TEACHERS CALL FOR LOCAL CONTROL

More than 100 teachers listened to an impassioned call to action Tuesday from Missouri State Teachers Association executive director Kent King regarding local control of educational standards.

"You've got a cause, folks: They're sitting back home in your schools, they're in your homes," King told the delegates during the open hearing at the Drury Lodge Mississippi Room. "We do not believe in federal type programs; we believe in local control. If we're not careful we're going to lose control of the kids in this country."

King was one of the speakers addressing delegates from the MSTA Southeast District during the meeting. The organization hosted the hearings so educators representing the district's 75 school districts could discuss constitutional issues, amendments and resolutions regarding education in Missouri schools to be presented during a state convention in November.

Delegates also heard presentations from candidates running for state officer positions in the organization.

JoAnn Hearnes, district president of the Community Teachers Association, conducted the meeting. She said the hearings allowed local teachers to have a say in the important issues their organization addressed. Resolutions and constitutional amendments passed by delegates in November will determine how lobbyists address issues to state legislators for the next year, she said.

"The resolutions are the guiding force for our government relations committees and executive board," Hearnes said. "MSTA is a grassroots thing, so everything has to come from local membership."

The prevailing concern voiced by speakers at the hearing was keeping the federal government from mandating national teacher certification standards. Currently teachers may choose to obtain certification from the National Standards Board.

A resolution presented Tuesday supported the option, but opposed making certification at the national level mandatory.

"Probably our major concern is dealing with national standards and board certification," said Alice Patrick, a southeast district representative on the state resolutions committee. "Rather than having federal control of these things, we want the state to say what its teachers should be doing and knowing. We really feel we should have some choice in the matter, or else you end up to the point when the federal government is telling you how to teach."

Another concern addressed was support for the adoption of the Missouri Assessments Program. Teachers called for extensive reform to accompany implementation of MAP, a performance-based testing system being developed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that assesses what students know and whether they know how to apply what they learn.

Reforms called for student accountability, as well as district level accountability for test results; financial support for professional training programs that address teaching strategies which complement assessment-based testing; and granting teachers maximum flexibility to assess learning.

"The new assessments will no longer test what children know but how they will apply that knowledge," said CTA state president Judda White. "We have to make sure there is enough money at the local level to aid in the necessary changes that will be made in instruction."

Sally Elrod, another member of the state resolutions committee from the southeast district, said a third concern voiced by educators was to make sure there were adequate salaries, benefits and training provisions available for certified staff.

Students have the right to receive quality instruction in a safe environment from competent, qualified staff regardless of what type of school they are enrolled in, she said. In turn, teachers have the right to expect reasonable salaries, benefits and professional development supports, Elrod said.

"All of our concerns come down to the fact that we want to retain local control of education," Elrod said. "This means that we give local input and allow for input from the parents and educators at our level."