BuzzChatter Tuesday: GOP leaders in Missouri still urging caution when it comes to education spending
Just sit back and read ‘em:
• “We need to continue to be conservative.” — Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, a St. Charles Republican, on education spending in the state.
But the AP’s David Lieb points out that many categories of education spending in Missouri, even with Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposed increases factored in, receive less state aid than they once did. The reason: the state’s two major recessions in the past 12 years. The state’s colleges and universities have taken the brunt of big education cuts.• “Missouri is not among the 29 states that allow full-time online public schools. If we hope to keep pace with the changing landscape in education, we need to start by opening up virtual pathways to give our students more options for learning and success.” — Dan Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber’s Education Foundation is releasing a study this week that concludes the state has fallen behind in digital learning and that Missouri’s existing digital learning policy and structure is “well out of date.” The issue: Only some K-12 students can access online coursework.• “This proposed legislation could keep hundreds of thousands of current Missouri voters from voting, which is not only just wrong, but unconstitutional.” — Secretary of State Jason Kander on proposed legislation that would require voters to present a current government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot.
Kander said his office has calculated that 220,00 registered voters could be disenfranchised by the proposal. He pointed out that lawmakers already have debated and defeated the idea before. Republicans who are pushing the legislation already dominate the General Assembly so you wonder why they keep pushing bills that strikes some as mean-spirited.• “I’ve been organizing in the Iowa caucuses since 1979. I was for [Edward M.] Kennedy over [Jimmy] Carter. This early out, with the people in this room getting together — the serious Obama organizers and the serious Hillary organizers — that really never happens.” — Teresa Vilmain, Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Iowa state director, on the early efforts to organize Iowa for the former secretary of state.
This story was originally published January 28, 2014 at 6:00 AM with the headline "BuzzChatter Tuesday: GOP leaders in Missouri still urging caution when it comes to education spending."