Money not only topic in proposed school bills

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- When state lawmakers say education is their top priority, they aren't joking. So far this session, nearly 90 bills have been filed on the subject and more are likely.

Beyond promising to fully fund public schools, lawmakers have proposed everything from requiring students to say the Pledge of Allegiance to giving new teachers signing bonuses for going to work in rural counties.

While education typically gets plenty of legislative attention, some say there seems to be an even greater focus on it this year.

"When we are in the bad times, we realize that our attention has to be on education," said Sen. Roseann Bentley, R-Springfield, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

"The September 11th tragedies caused people to think about our values, what we're transmitting to our kids," she said.

In the past week, Bentley's committee heard bills to require a daily minute of silence in schools and to make students recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

"People ask me what the children will be doing during that minute" of silence, Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, told the committee about his legislation. "Well, quite honestly, I have no idea. From those that come from a Christian background ... they may pray. And I hope they do."

'A fundamental role'

At the same meeting, Sen. Ted House testified for his Pledge of Allegiance bill.

"Some may say that this, in the big scheme, is not all that important," said House, D-St. Charles.

But, House added, "It's more than just a symbolic effort to show our loyalty to our nation. It is a fundamental role of our public schools to instill patriotism in our children. Patriotism is not innate, it must be learned, it must be taught. And the best place to teach this is at school."

A proposal by Sen. John Cauthorn, R-Mexico, would give new teachers signing bonuses to take jobs in tiny, rural school districts.

"These are districts that are basically out in the boondocks," Cauthorn said. "They are areas having trouble attracting certified staff."

The committee hasn't voted on any of these bills yet.

In the House, Rep. Dick Franklin has already counted more than 50 education bills and expects there will be more, many of which will land in his Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

By the end of last year's session, 100 education bills had been filed in the House, said Franklin, D-Independence. "I can't turn or hear all of them," he said. "There just isn't the time."

To Franklin, one of this year's most critical proposals would lower the threshold for voter approval of school bond issues, to a simple majority from the current 57 percent. His committee is to hear a bill on the matter Tuesday.

Large school districts like Lee's Summit are having a hard time keeping up with their rapid growth, Franklin said.

"Every year they have to vote to build buildings. They have 600 or 700 new students -- that's a school," he said.

So far, Lee's Summit has been successful in getting voters to authorize new bonds, Franklin said, but he worries voter interest will fade and future bond votes could fail.

House Speaker Jim Kreider, D-Nixa, is pushing a one-quarter cent sales tax increase to pay for school construction across the state. He has said the new tax would generate $162 million each year.