Legislative Advocacy

The LSR7 School District's tradition of excellence is the result of a collaborative effort among its supportive stakeholders. 

A persistent focus on meeting the needs of each student will result in a legacy unparalleled by our peers in public education.  This legacy of excellence cannot be left to chance and requires ongoing advocacy on behalf of the close to 18,000 students served by the LSR7 School District. 

View our 2024 Legislative Platform.

+++

Key Legislative Priorities:

• Support legislation that promotes equitable and inclusive educational opportunities in service to our diverse learners.
• Support local control when it comes to decisions regarding the health, wellbeing and safety of students and the educational policies for such students within the school district.
• Support increasing overall state funding, per pupil, in an effort to make Missouri rank in the top one-half of all states in the country in support of K-12 education, including fully funding transportation.
• Support a line-item appropriation of state funding for safety measures for local school districts to protect students, staff, and stakeholders from harm and/or violence.
• Support funding early childhood education through an increased appropriation to the Foundation Formula and to increase the SAT paid on the formula.
• Support legislation that requires all charter schools and MOCAP-approved virtual programs to be held to the same standards as all public schools with accreditation status and funding falling under the jurisdiction of the local school district. We support a cap on the amount of money paid to a for-profit virtual education provider per credit hour to the cost of what a school district is paying for their in-district virtual school provider per credit hour.
• Support legislation that requires equal representation and the unanimous support of all taxing jurisdictions for any Economic Development Incentive Project (TIF, CH-100, CH-353, et al.) or otherwise provide an opt-out provision.
• Support workforce development and strongly support the recruitment and retention of diverse public-school professional certified and classified staff. We also recommend and support additional funding for increased teacher and support staff salaries.
• Oppose legislation or proposals that authorize any statewide mandates regarding open enrollment.

Ongoing Legislative Issues  

• Support local school district authority to make the decision about matters including, but not limited to, employee compensation and working conditions; class sizes; curriculum and instruction materials; virtual course access; professional development; program and employee evaluations; and school calendar /year.
• Support maintaining the integrity of the current Foundation Formula, while increasing and providing appropriations for fully funding the foundation formula, transportation formula, summer school and early childhood education.
• Support maintaining full funding of the transportation formula, including modifying the provision that penalizes school districts when they transport highly mobile students back to their original school of attendance.
• Support the creation and development of a system of interventions and support that leads to improvements in achievement for provisionally accredited and unaccredited school districts.
• Support the full funding of education mandates by the Missouri constitution.
• Support legislation stipulating the enactment of accurate and timely property tax assessment practices and the clarification of assessment terms and timelines to promote uniformity and fairness of property tax assessments. Support uniformity in taxation as outlined in Article 10, Section 3 of the constitution.
• Support funding for professional development that provides both a comprehensive and sustainable approach to improving district personnel effectiveness toward raising student achievement.
• Support the provision of a simple majority vote for the passage of local school district bond issues.
• Support increasing the bonding capacity for school districts.
• Support the ability to make an internal transfer of levy from debt service levy to operating property tax levy with ballot language that states that the adjusted property tax levy stays the same.
• Support legislation that advances innovative instructional approaches in PK-12 public education such as competency-based education, alternative assessment practices, Real World Learning opportunities, and workforce credentialing.
• Support and appreciate our local school boards for the time and dedication they provide to school districts. We support the continuation of non-partisan school board elections and continued April elections for school board members.
• Support state funding for school districts that would provide resources to help counter the effects of homelessness, and physical and mental health concerns.
• Support expansion of statewide broadband so all students have access to highspeed internet services.
• Support legislation that will improve and maintain the integrity of the Missouri Lottery which has funded and continues to help fund K-12 education in Missouri; support dedication of a portion of the state sales tax on Marijuana to public schools.
• Support dedicated state funding for literacy supports.
• Support legislation that gives school districts and/or municipalities a voice in approval processes for landfills and/or waste treatment facilities proposed in proximity to their boundaries.
• Oppose any legislation or proposals that would divert public monies or resources from the public schools to non-public educational entities.
• Oppose legislation which reduces the benefits provided by the current state public school retirement systems (PSRS and PEERS).
• Oppose legislation that would alter the basic governance structure of the Missouri State High School Activities Association.
• Oppose any amendment to the Missouri Constitution to allow the distribution of state monies directly or indirectly to non-public educational entities or organizations.
• Oppose any legislation or proposal that would expand charter schools statewide unless, and only if, a neutral party conducts a feasibility/ sustainability study, and the locally elected school board is the sole sponsor