A bill that indirectly provides state funding for private schools and home schools is viewed as a victory for parent choice by some and potential cover for bad actors by others.
The bill, which on Wednesday was still waiting for Gov. Mike Parson s signature, creates what are called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. It offers $50 million in tax credits for donations to not-for-profit organizations that provide scholarships for student tuition to private schools and religious schools or costs for home schools. The scholarships can be used by students in any town with a population over 30,000.
In the Senate, Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, voted in favor. In the House vote, Republicans Chuck Basye, Rocheport; Cheri Reisch, Hallsville; and Sara Walsh, Ashland, voted in favor of the bill. State Rep. Martha Stevens, D-Columbia, voted against it. The House vote happened before the election of Democratic State Rep. David Tyson Smith, of Columbia.
The motion to permit parents to record KKB meetings was voted down.
Several school board members noted that the measure is necessary to make sure that all students can succeed in education. These are conversations are about children that are near and dear to a parent s heart, school board president Helen Wade said. My world is often recorded, but I speak intentionally, I speak for a purpose knowing what I say is being recording . I realize how important this is too many.
Current KKB policy prohibits any recording of IEP or 504 meetings at CPS. These meetings are between parents and teachers, regarding student s developmental process in special education programs.Â
The FDA authorized the vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds on Monday.
COLUMBIA - The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer vaccine for people between the ages of 12 and 15 on Monday.
This expands the existing Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to cover an additional 17 million people nationwide. People in this age group make up 5% of the nation s population.
The next step will likely come on Wednesday. The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet to advise the CDC director on recommending use of the vaccine.
Once the CDC recommends the vaccine, it can be administered to this new age group.
Columbia schools vaccinate teens as shot nears approval for use in younger people
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia Public Schools started Tuesday a series of in-school coronavirus vaccination clinic for high school students old enough to get the shot.
For now, one coronavirus vaccine, from Pfizer, has been approved for use in people as young as 16. That could change soon, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to give emergency approval for the Pfizer vaccine to be given to kids ages 12-15 sometime next week.
According to Pfizer, the vaccine was extremely effective in younger kids in a recent clinical trial and the company found there were no symptomatic infections in children aged 12-15 years old. Clinical trial participants also had strong antibody responses and didn t report having any serious side effects from the vaccine.