Good day, CharterFolk.
Today we are happy to present a follow up Contributor Column from Noah Devine, the Executive Director of the Missouri Charter Public Schools Association.
We provide a bio for Noah below.
Noah Devine is the Executive Director of the Missouri Charter Public Schools Association. Devine has dedicated his career to championing educational excellence and school choice, utilizing his expertise in policy, grant-making, and effective systems to support positive change. His diverse experience includes serving as a special education teacher, a college teaching assistant, a school district staff member, and positions within two state education agencies. Prior to becoming the ED of the MCPSA, Devine served as the Deputy Director for the Kansas City Action Fund, where he played a crucial role in researching, evaluating, and advocating for actionable policy solutions to enhance educational outcomes for students in Kansas City.
Devine’s academic accomplishments have equipped him with a deep understanding of educational systems and effective strategies for driving student success. He holds master’s degrees from both the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of Missouri, and a certificate in education finance from Georgetown University. Devine has served on numerous statewide and local education and policy committees to support education change and improvement, including being appointed by Governor Mike Kehoe in May, 2025, to serve on Missouri’s School Funding Modernization Task Force.
A Dramatically Changed Landscape in Missouri
I had the privilege of contributing to CharterFolk just one year ago, but already the landscape in Missouri has advanced dramatically.
After decades of charters only existing in Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas, a law passed last year is making it possible for us to get closer to our first expansion. This fall, a longtime career training program in Columbia received approval to open a specialized high school that would serve students 17 and older. The school would focus on career planning and vocational training.
This growth comes as we mark 25-plus years of charters in Missouri. Eager to reflect on our experience and build on our gains, we launched a new project at our statewide conference last month called 25 Voices for 25 Years. The site captures the perspectives of students, teachers, school leaders, families, and policymakers who’ve contributed to – and benefited from – charters over the last 25 years.
Even after two-plus decades, we’re still finding new ways to support charters. In the spring, Kansas City voters overwhelmingly passed a bond – 85% support!! – for the first time in nearly 60 years. Notably, the bond includes $50 million for KC charter schools. More than a half-dozen local charters opted into the bond; their families turned out in strong numbers to vote, and each school will receive an average of just over $10,000 per student in additional funding as a result of its passage.
According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, KC is now just the third city in the country where public charter school students have access to local public funding.
The growth of charters to new parts of the state and historic passage of a bond in Kansas City is reflective of the widespread support for charter schools statewide. In February, the PRiME Center at Saint Louis University released poll results that show Missouri voters overwhelmingly support charter schools operating in all parts of the state.
State legislators are picking up on the broad support and taking action. This year’s legislative session included $10 million in charter school facilities funding, a task force to rewrite Missouri’s 20-year-old funding formula, and the foundation formula and transportation being fully funded with a huge overall increase.
Looking ahead to 2026, we hope to replicate the successful collaboration between Governor Mike Kehoe, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Believe Academy, a high-performing charter school in St. Louis that partners with one of the city’s largest health providers, Barnes Jewish, to offer career pathways to students. The state owned a building near Believe’s current campus and Barnes Jewish’s facilities that wasn’t being used. Believe Academy won an RFP for that building, and ultimately the Governor signed it over, breathing life for a school into a former state building (that was used as a school for students with severe disabilities). Now the school has the space to double its enrollment over the coming years and $10 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies to prepare students for in-demand careers.
Given the amount of available facilities across Kansas City and Saint Louis, we’re keen to build on this process in 2026. When the legislative session kicks off in Jefferson City next year, we’ll be advocating to, among other things, pass legislation:
- enabling the expansion of charter public schools, including through public school open enrollment;
- empowering charter schools – or any public entities – to access public buildings; and
- maintaining or improving charter school funding, including funding for teachers, students, and schools.
It’s a year we have much to be grateful for in Missouri, CharterFolk. This Thanksgiving we wish upon you all the dramatically improved policy landscapes charter schools need to make even greater headway for kids in families across the United States.