Missouri school report cards come with a budget problem

By Jason Hancock | Editor-in-Chief

Good morning,

Gov. Mike Kehoe wanted A-F report cards for Missouri's public schools, and this week the state education department delivered its plan to build them.

But the 24-page document reads as much like a caution as a blueprint. The department says it can meet the governor's September deadline — while flagging costs the state hasn't budgeted, staff it isn't sure it will keep and a compressed timeline that could affect the reliability of the first grades families see.

Annelise Hanshaw reports on what the plan promises, what it warns about and what still has to go right.

by Annelise Hanshaw

The education department says it can build the governor’s A-F school grades by September. Its own plan lists what could break first: unfunded costs, vanishing IT staff and first-year data problems.

by Anna Spoerre

The Planned Parenthood clinic in Gladstone began offering medication abortion on Wednesday, becoming the fourth location in Missouri to open appointments.

by Ryleigh Hindle

Missouri's new tax credit could turn empty downtown offices into hundreds of apartments. Nothing in the law requires any of them to be affordable — so whether it eases the shortage depends on who gets picked.

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