Legislative Priority Positions

In the interest of public education in the Independence School District, we ask members of the Missouri General Assembly to:

1. Support the full funding of state mandates in accordance with the Missouri Constitution.
2. Support maintaining the integrity and full funding of the current Foundation Formula and avoid adjustments that would significantly alter the manner in which the Formula is distributed.
3. Oppose legislation that would divert revenue to non-public educational entities.
4. Support local school district authority to make the decisions about matters such as: open enrollment; employee compensation and working conditions; class sizes; educational placement, curriculum and instruction materials; professional development; program and employee evaluation; school calendar; and Board member election terms and dates.
5. Support current legislation that grants the local education agenda (LEA) the ability to determine the best educational placement of a student including the impacts of virtual school participation.
6. Support a consistent set of standards and tools to measure the progress of students and meet their educational needs while allowing districts to respond and implement these changes without further disruption to state standards or tests.
7. Support deadlines for certification of Assessed Valuation to allow school districts to be more accurate in setting levies.
8. Strengthen laws that control tax abatement programs.
9. Support funding for Early Childhood expansion.
10. Support a change in the bonding capacity for school districts from 15% to 20% of the district’s assessment valuation.
11. Oppose charter school expansion as law currently exists. All local tax funds should be under the control of a publicly elected board.