Jazsmin Halliburton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri State Board of Education voted 5-1 on Tuesday to approve an application for a Columbia charter school.
The application was refiled by Frontier last week for a STEM charter school in Columbia. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recommended the board authorize the Frontier STEM school for pre-K through fifth grade to operate for five years, starting in fall 2027.
Democrat Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge voted against the application.
Frontier runs a 1,595-student school in Kansas City.
Columbia Public Schools filed a lawsuit in December, claiming the establishment of charter schools is unconstitutional and asked the state board to oppose Frontier. The lawsuit was paused after Saint Louis University rescinded its application. An entry of appearance was last filed on March 13.
The board was told by legal counsel that they must continue with application approval regardless of the status of the lawsuit.
SLU remains the sponsor of the Columbia charter school. Frontier Superintendent Ugur Demircan said the school was “excited to join the Columbia community.”
“Frontier Schools is committed to expanding high-quality educational opportunities through a proven, student-centered model that emphasizes academic excellence, innovation, and strong support for every learner,” Demircan said in a written statement. “We look forward to partnering with local families to prepare students for success in college, career, and life.”
Tuesday’s presentation was led by the state’s Office of Quality Schools Assistant Commissioner Lisa Sireno, who confirmed that Frontier met all of the state’s requirements for charter school applications. This includes terms of the charter, school policies and a description of the curriculum.
Sireno also presented the school’s five-year plan. The school plans to start operations in 2027 with only pre-K through second-grade students. This will progress every year with the school adding grades until they add fifth-grade students by the start of the 2031-32 school year and having full enrollment by the 2032-33 school year.
In a letter to the State Board of Education dated April 6, the Columbia Board of Education urged the State Board of Education to vote against the approval of Frontier Charter Schools.
The letter calls out the targeted nature of SB 272 and questions the need and motivations of a charter school in the area.
“[Frontier’s] application lacks a demonstrated need in our region, offers misleading claims, relies on erroneous assumptions, and fails to adhere to governing statutes,” according to the letter.
They argue that Frontier claims to enroll on a first-come, first-served or lottery basis instead of focusing on underperforming communities and students. This contradicts their claim that a charter school is needed in Boone County to bridge the gap in student achievement.
CPS also questions Frontier’s special education services. CPS claims Frontier’s existing schools had an average 6% enrollment of students receiving special education services. CPS had an average of a little more than 12%.
“This is not local interest. This is charter school operators taking advantage of money that is available from the federal government,” according to the letter.
“A lot of folks don’t think that it’s necessary or needed because, again, Columbia Public Schools is a high-achieving, school district, to create another system that’s trying to replicate that isn’t a fiscally responsible thing,” Board President John Lyman said.
Frontier’s Director of Communications & Outreach, Jennifer Grey said Frontier has participated in several community events and conversations with the local community.
“At a recent Columbia Chamber of Commerce event, we spoke directly with families, educators, and local leaders, where many expressed interest in additional public school options—particularly those with a strong STEM focus and more personalized learning environments,” Grey said in a statement.
The board also questioned Frontier’s planned curriculum, asking what made it different than what Columbia Public Schools provides. This includes two STEM based programs at Benton STEM Elementary School and Jefferson Middle School.
Frontier Superintendent Ugur Demircan said Frontier STEM Academy Elementary will provide a focus on STEM education with additional STEM, digital arts and music classes.
“They [CPS] have two schools at this time and they have 18,000 students, so it will be good to expand opportunities for other parents as well,” Demircan adds. “So we will offer additional assistance opportunities for the parents in Columbia.”
Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge asked the board if Columbia could provide background on their current STEM programs, but was denied due to board meeting procedures.
Frontier’s school sponsor, St. Louis University Professor Alexandra Boyd mentioned a possible partnership with CPS.
“I’m very excited about the possibility of the leadership of Frontier, working with the leadership of CPS to build something that’s dynamic for the entire state, because both of their systems are improving drastically,” Boyd said.
CPD claims this possibility is new to them.
“It’s news, it’s not surprising,” Lyman said. “Whenever a new entity comes in, they’re going to want to pair up with what works.”
Due to the Office of Quality Schools already approving that Frontier’s application met the necessary requirements, the state board would only be able to deny the application if there was proof that a requirement was not met.
“You have the option to approve or deny the application,” Sireno said. “Denial would be based on failure to meet the statutory requirements so, yes, then in that in this case, that would require you to disagree with the staff analysis that all of those boxes have been ticked.”
This received some pushback and confusion from board members.
“Law requires this board to approve the application because all the other requirements have been met,” Westbrooks-Hodge said. “Based on the denial of choice to the people of Columbia, based on the letter of objection from CPS, the stellar growth of CPS, I find this application problematic, and it’s difficult for me as a financial professional to support it.”
“In my assumption what you, our staff are saying, because they’ve met all the requirements which we have said they’re required to meet, we have no other option but to support this,” Missouri State Board of Education Vice President Brooks Miller Jr. said. “it would be inappropriate for us to move the goalposts, you know, because the issues expressed here.”
The letter also mentions a lack of local voices in the Frontier’s application. CPS claims that the state board had grounds to deny the application since Frontier did not notify its board of education and did not provide evidence of interest in the school from the community, both requirements in the application.
“When a charter organization goes and talks to a sponsor, before they can even talk to that sponsor, we have to know about that five days in advance,” Lyman said. “We only heard about the application after SLU had already accepted it, we should have heard about it before that.”
Missouri charter schools follow the same funding formula as public school districts, with state funding being based on daily student attendance and local tax dollars.
Supporters of charter schools argue they give families a choice in their children’s education, particularly in underperforming districts.
Opponents argue that charter schools divert public funding from traditional districts, weakening well-performing schools and limiting resources for underperforming ones that need additional support.
CPS argued the state’s Republican-led legislature purposely targeted Boone County for the expansion of charter schools through Senate Bill 727, which was signed by Gov. Mike Parson in May 2024.
SB 727 states that charter schools can be operated in counties “between 150,000 and 200,000 inhabitants.” While the bill does not call out Boone County by name, census data finds that Boone County is the only county in the state that falls between these guidelines.
According to Gray, Frontier will begin looking for locations to build the school.
“We will begin exploring potential sites in Columbia and look forward to identifying a location that best serves students and families while supporting our educational program,” Gray said in a statement.
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