Today, Leah Lawrence, a seventh grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher at Hardin Middle School in the City of St. Charles School District, was presented with the national Milken Educator Award.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has awarded the first-ever state-funded “Grow Your Own” grants to 125 local education agencies (LEAs). Review the list of those grant recipients. DESE’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget includes $2.5 million to support one-time grants of $10,000 to LEAs to create or strengthen their local “Grow Your Own” program, designed to increase recruitment of quality teachers in LEAs across the state.

At today’s State Board of Education (State Board) meeting, board members accepted the recommendation made by Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven to complete the transition back to local governance for the Normandy Schools Collaborative and the Riverview Gardens School District. With this action, the Normandy Joint Executive Governing Board (JEGB) and the Riverview Gardens Special Administrative Board (SAB) are dissolved and will now be referred to as local boards of education in each respective district.

Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven announced she will be stepping down from her position effective July 1, 2024. She has served as the Commissioner of Education for more than seven years, from January 2015 to December 2017, and again January 2019 to present.

During today’s regularly scheduled board meeting, State Board of Education President Charlie Shields announced that he had received Commissioner Vandeven’s resignation and invited her to share remarks.

Today, Governor Mike Parson announced a total of 566 school districts, charter schools, and nonpublic schools have received grant funds from the second round of funding for the School Safety Grant Program.

Today, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and Odyssey, a platform that helps states connect families to public funding and education services, announced the launch of the Missouri Close the Gap Grant program. This is a one-time grant of up to $1,500 for parents/guardians who reside in Missouri to use for allowable education expenses. Applications are now open and must be submitted by October 25, 2023. 

Missouri’s eight 2023 Gold Star Schools have also been recognized as U.S. Department of Education (USED) National Blue Ribbon Schools. The National Blue Ribbon Schools program recognizes individual schools for either their outstanding academic achievement (top 15 percent in the state based on English and mathematics assessment scores and graduation rates) or their performance at high academic levels while serving a significant proportion of disadvantaged students.

Missouri’s 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools include:

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) now offers two options to qualifying individuals to measure High School Equivalency skills. DESE previously offered the HiSET® test, which will continue to be available. Now, Missouri citizens may choose to use the GED® test instead. Both exams produce an accredited Missouri High School Equivalency Certificate for those who pass.

Greg Kester, a social studies teacher at Potosi High School in the Potosi R-III School District, was selected by a committee of his peers and education partners across the state as the 2024 Missouri Teacher of the Year. He becomes the 55th Missouri Teacher of the Year since the program’s inception in 1957.