KINDER'S COMMENTARY: FARM BUREAU TAKES A FIRM STAND ON EDUCATION

When delegates to the annual meeting of the Missouri Farm Bureau got down to the business of deliberating on resolutions concerning Missouri's education reforms last Monday, it wasn't a pretty sight for the high command of the education establishment. Where Senate Bill 380 is concerned, the dirty little secrets are getting out, and at the grass roots folks are just plain revolting against our betters among educational elites. Call it the rout of the educrats.

To attend a Farm Bureau meeting is to be among members of a true grass-roots organization, featuring delegates from every county, and to become acquainted with the meaning of the term "salt of the earth." As reported here in my most recent offering, last Sunday members of the Farm Bureau resolutions committee had heard from both sides in the person of Missouri Commissioner of Education Robert Bartman and your truly.

Monday saw further debate on these issues. Respected Dexter businessman, minister and Farm Bureau delegate Ray Rowland took the floor, along with Franklin County delegate Ron Hardecke. These two riveted the attention of delegates, amplifying themes I had stressed the day before: 1. The abolition of local control and the transfer of all important decisions to a state department headed by Dr. Bartman and governed by an unelected state school board. 2. The fact that SB 380 locks into place a form of outcomes-based education for all Missouri schools.

In lengthy deliberation, not a single delegate from any county defended the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or SB 380's reforms. This is interesting, given two facts: the presence at the convention of many delegates who are also locally elected school board members, and the fact that more than a few delegate spouses are classroom teachers.

Then cam votes on actual resolutions -- official Farm Bureau policy. Not only did delegates discard a resolution that could have been read as supporting the DESE-SB 380 reforms, but the went far in the other direction. To read the resolutions that won approval is to become acquainted with the stunning extent of the delegates' rebuke of the snake oil Dr. Bartman is trying so desperately to sell: "We strongly support the right and role of parents in the upbringing and education of their children to bring about higher educational standards and increased student performance. ... We will no support any standards or assessment system to be used for punitive actions against local districts, such as the withholding of state funds, consolidation of schools, or the removal of local boards."

Then, a string of blockbusters: "We oppose Transformational Outcome Based Education as found in the 1993 Outstanding Schools Act. We stand opposed to both its philosophy and implementation in Missouri's schools, both secondary and elementary institutions. We call upon Missouri legislators to repeal the reform portion of the Outstanding Schools Act.

Be it further resolved that we favor an educational system that is driven by academic standards that can be objectively tested. We further believe that the education of our children can best be managed at the local level."

Finally, this: "We favor the establishment of an elected state school board to allow Missouri citizens a stronger voice in the operation of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education." Had it been a prize fight, they would have stopped it.

Passage of SB 380 is Mel Carnahan's proudest boast. I'd say he has some work to do if he wants to the Farm Bureau endorsement next year.

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.