The events of the past few months have led district leaders to examine what went wrong with its community engagement and what it can do better going forward.
Maria Benevento
Maria Benevento is The Beacon’s education reporter. She joined The Beacon as a Report for America corps member. In addition to her work at The Beacon, she’s reported for the National Catholic Reporter, Columbia Missourian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Her education reporting began in 2017, and she became a full-time Kansas City education reporter with The Beacon in mid-2021. She graduated from Creighton University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in theology and American studies. In 2021, she graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a master's degree in journalism. She’s lived in Missouri most of her life and first moved to Kansas City in 2017.
Posted inEducation
How to choose a school in Kansas City
As priority deadlines approach for applying to Kansas City charter schools and other public schools with special focus areas, families can face a menu of choices that many find overwhelming.
Posted inEducation
KCPS proposes closing two schools, not 10, after community feedback
The district would put on hold some plans for academic improvements that were supposed to be funded by the cost savings brought by additional school closures, such as elementary school science labs and foreign language classrooms.
Posted inEducation
What to know about MOScholars, the state program providing scholarships for private schools
This school year, students could receive as much as $6,375 each if they had eligible expenses that high. That’s equal to the baseline of funds the state thinks each public school student should receive.
Posted inEducation
Here’s what Missouri lawmakers want students to learn — or not learn — in school
In all, at least 140 bills related to education were filed before and on Jan. 4, the first day of the legislative session. Not all of those bills will receive a committee hearing, and many will likely be amended over the next few months.
Posted inEducation
19 ways Missouri lawmakers want to change school funding and spending in 2023
Specific proposals would increase minimum teacher salaries, provide additional funding for early childhood education and protect schools from the financial burden of some lawsuits from the state attorney general.
Posted inEducation, State Government
Missouri ‘school choice’ bills to watch in 2023
Often framed as ways to increase “school choice” for families, proposals to spread charter schools to more of the state, let students more easily transfer to public school districts they don’t live in or receive financial support for private school tuition and homeschooling aren’t new.
Posted inEducation, State Government
Loan forgiveness, hazing, vaccines: Missouri higher education bills to watch in 2023
The next legislative session starts Jan. 4, but representatives and senators are already filing the proposed laws that they will debate during the first months of 2023.
Posted inEducation
KCPS outpaces charter schools in preliminary enrollment after falling behind last year
KCPS enrollment isn’t back to pre-pandemic levels. And some members of the public think the district needs to do a better job of promoting its accreditation status and other assets.
Posted inEducation
Four-day school week in Independence: What you need to know
District leaders have said that a major motivation is improving teacher retention and recruitment amid a shortage of educators.