MOScout Daily Update: More on APR Numbers - Deterring Crime - Wild West of Rural Healthcare and more…
Quick Friday update…
More on APRs
DESE’s November 6 press release announcing the new Annual Performance Reports was misleading. The headline, “More than 91 Percent of Missouri Public Schools Meet or Exceed Statewide Standards,” suggests that nearly every school is performing at a high level.
However, in the body of the release, DESE quietly shifts to a different metric, stating that “more than 92 percent of Missouri public school students attend schools that meet or exceed state expectations.” That figure reflects the number of students in schools meeting or exceeding state minimums, not the number of schools.
When you look at the actual APR data, only 86 percent of LEAs score at or above the minimum 70 percent threshold used to define “meeting standards,” a bar that still spans a wide range of quality from 70 to 100 percent.
More importantly, when you isolate performance points, which represent 70 percent of the total score (continuous improvement makes up the other 30%), fewer than half of LEAs exceed the 70 percent mark (298 in 2025 and 295 in 2024). In other words, despite DESE’s optimistic framing, the core academic performance of Missouri schools remains essentially unchanged and far less impressive than the press release suggests.
Secret Sauce?
Among the high performing schools was Thornfield which earned a 100%. It’s a super small rural K-8 district. Read an article about it from 2024 in which its leader, Melissa Campbell explains their “secret sauce.”
“I truly feel – and this may sound corny – but it’s those relationships,” Campbell told me of the secret sauce behind the school’s success. “We don’t have behavior issues; I mean, we don’t. You go in there and those kids are happy. They may be rowdy, but they know that teacher cares about them, and knows their name, and knows their favorite football team. If you connect with them, they’re going to want to learn and work for you.”
Enabling Deterrence
On Twitter, John Arnold argues that “a consistent research finding is likelihood of being caught deters crime far more than severity of the punishment.”
Minneapolis employed 140 violent crime investigators in 2019 versus 80 last year. The result: violent crime rose 25% in '24 vs '19 there while it's down nationally.
Why It Matters
Instead of harsher penalties to be “tough on crime,” the most effective way to disincentivize criminal behavior may be spending money on building resources and capacity for local police forces to catch the perpetrators.
Wild West of Rural Healthcare
Hell of an article from Springfield News Leader about the trials of rural EMS workers. Read it here.
EMS in rural areas have longer transport times, which means that personnel often must do more than just drive someone five minutes to the nearest hospital. "It’s like the Wild West of health care is the only way to put it. What you do has to work now, it can’t wait until later," [Cody] Campbell said. "If it doesn’t work now, it ain’t gonna work. You ain’t gonna get to a hospital.”
· "A lot of people use it as a stepping stone but don’t stay long term because since we’re rural, we’re poor. We can’t pay them great, crazy wages like the St. Louis area departments can. We’ve seen a lot of that," Anderson said. "People will come through our programs and stick around for a few years to gain experience and certifications, and then step into a higher-paying role."
Listening to Lost Dems Voters
Mayor Quinton Lucas makes an appearance in this morning’s Politico Playbook...
Inside the aptly named Crossroads Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, [Elissa] Slotkin and Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas sat around a long breakfast table Thursday morning and listened for more than 60 minutes to a small focus group of seven voters who stayed home last November…
Playbook exclusively observed her conversation with low-propensity voters — all Kansas City residents who had voted in past elections but not last year, a mix of Republicans and Democrats recruited by a professional focus group recruiting firm — as they expressed their reasons for not casting a vote for either Trump or Kamala Harris in 2024…
They said Washington didn’t care about their lives. Didn’t talk enough about issues that mattered like healthcare. They pined for more aspirational candidates, like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.
· Their responses revealed that, far from the sugar high of last Tuesday’s romp, Slotkin’s party has much work to do to win these voters back — if they can be won back at all.
Casteel Amends Committee
Rep. David Casteel amended his campaign committee to reflect that he’s pivoted back to House 97 from Senate 22.
Help Wanted
Senate seeks Security Specialist. This is a highly professional position responsible for developing and coordinating security activities and protocols for the Missouri Senate. Position will provide expertise regarding security matters and work with senators and staff to develop processes to enhance security efforts for senators, staff, and those visiting the Missouri Senate. This is a part-time position during the legislative session (January to May).
$5K+ Contributions
Missourians for a Responsible Budget (pro-Fitzpatrick) - $10,000 from SNK Real Property Holdings LLC.
American Promise PAC (pro-Malek) - $10,000 from Torch Electronics, LLC.
Butz STL PAC (pro-Butz) - $10,000 from Rex Sinquefield.
Northland Forward (pro-Nurrenbern) - $15,000 from PENN Entertainment, Inc. (Wyomissing, PA).
Missouri Gaming PAC - $190,600 from Penn Entertainment Inc. (Wyomissing, PA).
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Lyda Krewson.