Photo by Steve Shook. CC BY 2.0.
Federal law under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) guarantees families the right to remove their children from schools that are considered “dangerous.” This mechanism is called the “Unsafe School Choice Option.” Under the this provision in the ESSA, states are required to identify unsafe schools and notify families so they can transfer to safer schools if they wish. One sticking point, however, is that states must define what qualifies as a persistently dangerous school, and apply that definition honestly and consistently. As covered by our Education Report, the Show-Me Institute in Missouri is sounding the alarm about how current state policy makes that nearly impossible.
By Missouri’s standards for a school to be labeled as unsafe, it must show a high rate of violence AND meet strict expulsion thresholds for three years in a row. The problem with this current standard is that expulsions are extremely rare. Missouri expelled zero students in 2024 and only five in 2023. When this strict standard on expulsions is required alongside data about violence, many schools with serious safety problems never qualify as unsafe under state rules. When looking at these data points individually, it is clear that safety concerns certainly exist.
Since federal law took effect, Missouri schools have recorded nearly 19,000 violent incidents and more than 4,000 weapons violations. In 2024 alone, more than 12,200 Missouri students attended schools that had at least one violent incident in each of three consecutive years. Despite these numbers, not a single Missouri school has ever been officially labeled unsafe, due to one pesky word. “And.”
The fix for this problem is a very straightforward change of just one word. Replacing the word “and” with “or” in the state rule would allow schools to be labeled as unsafe based on any one of these conditions, rather than all of them at once. Looking at the data, it’s plain to see that Missouri’s system is not functioning as intended. Families are unable to exercise their transfer rights if schools are never classified as dangerous – no matter the real-world conditions. When state definitions are so narrowly written that no school can qualify, these protections for students become meaningless.
Even if you’re not in Missouri, you should check with your state’s policy on this issue! To dig into this topic more, visit our online Education Reporter at EdReporterOnline.org. That’s EdReporterOnline.org, and remember to subscribe to our email alerts at PhyllisSchlafly.com.
.jpg){kind=link}