Missouri is home to 37 Charter Local Education Agencies (LEAs)—20 in Kansas City and 17 in St. Louis. In 2024, Missouri charter schools educated around 25,000 students. Charter schools are public schools, free from tuition and fees, that operate in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas of Missouri. Charter schools are sponsored or “authorized” not by the state, but rather by an entity that grants a charter and provides accountability. There are currently seven charter school sponsors in Missouri—Saint Louis University is one of them. More information about Missouri charter schools can be found at https://dese.mo.gov/quality-schools/charter-schools.

In 2022, 95% of teens reported having access to a smartphone, a more than 20 percentage point increase from 2014–15 (73%). According to the National Education Association (NEA), these devices are taking a toll on students’ mental health as well as their ability to focus in class. Consequently, 15 states have already passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict the use of cell phones in schools statewide and Missouri lawmakers are considering following suit. When surveyed last Fall (2024), a large majority of Missouri voters reported support for prohibiting high school students from accessing their cell phones both during regular school hours (72%) and during class (79%).

The average starting teacher salary in Missouri in FY 2022–23 was $36,829, which ranked 50th in the nation. In June 2020 and August 2023, we asked voters if they believe public school teacher salaries should increase, decrease, or stay the same. In 2020, almost three quarters of respondents (74%) claimed salaries should increase, and this response increased to 81% by August 2023

Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL) can be a bit of a buzzword in the education space. In today’s blog post, we dispel common misconceptions about the program, and answer some FAQs.