2022 Missouri Mid-term “Vote for KIDS”

There is so much on the ballot in Missouri on November 8th but some of the most important things are our children’s safety, education, and welfare. There isn’t just a single amendment to vote for; every vote on every candidate and every question has an impact on children.

A lot of candidates don’t list children or children’s issues as a priority. Others have issue statements like “Every Missouri child should have access to free, quality public education regardless of their zip code.” or “understands the need to fully fund public education“. These statements sound great but what does that candidate really mean by them?

Earlier this year during a hearing by the Missouri House Committee on Primary and Secondary Education the chairman said “We fully fund public schools.” My reaction was, wow how can he lie like that? Then I found out about the “funding formula”, which is approximately 20 yrs old and uses 20 yr old data. It is used to determine how much money the state gives to each district. So… when the candidates say they are “for” fully funding public education… do they mean fixing the formula first so that we are fully funding education? Or are they talking about using the same formula that has led us to teacher shortages, school closings, and 4-day school weeks?

Listening to the discussions around the many bills introduced for “school choice” and “parent’s rights” I discovered that those two terms are being used to promote our tax dollars to be spent on funding for private charter schools. A bill actually passed to provide funding for the public and private charter schools, but because of pushback from kids groups, that money isn’t coming from the public school district the charter is located in. A lot of these schools are owned and operated by non-profit organizations and churches that do not pay taxes. Parents have always had the choice to pick schools. That choice is not free, however, so there are many who can’t afford it. A lot of parents that have the ability to pick their schools are choosing private schools because public schools are unsafe, overcrowded, and understaffed. I want my tax dollars to go to public schools that are for all children, not to private schools. I want those schools funded with quality, equity, fairness, and safety for all children. Our children deserve the best and we need to make sure they get it.

Voting for the right candidates on November 8, 2022, is a start in providing the best for our children. That is why I researched the candidates. This year I joined with Missouri Equity Education Partnership (MOEEP) to research and rate each candidate on education. You can find the results of that research here. https://www.missouriequity.com/2022midtermgrade

I agree with those assessments and every candidate that MOEEP endorsed or approved is a VOTE FOR KIDS. I additionally looked at some of the candidates that were not endorsed or approved by MOEEP because although education is critical it is not the only thing impacting our children.

There are 303 candidates total candidates running for office (not counting county legislators).

30 for 17 State Senate seats – Anti-Equity 17, MOEEP/Endorsed-Approved 11, Unclear\no stance 2
243 for 163 State House districts – Anti-Equity 112, MOEEP/Endorsed-Approved 79, Unclear\no stance 52
23 for 8 US House districts – Anti-Equity 10, MOEEP/Endorsed-Approved 7, Unclear\no stance 6
4 for US Senate – Anti-Equity 1, MOEEP/Endorsed-Approved 1, Unclear\no stance 2
3 for MO Auditor- Anti-Equity 1, MOEEP/Endorsed-Approved 0, Unclear\no stance 2

VOTE for Kids candidates

I looked at the candidates that did not pass MOEEP Equity education standards. I looked at their overall attitudes on social media, their issue statements, and their stance on guns, abortion, marijuana legalization, and criminal justice reform. I have some additional candidates that have ideas that would help children to thrive in Missouri even though they would have to be watched on equity education issues.

State Senate candidates

Name	District	Extra Factor(s)
Sinclair, Michael	2	Opposes school choice funded by taxpayer money
Hough, Lincoln	30	pro-public education, supportive of teachers

State House candidates

Name	District	Extra Factor(s)
Brown, Chris	16	retired – “He taught U.S. History and AP Government & Politics and also served as a youth athletics coach.”
Crossley, Aaron	29	pro-public education “fully funding public education will create lifelong learners”
Strickler, Kemp	34	pro-public education “The state legislature needs to stop attacking teachers and support them by increasing their pay, trusting educators to do their jobs and dialing back the rhetoric on issues that don’t improve student learning”
Veit, Rudy	59	pro-public and an advocate for changes in the foster care system
Gallick, Sheri	62	“PRO QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION”
Byrnes, Tricia	63	anti-bullying advocate
Koehr, Jake	81	priority-revoking LRA which increases homelessness depopulates neighborhoods and cuts school funding
Blansit, Amy	133	pro-public education platform
Kelly, Hannah	141	She has sponsored multiple bills for youth residential facilities and child care.

US House candidates

Name	District	Extra Factor(s)
Truman, Jack	H-4	His number one priority Protecting our children’s health and education.

