Columbia Missourian - January 4, 2023 - Story by Charles Boehme Photos by Caroline McCone
JEFFERSON CITY — On Wednesday, Missouri lawmakers went back to work, kicking off a new legislative session by declaring interest in policy around ballot initiatives, education and sports betting.
The first session of the 102nd General Assembly began with a largely ceremonial and procedural first day. Among the newly elected representatives is Doug Mann, a civil rights attorney for Columbia law firm TGH Litigation LLC, who began his career teaching high school history and civics.
Mann said education is his No. 1 issue, and his experience as a public school teacher in an underfunded school in Chicago partially inspired him to run for office. He said teaching showed him what issues teachers and students are dealing with, uniquely equipping him to address them.
Mann said the biggest issue Missouri public schools are facing is a lack of funding, which has led to teacher shortages and some schools pivoting to four-day school weeks to save money.
Mann wants to modify the public school funding formula to increase the amount of state funding. Local funding is determined from property taxes, which the legislature has no control over, and federal funding is a relatively small part of the formula.
Mann said he hopes increasing funding will encourage schools to return to five-day weeks because students in four-day districts are losing valuable instructional time. He said increasing teachers’ pay would help balance out the stress of teaching.
“It’s also the stressors of the job that are pushing teachers away because if you’re getting paid poorly for a high stress position, you’re going to try to find a way out of that as soon as possible,” he said.
