Academic performance at most public schools has improved, but attendance is not back to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education.

Arts programs are among the first to be trimmed by Missouri school districts, especially after the COVID pandemic. But arts educators are trying to turn the tide in arts education disinvestment.

States had until the end of September to distribute federal rescue funds to school districts to help students struggling with housing get equal access to education. Barring extensions, most states will leave money on the table — including several in the Midwest.

Officials have refined the details of how the school district would spend a $474 million bond that Jackson County voters will decide on in April. It would be the first time since 1967 that Kansas City’s school district would get tax revenue for building improvements and new construction.

Karla Eslinger, an Ozark Republican who served the past four years as a Missouri state senator, passed on a second term. Instead, she began her tenure as commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in June.

Shawnee Mission North High School teacher Jennifer Caedran Sullivan alleged that the district violated her freedom of speech and religion after she spoke in opposition to required diversity and inclusion trainings.

In the last few decades, urban schools in Kansas City have not kept up with other schools in their ability to offer high-level courses in computer science and coding. The nonprofit WeCode/KC has been providing primarily minority students access to education in a variety of tech areas for five years, in an effort to address this aspect of the digital divide.

Of the $474 million bond on April's ballot, up to $50 million in funding would go to participating charter schools to address facility needs. The charters' agreements with the district will go before the KCPS board on November 20.

The district has more than 14,000 students enrolled for the first time since the COVID pandemic, driven largely by growth in Northeast area schools.

Harris-Stowe State University, a historically Black college in St. Louis, is no longer at risk of losing its accreditation after an independent review found the school had made improvements to help student performance.

About 80 students in the Independence School District had transferred away from their neighborhood schools due to lack of space. The district hopes to relieve that pressure by repurposing an elementary auditorium into six new classrooms.

Missouri State officials also said that racist graffiti was found in a bathroom on campus Thursday afternoon. Racist text messages also targeted students at the University of Missouri-Columbia and schools around the country.