A longtime member of the Springfield Board of Education is now serving on a much bigger school board.
Tom Prater was sworn in to his position on the State Board of Education in June 2024, which he will fill until July 1, 2031.
The State Board of Education is responsible for guiding the Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It sets policies, defines academic performance standards and assessment requirements, establishes requirements for teachers and accredits public schools. It is made up of eight members, who serve eight-year terms.
Of particular importance is the oversight of the Missouri School Improvement Program. In its sixth iteration, districts across the state have had three years to chart key performance statistics so that progress can be more accurately measured.
How Tom Prater reached higher appointment
Prater was a member of the Springfield Board of Education for six years, and was elected president during that time. He has also been president of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, as well as a member of Springfield City Council and board member for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
Prater awaits a full appointment: A Senate filibuster prevented his appointment's confirmation in the Missouri General Assembly. He currently serves on an interim basis, until the Senate next meets.
But he still has plenty to work on. He took some time to talk with the Daily Citizen about how the state board is different from the local board, what kind of problems Springfield shares with the rest of the state and what his goals for his eight-year term will be.
Questions and Answers
Hauxeda: What was that first state board meeting like for you?
Prater: It's very different. The stuff that we have to tackle is very different than the issues we had in Springfield. Springfield is like any local board, where you're hiring a superintendent, you're setting policy and doing the budget, and we have all those functions, but the local board has to look at, and capital projects, bond projects, do skills and things like that. None of which we have on the state board.
The state board is more concerned with developing teacher training, to keep getting good teachers in the classroom so that local districts have a good supply of educators. We have to monitor results in the MSIP, which is now in iteration No. 6. We're trying to assure that the kids are getting the education they need and the local districts are delivering an education. That’s an interesting thing that is new for me.
Daily Citizen: When you were on the Springfield board, you were always paying attention to the district’s MSIP score. It seems there is a lot of encouragement about the MSIP adjustments, especially how it has been changed to more fairly reflect student progress. Is that your perspective on the state board?
Prater: That's correct. And the state board and the department staff really put a lot of time into that. I think that's a credit to Peter Herschend and Charlie Shields, who is the current president of the board, and other board members. Because a lot of time and thought was given to that. And now it'll be interesting to see how their results play out.
As a state board, we have to make sure that local boards have the resources to deliver so they can beat those standards, meaning there has to be an appropriate amount of funding in the state budget, there has to be a good supply of well-trained teachers. Those are ways that we can affect the outcome.
Daily Citizen: Peter Herschend was a long-serving, well-respected member of the board, and he also served through controversial times where Gov. Eric Greitens attempted to stack the board in order to install a new director. As you begin your term replacing him, has he given you any words of wisdom?
Prater: He's given me a bit of advice and he owes me more. We’d like to sit down sometime next month when both he and I have some time and spend a half day talking through a whole lot of things that I need to be brought up to speed on.
But the foundation he and the board have laid with Margie Vandeven as commissioner and with putting Karla Eslinger in as the next commissioner, I think that takes a whole lot of the stress out of the work of the state board and the staff. Because when you have good leadership, things will flow. And that timeframe where Gov. Greitens tried to change everything, nothing got done. Now we're smooth. We have a good incoming commissioner and we have a board that for all the political differences they may have, everyone gets along well.
Daily Citizen: The state board has unique rules for ensuring that one political party doesn’t have a majority, I understand.
Prater: There can be no more than four members from each party, and independent counts as a party. But that, and the fact that the eight-year terms of the board members are longer than the governor’s term. The constitution specified that for the very reason that you don’t want a governor coming in and immediately removing everybody on the board, replacing somebody else.
Daily Citizen: C’mon, what evidence of that is there in Missouri history? Seriously, that must be pretty refreshing, especially in light of national political movements getting more involved with inserting their agendas into nonpartisan, local boards. Is the state board able to help local boards deal with that?
Prater: That's a tough job because we really don't have any influence on local elections. What we have influence on is to say, “Here's the ball, keep your eye on the ball.” The ball is student improvement, teacher quality and staying within your budget. So that's what we can influence. And if the local district is not living up to that, then sure, we can certainly say something. Most districts aren't going to lose their accreditation because of things like that, but yeah, our influence is a bit limited on local races, as it should be.
Daily Citizen: So being that there are a lot of limitations on what you can do, is that something where board members try to assist local boards with advice about any sorts of issues? Or can you only watch from afar?
Prater: Board members can assist. I haven't had much experience with this yet, but the board members report on every meeting what they've done in different communities in the state.
