Parents, students and school leaders packed the House gallery at the Missouri Capitol.
Their royal blue shirts read "Strong public schools, strong Missouri" in bold white letters.
They were in Jefferson City for the fourth annual "Day of Action" earlier this month, an event organized by the Parent Action Council — an advocacy group of parents and community members who support St. Louis Public Schools and public education across the state.
The group meets with lawmakers and encourages them to support legislation that supports public education — including funding for literacy, transportation and school safety.
The Day of Action was started in 2022 by a crew of SLPS parents and members of PAC including Tracy Fantini, Avis Funches, Gloria Nolan and Emily Koeltzow. Nolan is now the Parent Liaison for SLPS.
Fantini, now a co-chair for the council, said she was surprised when lawmakers said they never heard from SLPS parents.
“When I heard that, I said, that's going to change,” Fantini said. “It really feels like we are faceless, nameless numbers when people from outside of St Louis are making decisions and trying to control things that deeply affect our school district, our city and our kids.”
Representatives from Normandy Schools Collaborative and Kansas Public City Schools were also at the Capitol to speak with their respective representatives.
Everyone broke up into small groups and started visiting the offices of lawmakers, including Rep. Marty Murray, D-St. Louis, who represents the 78th District.
Molly Metzger, an SLPS parent and member of PAC, led the group into Murray’s small office on the first floor.
“We're here today because we love St. Louis Public Schools, and what makes public education public is that it's for everyone,” Metzger said. “Our schools take everyone, and you don't have to weave your way through a convoluted school choice process to get into St Louis Public Schools. We think they're beautiful communities, and we're here to fight for them.”
Democrats hold a minority of seats in both the House and Senate in the Missouri legislature. Historically, both Democrats and Republicans in Missouri have supported public education.
There are over 800,000 students in Missouri enrolled in public schools, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
However, Republicans have increasingly begun to embrace legislation that supports school choice and voucher programs, which direct public dollars to families to help pay for private schools.
At one stop, fifth grader August and his mother, Jaime Bremerkamp, spoke with Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar, who represents the 127th District. She has sponsored legislation that would expand school choice in Missouri.
“Whenever I think of school choice, what I envision what will happen is, schools will specialize in certain areas, and then you’ll send your kids where their specialty or kids’ preference is,” Kelley said.
Bremerkamp went on to explain how school choice can negatively impact public school districts because of issues with transportation and enrollment. Traditional public schools are required to provide transportation for all students, while charter and private schools may opt not to.
In January, Gov. Mike Kehoe threw his support behind open enrollment legislation like House Bill 711, which would allow students to enroll in public schools outside their district.
Nolan, who works at SLPS, said open enrollment would take students and resources away from public schools in cities.
“It won't serve all of our families well,” Nolan said. “This will be an opportunity for them to try to pick who they consider [are] the best and brightest from our public school students and leave students behind.”
Despite SLPS being one of the largest school districts in Missouri, enrollment continues to dwindle as more families choose alternative methods of learning including charter and private schools, as well as homeschooling. The drop in enrollment is compounded by a decreasing birth rate in the region.
SLPS parent Lisa Lee believes investing in public schools will help stabilize the population decline in St. Louis.
“I think a good public education system is the root and foundation for your residents, for your population, for your city to grow,” Lee said.
Correction: The Day of Action started in 2022, and was created by Tracy Fantini, Avis Funches, Gloria Nolan and Emily Koeltzow. A previous version of this article misidentified the event’s founders and the year it began.
