Keep small schools under local control

In recent weeks, State Representative Kurt Bahr from the St. Charles area filed HB1292. In my opinion HB1292 is one of the worst pieces of legislation to be introduced in the history of the Missouri House or Senate, as it will destroy communities and hurt children throughout the entire State of Missouri by forcing the consolidation of all schools with less than 350 students into neighboring larger districts. This will affect around 200 schools statewide. Schools in our area that would be forced to consolidate and closed include: Altenburg Public School, Oak Ridge, Leopold, Delta, Kelso, Richland, Bell City and Zalma. Ironically, these are schools that enjoy annual success through their annual performance reports through DESE, and when you search for schools with high student achievement and high academic standards many of these schools are in the conversation.

I had the pleasure to speak with Rep. Bahr last week and was able to ask questions and voice my concerns with HB1292. The conversation was pleasant and cordial. However, I was frightened by the lack of research and knowledge that went into his thought process prior to filing HB1292. Rep. Bahr informed me that in his opinion, "all schools with less than 800 students are inefficient, but schools with less than 350 students was a good starting point when dealing with consolidation". That leads one to believe that once they are successful in the consolidation process of schools with 350 students and less, the schools with 800 students and less will be the next to fall. There goes Nell Holcomb, Meadow Heights, Woodland, and Advance just to name a few. When asked, Rep. Bahr informed me that he had never visited any of the small schools that will be forced to close nor had he talked with any of their superintendents. He also informed me that he had never looked at research or conducted a study comparing the efficiency of these small schools to larger urban districts when dealing with revenue vs. expenditures. In my humble opinion, these would have been two very important starting points prior to throwing out a blanket statement labeling over 200 schools across the State of Missouri as inefficient. I know from personal experience and by talking with several small school superintendents across the state that some of the most efficient programs in the State of Missouri are the small rural schools. We are constantly looking for creative ways to make something out of nothing and get the most bang for a buck. However, the efficiency of the small school does not stop with dollars and cents. I urge Rep. Bahr to begin his research by comparing the academic success of small rural schools to larger urban districts. The attention and care that students across the State of Missouri see in the small rural schools is second to none and cannot be duplicated in a large school setting where our children are just another MOSIS ID Number going through the motions.

If you visit Rep. Kurt Bahr's bio page or do your research on his political career and aspirations, you will find that he champions himself as a darling of the Tea Party Movement throughout Missouri by claiming to stand for smaller government, less intrusion, and local control. However, the most ironic part of all this is that HB1292 goes against the very grain that the Tea Party Movement claims to stand for. HB1292 is BIGGER Government at it's most frightening moment -- a blanket overreach which takes away something that hundreds of communities and tens of thousands of children enjoy on a daily basis. HB1292 is also the antithesis of local control by declaring that a small collective group of men and women in Jefferson City know what's best for each and every small school throughout Missouri by forcing their children to consolidate into larger districts. I feel this decision should be left up to the local school boards. They should be the men and women to decide what is best for their community and the children they serve.

In closing, I will leave you with this: No matter how you look at it, HB1292 is a bad piece of legislation. It is bad for small communities. It is bad for small rural schools. It is bad for teachers that work hard each and every day to educate their students. It is bad for everyone that would like to stop the constant overreach by our state and federal government. But most importantly, HB1292 is bad for children across the entire State of Missouri. I ask that you stand with me and the children of Missouri by opposing HB1292. Thank you and may God continue bless our children throughout this great nation!

Mr. Bleau Deckerd is the superintendent of Altenburg Public School District.