BIG MO!

MO – it stands for Missouri and momentum. We got a little of both yesterday when the Missouri State House voted final approval of Senate Bill 1066 without any new amendments. This means it goes on to the Governor who has shown he is in favor of the bill. This will allow ABCTE to recruit, prepare and certify new teachers for Missouri schools.

A lot of work goes into an effort like this since the Ed Schools don’t want the competition and the NEA is still battling us. Oddly, their fight was to add Praxis to the bill which made no sense since the cut score is so low for Missouri teachers that it really doesn’t help determine anything. But we pressed on and the cooler heads in the legislature agreed.

It is great to see that you can bring common sense solutions to the states and, after a few years, people take action. It takes great legislators, such as our bill sponsors Senator Luanne Ridgeway and Representative Scott Muschany, who are mainly concerned with great schools to get it done.

We continue to move forward in other states and those that need teachers and are tired of excuses will be where we focus our efforts. For now, it is off to Missouri to start recruiting!