On Aug. 18, Mike McDonald made history when he attended his first meeting as a member of the Missouri State Board of Education. 

McDonald teaches math at Park Hill High School. 

Normally, the state board is made up of lay members who aren’t active in education. But in 2018, the Missouri General Assembly created a nonvoting role on the board for a current classroom teacher. Gov. Mike Kehoe filled that position for the first time by appointing McDonald this summer.

The board appoints the commissioner of education, sets educational standards and accredits school districts and sets professional requirements for educators. 

At Park Hill, McDonald primarily teaches sophomore- and junior-level math such as algebra II and trigonometry. He has also taught in the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program, a college prep program that teaches study skills.

The Beacon sat down with McDonald on Aug. 13 to learn about his teaching career and his plans for giving teachers a voice on the board. 

Q: Could you start by walking me through your career and telling me a little bit about yourself? 

A: McDonald said he is from Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis. He majored in finance with a math minor at the University of Missouri and got a job in investment banking with George K. Baum & Co. After four years, he decided to switch his career to education. 

I “loved my experience in investment banking but didn’t see it as my passion,” McDonald said. “Hours are long if you don’t love what you’re doing.”

McDonald got an education degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He taught at Olathe East High School for 11 years, then was hired to work in the Park Hill School District 10 years ago after he moved to the Liberty area.

Q: What keeps you in teaching?

A: “I love the opportunity to talk about math,” McDonald said. “It’s something that I’m confident in.” 

McDonald said that in his prior career, he always felt like he was “chasing information” about each new industry. “It was a great learning opportunity, but at the same time, I never felt like I was an expert,” he said.

“There’s a certain comfort and confidence that comes with being able to talk about something that you feel like you know well,” he said. “I enjoy getting to teach (math) and help students improve at it. I also enjoy being up in front of an audience. I don’t mind that at all either. So I think the job lent itself much better to my strengths than my prior career.”

At the same time, McDonald said he enjoys the challenge of teaching. 

“With every new school year, there’s a new group of kids, and even though the math that I’m teaching, maybe that hasn’t changed much over the years, the applications of it have changed,” he said. “The job situations that they’re going into aren’t the same as the ones I went into when I graduated college 26 years ago.”

Teaching is “an opportunity to take students from where they are and get them a little further down the road, get them a little more intelligent, get them a little stronger in their math skills, their analytical skills, and that challenge is there every year,” he said. “It’s a fun one.”

Q: Are there any particular experiences that stand out to you from your teaching career that exemplify why you love the work? 

A: McDonald enjoys watching former students become math teachers. He once wrote a letter of recommendation for a student who was successfully hired. 

“That was fun to be able to have that direct impact in their personal career, but also get feedback that, well, obviously I did something right if they didn’t run away from math,” he said. 

Other great experiences include seeing things click for a student who was struggling with the course material, or helping a student become more engaged in class. 

“Whereas maybe early on it looked like they were going to be a distraction, now they become a real asset to the classroom,” he said. “When you have those moments … those are really rewarding.”

Q: Do you know how Governor Kehoe became aware of you and picked you out of all the teachers in the state to join the State Board of Education?

A: McDonald said a lobbyist who had worked with Kehoe’s administration reached out to contacts to let them know the governor was interested in filling the position. Two of those contacts mentioned McDonald. 

After the lobbyist contacted him, McDonald applied for the position in spring of 2025, submitting a resume, letters of recommendation, a photo and information about his views on education. The appointment process stalled, but in spring 2026, he was asked to update his paperwork. 

He interviewed with Kehoe’s chief of staff over the summer, and then got a call that he had been selected and the announcement was about to happen. 

Q: What do you hope to contribute in terms of helping to shape some of the board’s decisions or enhance the other board members’ understanding of education?

A: “I hope that I can represent my own experience as a classroom teacher, but also represent the needs of educators and students across the state,” McDonald said. 

He wants to “speak to the impact of state level policy on not just local districts, but even at the individual classroom level. At the end of the day, what do we need to make sure our students are being as successful as possible?” 

Specifically, McDonald wants to ensure educators have the resources they need to teach students and that “policies are directed towards maximizing student achievement.” 

McDonald said that focus “is probably my best attribute, what I can bring to the board. I’m going to be doing a lot of listening and learning for sure. But when it’s an opportunity to speak, I want to make sure that it’s always with that focus.”

Q: What are some of the key issues or challenges that you see where schools could use some help or perhaps some changes from the state?

A: McDonald said he’s still learning about what does and doesn’t fall under the scope of the board’s responsibility. 

But some key topics are budgets and accountability. 

“How do we make sure that schools are doing the job that they’re supposed to do, but also do they have the resources to do that job?” he asked. “There’s a balancing act there for sure … so that’s very exciting for me to learn more about some of the nuts and bolts.” 

McDonald said he’s also interested in learning more about accreditation and how the state can support schools that fall short. 

“If a school gets accredited, that’s great,” he said. “If it doesn’t get accredited, what do we do now?” 

McDonald said he’s still developing his opinion on the proposed A-to-F grading system for schools and school districts that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education presented to the state board at its Aug. 18 meeting.  

“I’m excited to learn more about it so I can give a good educated opinion and know what I think the strengths of it are and what I think maybe its weaknesses are,” he said. 

Q: How much of a time commitment will this be for you?

A: McDonald said the board meets monthly except for July and November. He’ll travel down to Jefferson City the night before the meetings, which typically start at 8:30 a.m. and last until about 3 p.m. 

“I’m trying to get up to speed as much as I can, and then I imagine certainly from meeting to meeting, there’ll be some homework I’ll be doing to make sure that I have a good understanding of the topics, so I can speak intelligently to them,” he said. 

Because Park Hill district leaders have experience working with the legislature and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, McDonald said, he’ll also be looking to them “to receive some support and some guidance and some help understanding all the topics.”

Q: Why do you think it’s important to have someone who’s an active teacher on the board?

A: McDonald said current board members come from the private sector, though some have education-related backgrounds.

“I think it is helpful to have the voice of a current educator,” he said, “to be able to opine on how different policies may impact the classroom level.”

He said he wants to bring not only his own concerns but also those of his peers, “just to make sure that those things are being heard and considered.”

“Generally speaking, I’m excited about the opportunity to learn,” McDonald said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to be a voice for educators and students at the state level.”