by Annelise Hanshaw, Missouri Independent
May 14, 2025

Missouri education officials are considering a plan to consolidate schools serving students with disabilities after consultants deemed the current program “not sustainable.”

Missouri is the only state to operate separate day schools for special education, dubbed the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled.

The program serves K-12 students in 34 schools statewide, with anywhere from five to 60 students in a school. Some students spend the majority of their education as a MSSD student, concerning stakeholders who prefer to integrate students with disabilities into a broader student body.

The problems with the program go beyond a desire to desegregate disabled students. The schools struggle to staff classrooms, with a quarter of roles vacant.

And many school buildings are ill-equipped, with some missing gymnasiums and nurses’ offices. The schools have a collective $50 million in deferred maintenance.

“It’s important that we have to look beyond the status quo right now that we have in Missouri, and think about how we can reimagine MSSD,” said Mark Wheatley, assistant commissioner in the office of special education with Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

For two years, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has been studying the schools alongside a group of educators, parents and representatives from nonprofits. Wheatley presented the work group’s recommendations to transform MSSD in a State Board of Education meeting Tuesday. During its meeting next month, the board will be asked to approve the plan.

“If the decision is that we just need to get better at doing what we’re doing now, we are already starting that work,” Wheatley said. “But some of these bigger levers that we have to move to make the program more beneficial for more students is going to require direction from (the board).”

The work group suggests closing 24 of the 34 MSSD buildings, six of which were recently consolidated in emergency situations stemming from poor staffing and aging buildings.

Following a decline in enrollment over the past 16 years, MSSD is using under half of the space available for students.

Consolidation would allow the department to better utilize existing buildings and renovate the aging properties. Two new buildings would be built, bringing the program to 12 schools by the end of 2036.

The cost of the construction is estimated at nearly $183 million, which lawmakers would have to fund.

The state would also have to invest in special education in public school districts. The work group hopes to create collaboratives of districts in rural areas to serve students closer to home.

“We don’t want to create a situation where kids are sent back to their local school district and the local school district is not equipped to handle them,” said Jacob Klett, an education advisor with Public Consulting Group.

Board members were largely impressed with the presentation Tuesday, calling the work “extraordinary.”

But Brooks Miller, a new board member from Sunrise Beach, questioned the longevity of the plan.

“Are we trying to design something now that’s going to take us three or four years, and then in five or six years, it’s not nearly the problem that we had when we designed it?” he asked.

Wheatley said he plans for continuous assessments and hopes to keep an active workgroup to continually study special education in Missouri.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

The post Missouri unveils plan to transform program for students with disabilities appeared first on missouriindependent.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The content provides a factual and balanced overview of a policy issue concerning special education services in Missouri. It focuses on the practical challenges of maintaining a unique school system for severely disabled students, including financial, staffing, and infrastructure problems, while presenting various viewpoints from officials and stakeholders. The article avoids partisan language or ideological framing, instead emphasizing practical solutions and the complexities of education management. This neutral presentation reflects a centrist approach towards education policy reporting.

by Ariana Figueroa and Shauneen Miranda, Missouri Independent
May 13, 2025

WASHINGTON — Democrats Tuesday criticized House Republicans for their efforts to pass “one big, beautiful” bill to extend Trump-era tax cuts that would require potential cuts to food assistance and Medicaid.

“The American people do not support this extreme and toxic bill, and we’re going to hold every single House Republican who votes for it accountable,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, during a press conference.

As House Republicans push forward with the last three bills of their reconciliation package in committee this week, Democrats slammed the proposed work requirements for Medicaid, extending the 2017 tax cuts enacted during President Donald Trump’s first term and overhaul of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in order to pay for the megabill.

The complex reconciliation process skirts the Senate filibuster and Republicans plan to pass the bill through a simple majority, meaning input from Democrats is not needed. 

Several House Democrats, such as Rep. Steven Horsford, Democrat of Nevada, called the legislation a “scam.”

