entire program.

Congratulations to Hulshof for taking a stand against failed systems. I can only hope Missourians will make the right vote, the vote for change.