One of the tough jobs of the legislature is developing good policy while still providing individuals with the maximum amount of freedom. This is especially difficult in education. Yet this is exactly what Senate Bill 408 accomplishes. The proposed legislation would provide school districts with guidelines on several important issues, but would allow the local school district to ultimately determine the exact policies. Here I will highlight a few of these proposed changes and suggest why the language in Senate Bill 408 provides that healthy balance.

First, I will discuss the arguments that supposedly support adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and demonstrate why these arguments are vacuous. Moreover, I will demonstrate that if the real objective of CCSS is the centralized planning of education standards, then the CCSS do not go far enough. Next, I will offer what I suggest will be the real impact of implementing the CCSS.

In recent years, researchers have been making clear what parents have known all along: teacher quality matters. As President Barack Obama said in a town hall meeting right here in Missouri, the “single most important factor in the classroom is the quality of the person standing at the front of the classroom.” On this matter, the president is correct. He expanded on this point in his 2012 State of the Union address: “We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance.” The president was citing one of the most important and impressive studies of teacher effectiveness, where researchers were able to link tax records to student achievement of more than 2.5 million children. The authors found significant relationships between a teacher’s ability to improve student achievement and their students’ outcomes later in life. Students with highly effective teachers were “more likely to attend college, attend higher-ranked colleges, earn higher salaries, live in higher [socioeconomic status] neighborhoods, and save for retirement.” Moreover, students with great teachers were less likely to have children as teenagers. The effect of being in a top 5 percent teacher’s classroom is money in the bank, increasing an individual’s lifetime earnings by $50,000.

It is my opinion that the Parent Empowerment and Choice Act would expand educational choice in Missouri. Research has found that increased educational choice is good for students and good for traditional public schools. When funding limits are imposed, such as the 75-percent cap proposed in this legislation, expanded school choice can even help reduce state expenditures. I applaud your efforts to consider legislation that would empower parents to seek the best forms of education for their children.