SCHOOL STANDARDS: LOOKING FOR MORE THAN JUST COSMETICS

Last Tuesday in Jefferson City saw the unfolding of an unusual event: the de-railing, by a commission of state government, of a long-planned and deeply cherished bureaucratic agenda. Bureaucrat-watchers marvel at the uncanny ability of government minions to outlast all opponents, if nothing else simply by wearing them down -- and out. Once a set of bureaucratic wheels begins grinding in pursuit of a predetermined goal, inertia being what it is, they are rarely slowed down, much less stopped. And so it is -- or is it? -- with the work of the Commission on Performance, a 28-member group established under Senate Bill 380, Gov. Mel Carnahan's 1993 education reform law called the Outstanding Schools Act.

To review, under SB 380 the sole function of this mostly unelected group was to draft and recommend to the State Board of Education up to 75 academic performance standards. Once the state school board adopts them, these standards would apply with the force of law to all Missouri schools. They are at the heart of the reform effort laid out in SB 380.

A funny thing happened on the way first to drafting, and then adopting, of these standards. At work now for more than 18 months, with draft standards on hand since last summer and nine or 10 months behind schedule, the commission faced a mini-revolt within its ranks. Critics such as commission member Sen. Steve Ehlmann became more and more outspoken, speaking for many when he said of the draft standards: "They're just mush. They're so subjective, I can't tell whether they're higher or lower."

As that revolt gradually smoldered, officials within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education clung grimly to the drafts. Their strategy seemed first to ignore where possible the rising din of criticism, then to dismiss it as the work of fanatics and cranks on the Christian Right. And then came April 11 and a debate on the Senate floor.

The appropriations bills were before the body, and critics seized on the education money bill to conduct a sort of clinic on the work of this little-noticed commission with its draft standards. Critics read the drafts to a body most of whose members had never heard of them. The standards were indicted as neither "academic" nor "standards" worthy of the terms. When it came time to vote on a motion to delete $250,000 in funding for a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education budget item related to the reform process, the motion failed 18-14, but a message was sent. All of a sudden it wasn't just a couple of cranks. It was nearly half the 34-member Senate that sent a message of disapproval to the commission and to the bureaucrats at DESE.

The stage was thus set for the father of SB 380 and a commission member, Sen. Harold Caskey, a Democrat from Butler, to head for last Tuesday's meeting, written motion in hand. The standards were too vague even for the author of the bill that set this process in motion. Sen. Caskey's motion directed that there be no action on the standards until a redraft had been undertaken, with an eye toward truly "academic standards" and not the vague stuff that had been produced to that point. (Emphasis original.)

After overcoming opposition from DESE bureaucrats who didn't even want to give opponents a hearing, the commission heard from both opponents and supporters of the standards. Sen. Caskey made his motion, which carried unanimously on a voice vote.

Missourians can hope that, after a redraft, the commission and the state school board will develop truly academic standards later this year. Given the nature of bureaucracies and the manner in which DESE bureaucrats have behaved to this point, this is probably too much to hope for. The smart money would probably be on a cosmetic makeover with the same defective agenda firmly in the driver's seat.