This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 10, 2012 - Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed former state Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields to a slot of the Missouri State Board of Education.
Shields, R-St. Joseph, served in the Missouri House from 1991 to 2003 and in the Missouri Senate from 2003 to 2011.
Shields – the top Republican in the Missouri Senate from 2009 to 2011 – was the sponsor of 2005 legislation altering the state’s education foundation formula.
He also handled a bill in 2007 that reconfigured the state’s Medicaid program, angling to infuse more preventative care options into the health care program for the poor and disabled.
Nixon appointed Shields to an eight-year term to a vacant slot on the board that oversees the state’s school districts and selects the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s commissioner. Nixon and Shields had a good relationship, so much so that the governor publicly praised him during the last day of the 2010 session, which was Shields' last because of term limits.
After leaving the Senate, Shields became the chief operating officer of Truman Medical Center Lakewood.
While Shields can serve on the board immediately, his nomination must be confirmed by the Missouri Senate when the legislature starts up again next year.