Horsford, who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, said during a separate press conference with the advocacy group Popular Democracy that extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts would “gut Medicaid.”

Medicaid is the state-federal health care program for people with low incomes and certain people with disabilities, and has 71.3 million enrollees. 

“This would be the largest cut to health care in the history of our country,” Horsford said.

Rep. Judy Chu, Democrat of California, said only the ultra wealthy, such as billionaires, would benefit from reconciliation through tax cuts.

The cost of the tax proposal has not yet been released, but government deficit watchdogs estimated a wholesale extension would cost roughly $4 trillion over the next decade.

SNAP costs shifted in part to states

The House committees on Agriculture, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means met Tuesday to debate and pass their bills.

The Agriculture panel seeks to hit as much as $290 billion in cuts by passing part of the costs of SNAP to states through a sliding pay scale, based on error rates.

States with the lowest error rates for SNAP benefits would only pay for 5%, while other states with higher rates could pay as much for 25% of food benefits. More than 42 million people rely on SNAP, which is currently completely funded by the federal government.

The Energy and Commerce bill would cut federal spending by $880 billion, such as by instituting work requirements for Medicaid for some able-bodied adults ages between 19 and 65.

House committees have already signed off on eight of the 11 bills that will make up the sweeping reconciliation legislation before the Budget Committee rolls the bills into one package. If all Republicans get on board, the House is on track to approve the entire package before the end of May.

Warnings of rising premiums, hospital closings

Senate Democrats slammed potential cuts and changes to Medicaid.

“Not only will millions of Americans lose coverage — for many others, their premiums will skyrocket,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a press conference Tuesday.

“Hospitals — rural, urban and in between — will close,” the New York Democrat said. “Many, many people will lose their jobs, and many more will lose their health coverage. States will scramble with their budgets, and American families will be left out to dry.”

Oregon Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden also blasted the proposed cuts.

“What the Republicans do in their health care provisions in the reconciliation package is walk back health security for millions and millions of Americans,” he said.

“We’re for a tax code that gives everybody in America the chance to get ahead, that’s something that we’re going to battle for in this process,” said Wyden, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

Senate GOP

Some Republicans have also raised concerns about cuts to Medicaid, such as Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times that any cuts to Medicaid would be “both morally wrong and politically suicidal.”

But Senate Majority Leader, John Thune of South Dakota, said Tuesday that he feels “very good” about where House Republicans are on their bill and “where, ultimately, we are going to be on that bill as well.”

“We are coordinating very closely with our House counterparts at the committee level, at the leadership level, and we know they have to get 218 votes,” he said.

Thune said House Republicans will “do what it takes to get it done in the House, and when it comes over here, we will be prepared for various contingencies, obviously, one of which could be taking up the House bill and then offering a Senate substitute, but we’ll see what ultimately they’re able to get done.” 

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

The post ‘Extreme and toxic’: Democrats in Congress mount opposition to GOP tax cut package appeared first on missouriindependent.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content primarily presents the perspective of Democratic leaders who criticize Republican efforts to extend Trump-era tax cuts and implement Medicaid work requirements, highlighting the potential negative impact on social safety net programs. The inclusion of multiple Democratic voices and their framing of the proposed legislation as harmful to low-income Americans and social services suggests a center-left leaning. While it briefly includes some Republican viewpoints, the overall tone and emphasis align more with Democratic concerns, reflecting a Center-Left political bias.

SUMMARY: This summer’s weather, with spring rains and humid conditions, has led to a rise in mosquito populations in St. Louis County, prompting active efforts by Public Health Vector-Borne Disease Prevention. They use larvicide to treat standing water and adulticide sprays to control mosquitoes, focusing on disease-carrying types found in storm sewers and catch basins. Frequent rains can both kill larvae and wash away larvicides. Residents are advised to protect themselves by wearing long clothing, using EPA-approved repellents, and eliminating standing water around homes. Weekly cleaning of water-holding containers and proper larvicide use are crucial to reducing mosquito breeding and health risks.

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