VOTES AGAINST KIDS

During this research, I came across some candidates that have policies and ideas that are so out of alignment with what I believe that I feel compelled to provide a warning.

I strongly recommend not voting for these candidates if you care about children! They want to privatize schools, ban books, ban truth in history, and sue teachers if they mention slavery, discrimination, sexual orientation, and other things. They are lowering standards for educators rather than giving the accredited teachers raises or putting money into upgrading the system to give them the support they deserve. Funding public education is a “handout” to them, they would rather see the tax dollars go to getting corporations to bring their $ 15-hour warehouse job to Missouri. They have turned a blind eye to the abuse going on in the “private” youth “rehabilitation” facilities (Agape). Gun ownership is more important than children’s lives, their answer to school shootings is to have more guns at school.

Eric Schmitt (US Senate)
- He says he is for local control of schools but sued the school districts that had mask mandates which only made the stress that everyone working with a public school district during the pandemic 10 times worse. This action was the final straw for many educators who have left teaching in Missouri causing a severe shortage.
- He used taxpayer money to sue the school districts and for other lawsuits.
- He has an extremely negative campaign that promotes division, no respect for other beliefs, and creates a hostile environment that is not good for children.
Scott Fitzpatrick (State Auditor)
- Current treasurer, running for state auditor, currently not involved in actual policymaking. He announced that if he became the Auditor he was going to audit all Missouri school districts to find out if any of them are teaching CRT.
- This idea is a complete overstep of the state auditor’s job and shows he is putting his personal beliefs ahead of the people.
Nick Schroer (State Senate D 2)
- His campaign stance on education makes it appear that schools are becoming unaccredited in Missouri because of CRT and what is being taught. Any schools becoming unaccredited in Missouri are because of low pay, lousy working conditions, and underfunding.
- 65% of his votes on education issues including funding were negative.
Cindy O’Laughlin (State Senate D 18)
- She constantly speaks against equity in curriculum and supports the privatization of schools.
- She speaks against equity in education and believes that the only purpose of education is to provide a workforce.
- 92% of her votes on equity education were negative
Mike Cierpoint (State Senate D 8)
- 80% of his votes on education issues including funding were negative
- Continues to repeat the false story that CRT is being taught in elementary and secondary public schools to scare voters
Brown, Justin (State Senate D 16)
- 71% of his votes on equity education were negative
Brown, Ben (State Senate D 26)
- 71% of his votes on equity education were negative
- He sponsored legislation counter to equity.
Trent, Curtis (State Senate D 20)
- 70% of his votes on equity education was negative
Coleman, Mary Elizabeth (State Senate D 22)
- 63% of her votes on equity education were negative
- Supports anti-equity education legislation and book bans.
Hurlbert, Josh (State House D 8)
- He consistently votes for anti-equity education legislation and supports the privatization of schools.
- 68% of his votes on equity education were negative
Coleman, Jeff (State House D 32)
- 62% of his votes on equity education were negative
- Online shows he’s aligned with other more vocal anti-education and anti-equity candidates like Eric Schmitt
Schnelting, Adam (State House D 69)
- 65% of his votes on equity education were negative
- “He does not support sexually explicit materials in our schools, CRT, or any other divisive ideology that shames our children because of their ancestry or skin color. ” – from his campaign website.
Plocher, Dean (State House D 89)
- 75% of his votes on equity education were negative
- As floor leader, he stopped the debate on equity education issues. _{(Debate is the cornerstone of our democracy – if we can’t discuss ideas how do we get the best choices?)}
Cook, Bennie (State House D 143)
- 69% of his votes on equity education were negative
- He sponsored an anti-transgender bill in the 2022 session.
Lonsdale, Chris (State House D 38)
- His response to this comment on Twitter “Hey #moleg if you want corporations to come to Missouri, maybe you shouldn’t ban abortion care and stop beating up on trans kids.”
  - “I’m sure Republicans are devastated we don’t have Woke liberal corporations relocating to Missouri #moleg“
- He does not have a policy on public education found, but he is a MAGA Republican, supporting the election fraud theories, etc. and aligns himself with other anti-equity, anti-public education candidates.
Lauvstad, Kurt (State House D 36)
- He is against book bans but blames the “leftist Nazis” and the “libtards” for them. _{(for anyone who has not paid attention – it is the extreme right that is banning books)}
- His posts make no sense and show ignorance of the issues and a great vocabulary of political rhetoric even if not used in proper context.