MISSOURI EDUCATION AND PARENT ADVOCATES OPPOSE A–F SCHOOL-RATING PROPOSAL
St. Louis, MO – The Missouri Equity Education Partnership opposes Missouri’s proposed A–F school-rating framework, warning that it would label schools without adequately accounting for funding disparities, student needs or the different challenges facing rural, suburban and urban communities.
Missouri’s public schools serve approximately 896,167 K–12 students each year. Nearly half of those students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
These students deserve a state accountability system that identifies needs and directs meaningful support, not one that reduces an entire school community to a single letter.
“Missouri cannot grade its way out of an education-funding problem,” said Dr. Amber Benge, Board Member of the Missouri Equity Education Partnership. “Before assigning schools an A, B, C, D or F, state leaders must ask whether every school has been provided the staff, programs, facilities and resources necessary to give every child a fair opportunity to succeed.”
The proposed framework would grade public schools, charter schools and districts primarily on academic achievement and student-growth measures tied to state assessments. High-school grades would also consider graduation rates and measures of college and career readiness.
Although supporters describe the system as a simple tool for parents, a single grade cannot adequately explain class sizes, staffing shortages, transportation difficulties, access to advanced coursework, school facilities, student mobility, special-education needs or the effects of concentrated poverty.
The proposal comes as Missouri continues to confront uncertainty surrounding adequate and sustainable public-school funding. For fiscal year 2027, DESE calculated that fully funding the state’s Foundation Formula required approximately $190.6 million in additional funding. Meanwhile, the state is studying whether its nearly two-decade-old funding structure adequately reflects the actual cost of educating students today. Creating another rating system before resolving those funding problems risks blaming schools for conditions they did not create and cannot correct without sufficient resources.
The effects would be felt throughout Missouri:
Rural schools often operate with limited local tax bases, long transportation routes and persistent difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers. Small changes in test participation or the performance of a relatively small number of students can also have an outsized effect on their ratings.
Suburban schools face growing enrollment, changing student needs, overcrowding and increasing demand for special education, English-language instruction, mental-health services and other student supports.
Urban schools frequently serve larger concentrations of students affected by poverty, housing instability, community disinvestment and unequal access to health care and other services. These schools often educate more students of color and multilingual learners; students whose opportunities can be shaped by inequities far beyond the schoolhouse door.
Schools serving higher percentages of Black, Latino, low-income, multilingual and other historically underserved students could be disproportionately harmed if the rating formula reflects access to resources more strongly than the quality and commitment of their educators.
A low letter grade could deepen existing inequities by stigmatizing students and neighborhoods, discouraging families and educators from choosing a school, weakening public confidence and making it harder for schools with the greatest needs to attract experienced staff and community investment.
MOEEP is calling on the Missouri State Board of Education, DESE, Governor Mike Kehoe and the General Assembly to:
Pause implementation of the A-F rating framework until its equity and fiscal effects have been independently evaluated.
Provide full, adequate and sustainable funding based on the actual cost of educating every Missouri student.
Publish an equity-impact analysis showing how proposed grades would vary by race, disability, income, English-learner status, geography and district resources.
Give parents a multidimensional school profile rather than a single letter grade.
Include educators, students, parents and community members, particularly those from historically underserved communities, in designing any new accountability system.
Ensure that accountability findings lead to additional assistance and resources rather than stigma or punishment.
Accountability must run in both directions. Schools should be responsible for serving students well, but state leaders must also be accountable for providing schools with the resources necessary to do that work.
Missouri’s children do not need their schools sorted into winners and losers. They need a constitutional and sustained commitment to educational opportunity, regardless of whether they live in a rural town, a growing suburb or an urban neighborhood.
The Missouri Equity Education Partnership urges state leaders to reject the proposed A-F framework and focus instead on fair funding, transparent information and targeted support that helps every school improve.
About the Missouri Equity Education Partnership
The Missouri Equity Education Partnership (MOEEP) is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates and mobilizes for inclusion, diversity, equity, academic integrity, and accessibility in education and throughout community life. MOEEP educates and equips Missourians to organize within their school districts, communities, and state; supports educators and equity advocates; challenges false narratives; promotes diverse curricula and free expression; and works to create educational environments in which every student can succeed, regardless of background or circumstances.