So one board member will report on a teacher conference they attended at Lake of the Ozarks, where they're pushing teachers to come up to certain standards and affecting local schools that way.
Another one may report on something like the Blue Ribbon Commission from several years ago, where they were really all about trying to get better teachers. They visited different parts of the state to get input from them. So what we do is show up, see what resources are needed that we might be able to provide on the state level and give advice.
Daily Citizen: Springfield can't be alone in the problems that it deals with. What kind of problems does Springfield share with other school districts across the state?
Prater: Since the pandemic, student attendance has been a big issue for Springfield and others. If kids aren't there, they're not going to learn, so what can we do to drive attendance? Is it more money for transportation? Is it, you know, whatever it may take, what can the state do to help.
Many teachers have left the profession. What can we do at a state level to support them through continuing education and training through resources to deal with some of the mental health issues that are going on in schools, with conflict resolution training to deal with discipline issues? And what can we do to train teachers to handle those things better? So anything we can do — keep teachers in the schools and keep kids in the schools. And then once we get them there, make sure we have quality teachers.
Daily Citizen: There's a lot of talk about behavior in the Springfield district, but it doesn't take a long internet search to see that other cities are having the same problems as Springfield. Is that your experience, too?
Prater: That's what we're hearing a lot of. And I think behavior issues developed more after the pandemic, when the kids weren't used to being in school sometimes for two years. So we have to educate parents as to school readiness and that starts in preschool.
We have to educate the students about appropriate discipline. And we have to get the teachers in the districts, whatever power we can provide, so they can handle the issues and not feel like they are left hanging out to dry.
Daily Citizen: In this last legislative cycle, there was conversation among Springfield board members supporting a bill that would let a district choose its own standards of academic performance.
Prater: Nothing that I have experienced yet. I think it's something that we'll have people watch. One of our jobs is to provide legislators with the knowledge they need to understand the system and how it works. And we are sometimes the best resource for state legislators, both House and Senate looks for us to say, well, wait a minute, this is, this is more of the issue and here's how we think you could legislate toward a solution or, or here's how you could fund to fill a gap. So I haven't personally had an experience with all that yet because I'm relatively new. But meeting with some of the legislators before my term started, I got a lot of information and a lot of opinions.
Daily Citizen: When you talked to us at the Daily Citizen as part of the Springfield Board of Education race, you were quite clear about what the role of a board member is. Knowing full well that you are a member of a state board now, are there any goals you have in mind for your term?
Prater: Yeah, I think, I think some of the least effective board members of any board, especially a governing board, are the ones who go on with one specific agenda they want to accomplish because sometimes they lose sight of the bigger picture. They may have a very valid point about certain issues that need to be fixed, but I think as an individual board member, you have no power. Your power becomes as the entity develops policies and takes action.
I am such a strong believer in a good public education system that that's really my agenda. And I have a lot to learn about where I need to apply myself to drive that agenda. And I think there is going to be a learning curve. Just like any board member, the ones who tend to be the least effective are the ones who come in and open their mouths immediately. So I tend to watch and learn, at first. It will probably take six months or more to come up to speed.
Daily Citizen: Why should local residents pay attention to the state board?
Prater: The state board has a lot of say in the funding of local education. So that's very important. The state board has a lot to do with our legislators as to what needs to happen in local districts because they may not all be the same. And the state board sets the standards for what kind of results local districts could have.
So if we're not paying attention, are things going to slip backwards? Lack of progress means you’re falling backwards, staying in place means lack of progress. You see that in the MSIP plans, and how they have evolved to now the sixth generation of improvement. Districts have to continue to improve because if we're not educating our kids, we're not helping any local community.
Education is one of the best things to move people out of poverty, and it's one of the best economic development tools we have in the state, so local people ought to be paying attention to what's happening at the state level.
Also, the issues are larger than which textbook you're going to use, larger than who is the local superintendent or the local teachers. We hopefully set the standards and try to keep the bar high.
Daily Citizen: What is on the board’s agenda for the next few months?
Prater: We are onboarding a new commissioner of education. We're technically her boss, although she's such a strong leader that she may be our boss soon. We'll be gathering MSIP results and see where that goes. We have a state budget that funds education to a good degree but there may be some changes in that state budget as the governor reviews it before he signs it.
After one meeting and a lot of studying I'm not 100% … but it's been a fascinating learning curve. I already feel like I've gotten to develop a good relationship with both the incoming and exiting commissioners, and got to meet the board members socially and then at our first meeting earlier this month. I think everybody's heart is in the right place and we have a smart, hard-working group, so I think it's going to be a great experience.
