Jodi Fortino

Missouri legislators this year approved $11 million to fully fund Parton's program that sends free books to children ages 5 and under. Parton came to Kansas City's briefly-renamed Folly Theater to celebrate — and sing a few songs.

KIDS COUNT, an annual child wellness report, found 20% of students in Missouri and 27% of students in Kansas were chronically absent in 2021-2022.

Missouri's education department has released new performance data finding chronic absenteeism remains a problem for many schools. Attendance rates have dropped in Missouri by 10% since 2019, and they're especially low for Black students.

Karla Eslinger, a Republican state senator from Wasola, will succeed current commissioner Margie Vandeven in the state's top education job in June 2024.

Missouri’s state board of education decided to provide schools with optional guidelines on social-emotional learning to help them cope with worsening student behavior. Commissioners are concerned about potential political pushback to the learning standards, which have been criticized by conservatives.

Students in the Independence School District will only be in class four days a week next year. It's the largest school district in Missouri to make the switch amid chronic teacher and staffing shortages.

The schedule change is designed to boost recruiting and keeping staff as schools across the country struggle with teacher shortages.

Art Smith, the parent of a nonbinary child, said the the Independence School District’s removal of a book including a non-binary character makes it hard for kids like his to feel welcome. Other parents say the book isn’t age-appropriate.

Federal officials are responding to Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Many Democrats have called for more restrictions on gun access. While Republican lawmakers have condemned the shooting, critics have quick to point out the tight relationships these lawmakers have held with the NRA.

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick said he issued the condition after Attorney General Eric Schmitt directed health authorities and school districts to stop their COVID mitigation efforts.