Missouri State Board of Education

Updated 1:28 p.m. to reflect that eleven states have already been granted waivers.

The Missouri Board of Education has approved the state's request for a waiver from some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Members voted Tuesday to support the waiver's submission to the U.S. Department of Education with minor edits. Last fall, President Barack Obama said states will be allowed to seek a waiver from the law, which requires all students to show proficiency in math and reading by 2014.

Missouri's college loan agency plans to start collecting payments in October from students who got loans from the federal government.

The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority says it is the first state-based nonprofit organization to be approved to handle federal loan payments since a 2010 law required the U.S. Department of Education to originate all federally backed student loans. That law essentially eliminated a role for banks and private lenders.

Missouri’s State Board of Education voted unanimously today to strip Kansas City schools of their accreditation.

The reasons for the action include a decline in meeting academic standards and a failure to provide a safe and orderly environment for learning.  Chris Nicastro is Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The State Board of Education has voted unanimously to keep the Normandy School District in St. Louis County provisionally accredited.

Normandy may retain that status for up to a year -- however, the State Board could also choose to revoke the provisional accreditation entirely at any time during the next year.  State Board Member Peter Herschend says Normandy schools are improving, but not enough to warrant full accreditation.

The state Board of Education has denied a school district transfer for a southwest Missouri family in a case that some officials claimed could have encouraged parents statewide to try to switch districts.

State Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro had said a kindergarten pupil should be shifted from the Blue Eye to the Shell Knob district because of a transportation hardship. Nicastro said Table Rock Lake posed a natural barrier resulting in a long bus ride that was a hardship.