JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Advocates for public schools are urging the Missouri Legislature to bolster funding for public education, rather than shift resources towards charter schools and school voucher programs.

A bill pending in the House would provide tax credits for paying for private school tuition.

Another would change school funding formulas to give more resources to charter schools specifically in St. Louis, where public schools could lose up to $17 million a year.

Rev. Dr. Adrian Hendricks, founder of The Center for Change and Community Life in Jefferson City,
joined teachers unions and other advocates to oppose the bills.

"Anywhere where we're looking to move funds away from the local school district, as opposed to putting the effort into stabilizing those school districts, when you look at the long-term consequences of these decisions, they're not the best choice for tackling education reform in Missouri," Hendricks contended.

Another bill, this one before the state Senate, would support charter-school expansion beyond St. Louis and Kansas City. It also would take away local control in St. Louis of the sale or lease of city-owned land to charter schools.

Hendricks noted underserved communities, deeply rural communities, deeply urban communities, and Black and brown communities, are the most impacted by funding disparities.

He argued policymakers need to spend more time listening to constituents across the state and responding to their needs, from supporting local efforts to recruit and retain teachers and graduating first-generation students to improving mentorship and engaging students in workforce development.

"The problem is, we have education systems that go in cookie-cutter fashions that are not serving the students or serving those communities at the degree that those communities need, or those families need," Hendricks asserted.

He added it's not the first time these issues have come to the Legislature. Underserved communities have been battling for level public school funding for decades.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Community college students in California are being encouraged to take a closer look at their education plans, to see if transferring to a state university makes sense, and new policy changes aim to ease that pathway.

The changes are part of a package of higher-education bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law this month.

Two of them simplify the process for students at two-year schools to transfer to others within the state's public university systems.

Michele Siqueiros, president of the nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity, which championed the bills, said the changes come amid increased awareness of equity issues in the U.S.

"There are huge gaps in transfer rates, depending on race and ethnicity," Siqueiros pointed out. "You have significantly lower transfer rates for Latinx and Black students, for some southeast Asian students, for low-income students."

She pointed out a lot of the students are the first in their family to attend college, but face financial obstacles in extending their academic careers. A report from the group found among freshmen in California community colleges, only 2.5% will transfer in two years.

Among other changes, a bill signed by the governor eliminates redundancies in labeling required courses.

While an easier transfer path will help, Siqueiros noted other barriers include an insufficient number of counselors, but she hopes a simplified process means it will not be so overwhelming for students making decisions on their own.

"We shouldn't make it so confusing that you actually, you know, need to have hours of counseling session in order to get it right," Siqueiros argued.

She warned there is legitimate concern within the higher-education community about capacity at larger institutions. With the new laws in place, advocates want the state's public universities to ensure they have enough resources to welcome eligible students who plan to take advantage of the quicker pathway.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

RICHMOND, Va. - A new program aims to give underserved students of color extra support to close education and workforce training gaps that have grown worse during the pandemic.

The Racial Equity for Adult Credentials in Higher Education (REACH) program helps Black, Hispanic and Native American students deal with barriers to attending community colleges that many white students don't face.

Wayne Taliaferro, strategy officer with Lumina Foundation, which is co-sponsoring the program in Virginia and five other states, said REACH might help students of color with child care, transportation or counseling - to enhance Virginia's workforce training programs at community colleges.

"Since 2016, Virginia's been investing in short-term training programs," he said, "and then they also allow students to come back and seek further study. And so, that is something that's like, 'Oh, that's a bright spot that we can maybe build upon.'"

From the $8 million initiative, he said they hope to see at least a 2% increase in adults of color gaining credits or career advancement over the next two years. In addition to Virginia, funding will flow to community colleges in states including California, Colorado and Texas.

Even before the pandemic, Taliaferro said, higher education wasn't meeting the needs of adult students of color. As a result of chronic underfunding and other obstacles, he said, disparities arose in degree completion, job placement and earnings.

"The REACH Collaborative aims to take an active step in shifting from this present reality at community colleges, where the bulk of adult students of color are enrolled," he said. "A lot of adults enter community colleges to gain skills for jobs at different entry points. But the onramps don't always lead to quality outcomes and better earnings - or outcomes at all."

Although the numbers of Black and Latino college students have risen in the past 35 years, research shows the deficit in bachelors-degree attainment between whites and students of color has increased during that time, from 15 to 21 percentage points.

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Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.