Dear Friends:

In an effort to keep you informed about the activities at your State Capitol and how those activities may impact your lives, I am offering a regular electronic newsletter. This column includes information about bills making their way through the legislative process, including legislation that directly affects the citizens of Kansas City. I welcome your feedback and encourage you to contact my office with any questions or concerns you may have.

Thank you.

This week one of the most important topics was addressed in the Senate that has the potential to affect thousands of our state's students who are in unaccredited school districts or whose schools are on the cusp of losing their accreditation. My colleagues used this time to discuss real change in the way we assign classification designations to individual schools throughout the state. Under Senate Bill 493, which includes nine combined Senate bills regarding elementary and secondary education, our state could begin accrediting individual schools within each district. Fifty-five percent of the district's schools would have to be considered unaccredited in order for the State Board of Education to classify an entire district as unaccredited.

We also discussed how students are received by accredited districts when their home district loses its accreditation. Students from unaccredited districts would have to live within their district and in the boundaries of their school for 12 months before they are allowed to transfer within the same or adjoining county. In addition, each district would have the ability to establish a policy for class size and student-teacher ratios. Three regional authorities serving St. Louis and St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County, and the rest of our state, would coordinate the student transfers from unaccredited to accredited districts.

In addition to providing these students with an education at an accredited school district, Senate Bill 493 goes one step further in requiring free tutoring and supplemental education services for students coming from struggling and underperforming schools. One change made to the bill during debate in the form of an amendment removed a broad provision of the bill relating to teacher and school personnel termination. There are some extremely talented teachers within some of these failing school districts. We should not throw the baby out with the bath water. Instead of eliminating all positions within a district after it loses its accreditation, we should address these positions case by case to retain those brightest educators in our system.

I offered an amendment to Senate Bill 493 that would prohibit changing a public school's classification from accredited to unaccredited or provisionally accredited when there is no member serving on the State Board of Education that represents the congressional district where that school is located. Many decisions have been made on behalf of students, parents, teachers and school officials of the Kansas City School District when the city did not have a resident member on the board. While there were those serving on the board looking out on behalf of my constituents in the area of education, those living in the city would have had the peace of mind knowing they had proper representation on the board making difficult decisions that affect thousands in our area. My colleagues saw the need for this change and adopted my amendment to the bill.

This bill is far from perfect. We need to address the education of our state's students starting at the core, ensuring quality teachers are in the classrooms, the curriculum pertains to each grade level, students receive the help they need to succeed, and children aren't just passed on to the next grade, setting in motion a plan that will surely fail our children.

Click here or visit my Missouri Senate Multimedia Page to listen to my final comments on SB 493 before lawmakers voted on the bill.

Senate Bill 493 received the Senate's final passage this week, sending the measure to the House for its consideration.

This was the final week to file bills for the 2014 legislative session. Before the deadline, I had the opportunity to introduce 14 measures, including Senate Bill 959, which would create the “Center for the Neighborhoods Fund” in which funding would be used to establish a center for the neighborhoods at UMKC Center for Neighborhoods under the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design (AUPD). 

Neighborhoods throughout the Kansas City region are critical to the health of our metropolitan area and our economy. Neighborhood organizations, however, often struggle to address a wide range of problems with little or no capacity. As small, volunteer organizations, neighborhoods often lack access to basic technical assistance and support services that are necessary to maintain basic operations and improve their effectiveness. My legislation will help meet the critical needs of Kansas City’s neighborhoods through technical assistance, capacity building, neighborhood planning and design services, legal aid and organizational assistance.

Below is a complete list of legislation I'm sponsoring this session, as well as each bill's status in the legislative process.

Homeowners in the neighborhoods of Wendell Phillips, Washington/Wheatley, East 23rd Street PAC, Santa Fe, Ruskin, Vineyard and the Middle Blue River Sustainability areas are eligible for assistance through the city's new Federal Home Loan Bank Home Repair Program. A housing condition study conducted in 2000-2010 found these seven targeted neighborhoods having the most urgent housing repair needs in our city.

This program is designed to help 150 single family homeowners in these neighborhoods that need minor home repair assistance, such as roof replacement, siding, paining and electrical repairs. Kansas City's Neighborhoods and Housing Services Department will administer these repairs.

Those eligible for this program must also meet the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Very Low Income (50 percent) guidelines:

• One person - $24,500
• Two people - $28,000
• Three people - $31,500
• Four people - $34,950
• Five people - $37,750
• Six people - $40,550
• Seven people - $43,350
• Eight people or more - $46,150

The program is set to end in November 2015. To find out more about the program, including whether or not you live in one of these targeted neighborhoods, call the City's Housing Section at (816) 513-3025. You can also call this number to request an application to be mailed to you. Citizens may also apply online by visiting kcmo.gov and searing for "FHLB," or clicking here: http://kcmo.gov/neighborhoods/federal-home-loan-bank-fhlb-program.