SCHOOLS MUST MEET STATE RULES -- OR ELSE

The state education bureaucrats descended on the Cape Girardeau School District this month and awarded the district full accreditation for another five years.

Congratulations to the educators and administrators who earned that accreditation and, in the process, improved the district since its last review in 1996.

Superintendent Dan Steska wasn't totally satisfied with the results, however. His district missed the "accreditation with distinction" level by two disaster drills.

"There's no excuse for it ... . We were supposed to do it and we didn't," a frustrated Steska said.

But before anyone gets too upset, consider the Missouri School Improvement Program evaluation process.

It's required once every five years to be sure districts comply with the multitude of state regulations regarding education.

Investigators survey district employees to see how well they meet state and federal standards. They study discipline and personnel policies to see whether the district falls within state guidelines.

If too many things fall outside those guidelines, the district has to submit an improvement plan.

And if things don't improve, the state can take control of the school district.

Cape Girardeau educators have become very good at complying with state guidelines. There were 30 areas of concern in the 1996 review. Some of those included the need for more administrators, better buildings and an improved guidance program.

But investigators turned up fewer than a dozen areas of concern in the 2001 report.

Good for Cape Girardeau School District.

Or is it?

We know that Cape Girardeau schools provide an excellent education for our community's young people. Look at the way our graduates go off to college, to law school and medical school, to skilled positions right out of high school.

We don't need bureaucrats in Jefferson City to decide every last detail of how schools are run in Cape Girardeau.

How do they know how many administrators are needed here as compared to Kansas City or Joplin or West Plains or Perryville?

Where are the studies that prove one number is ideal and another inadequate?

And how many fire and earthquake drills are adequate for our students? Maybe they got it the first time.

Only when state government recognizes that our school board and our administrators know what works for our students will education improve. Until then, local districts remain hamstrung by red tape applied by the state's education bureaucrats.