Missouri state Rep. Doug Richey: New education commissioner has huge mistakes to fix | Opinion

Missouri is getting a new Department of Elementary and Secondary Education commissioner, who has a mess to clean up from the disastrous tenure of outgoing Commissioner Margie Vandeven.

The incoming commissioner should view her job as a rescue mission to help save the public school kids the education department is failing. Unfortunately, things are not off to a great start with the dark-of-night method by which the new commissioner was selected.

Outgoing Commissioner Vandeven announced in October that she was stepping down from this position with an effective date of July 1. On Dec. 5, the State Board of Education announced that state Sen. Karla Eslinger will replace Vandeven. The board is within its right to hire the new leader, but the entire process lacked transparency.

That lack of transparency is becoming all too common for public education in our state. Last year, the education department attempted to push new social-emotional learning standards without the proper authority. Our state education board is operating now with four of its eight members on expired terms. Meanwhile, less than half of the public school students in our state are proficient in English/language arts (43.3%) and math (39.2%).

Missouri’s schools are failing our students. The education board is responsible for defining academic performance standards and assessment requirements, accrediting local school districts and establishing education and certification requirements for all public school teachers and administrators in the state.

The commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education presides over an almost-$10 billion taxpayer-funded budget, 1,500 state government employees and nearly 900,000 students. At a minimum, all Missouri families and taxpayers deserve to know how the new commissioner was chosen, who the other candidates were and in what direction the new commissioner plans to take our state.

Poor performance and lack of accountability standards will be Vandeven’s legacy as she exits as the state’s top educator. Now the new commissioner will be judged on efforts that correct Vandeven’s dismal record in the dustbin. Transparency and accountability should be at the top of the incoming commissioner’s cleanup list.

Will the incoming commissioner’s loyalty be to Missouri students or to school administrators and school boards? She has said her “whole family is public school people.” I’m not sure what she means by that, but her votes on education freedom paint a mixed picture. She voted for the charter school funding equity bill, but against Missouri’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program.

Eslinger will be judged on real outcomes and there are plenty of best practices she can look to for guidance. Missouri is surrounded by states that have expanded education opportunities for students. More opportunities give each student the freedom to learn and excel in the manner that meets their individual learning needs. The one-size-fits-all approach that has become the standard in Missouri is devastating our kids and the state’s future. It is imperative the new commissioner understands these failures and seeks to reverse them.

Sen. Eslinger is inheriting an absolute mess at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, on top of taking on the enormous responsibility of improving education for our children. There’s no time to lose. Missouri must live up to the state’s motto and show that we are serious about correcting the mistakes of the education bureaucracy so all students can succeed in classrooms across the state. This starts at the top, and the new commissioner must be laser focused on transparency and accountability. Missouri students are owed this. It rests on the shoulders of the incoming commissioner.