UPDATES ON EDUCATION RESEARCH AND POLICY
NEW POSTS WEEKLY!
We want to help lawmakers, educators, and families make decisions about education by providing updates on national, regional and Missouri-specific research. While we strive to be objective, we want to facilitate discussion and will occasionally offer our own views on this blog.
PRiME in the NEWS: Collin Hitt on Funding Gap
PRiME’s Executive Director Collin Hitt and PRiME contributor, Dr. Andrew Camp, spoke on “The Education Gadfly Show” to discuss their new Fordham education report on the Missouri charter school funding gap. The podcast is hosted by co-writer David Griffith and Mike Petrill. The report and podcast focuses on Missouri House Bill 1552 which attempted to close the funding gap between public and charter schools. The podcast examines how funding impacts students, staffing, and student achievement.
Charter Schools: Public Opinion in Missouri
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.