ELECTED ACCOUNTABILITY NEEDED FOR SCHOOLS

Ruling on procedural grounds and not on the merits, a judge has thrown out a state lawmaker's suit against the Missouri Board of Education by which he sought to stop that body from requiring local schools districts to report test scores by race. With this ruling, beginning tomorrow, local districts must report in this fashion. For now, the policy will go forward, at least for another year. This is regrettable.

At issue was the lawsuit filed by the minority floor leader of the Missouri Senate, Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles. The judge ruled that Ehlmann lacked the requisite legal standing to bring suit. Because of this procedural ruling, the judge never considered the merits of the issue.

Ehlmann doesn't think the state should be in the business of measuring by racial groupings, and we don't either. However, he also sees an even more important issue at stake: Who should make such decisions? "Race should never be a consideration in setting educational policy," said Ehlmann. "There's absolutely nothing keeping a school district from reporting test scores by race if that's what the local board wants to do. The question is whether the state can make them do it."

Ehlmann says the matter is for the people's elected representatives to decide, not for unelected bureaucrats answering to unelected members of the Board of Education. He is right. This episode has once again demonstrated a flaw in our state Constitution. Missouri should have what many other states have: an elected school commissioner, elected state board members, or both, the better to permit direct public participation in these decisions. Here's hoping that in the legislative session that convenes in January, our representatives can reverse this ill-considered move.