Private donors are funding Missouri education board’s commissioner search, strategic plan

Private philanthropy will fund two major initiatives underway at the Missouri State Board of Education, but the identities of the donors remain unknown to the public, the state education department and at least one of the contractors doing the work.

Earlier this month, the board approved two memorandums of understanding with consultants helping search for a new education commissioner and craft a new strategic plan. Both documents note that the work will be funded through philanthropic contributions rather than state dollars.

Board President Brooks Miller, of Sunrise Beach, said when the agreements were approved earlier this month that the philanthropic organizations should not expect any influence in return for financial support.

“One of the things that we have to be considerate of is that there’s no quid pro quo,” he said. “I think they can expect that, but we just need to be able to communicate that totally with each member of the board.”

The agreement with the National Association of State Boards of Education, which is assisting with the commissioner search, specifically says that “philanthropic contributions shall not provide funders with any role in, or influence over, the search process, evaluation of candidates or selection of the commissioner.”

But Paolo DeMaria, the association’s president and CEO, told The Independent he does not yet know who those funders will be. He expects that “they will be sort of presented to us.”

The memorandum prohibits the association from soliciting money for the search.

“I’m assuming someone will reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, we want to participate in the provision of this process’ and then we will work out the details of the grant agreement or the contract,” DeMaria said.

Nonprofits funding the work will pay the association directly, meaning the money will not flow through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.. This arrangement avoids requirements for state entities to enter a competitive bidding process, since no state funding is used.

State board member Mike Matousek, of Kansas City, told The Independent that “there should be no taxpayer dollars used.” He is overseeing an agreement with Bellwether, an education research nonprofit, that will help turn the board’s priorities into a new strategic plan.

Bellwether did not respond to a request for comment.

Both Bellwether and the National Association of State Boards of Education have begun their work, though funding is not fully secured.

“We know roughly what it will cost, but I don’t think we know exactly how much we’re getting from whom,” Matousek said.

Board members have reached out to some philanthropic organizations for the effort, Matousek said, and other funders have stepped forward without being asked. 

The setup is “not unheard of,” DeMaria said. 

“It is not uncommon for a board to come to us with some customized assistance requirement that they might have on any number of fronts,” he said.

Outside philanthropy has paid for other Missouri education policy work.  In 2024, policy consultant Education First studied teacher retention and recruitment in Missouri through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.

Matousek anticipates that the identities of funders will likely be shared when they are secured. For now, though, not even the education department knows who is in talks to cover the bill.

“The funding for the (memorandums) has been secured or is in the process of being secured by the Missouri State Board Education and not by the department,” the department’s spokesperson Lucas Bond said in a statement. “The department is unaware of the identity of any of the donors at this time.”