The Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, as pictured September 26, 2023 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
Quality Schools Coalition, a Missouri education advocacy organization that backs charter school expansion, ceased operations at the end of 2024.
The nonprofit’s executive director, Dean Johnson, told The Independent that the closure was spurred after a top donor did not renew Quality Schools Coalition’s funding for 2025.
“It was enough of an impact on us that it made more sense to sunset than try to move forward on what would have been very, very limited funding,” he said.
Quality Schools Coalition spent $5.9 million over its four years of work, largely in contributions to candidates on both sides of the aisle that share its views on education policy. During the 2024 primary election, the group spent over $100,000 on campaign ads.
“It really was depending on what issue we were working on, we found our supporters and allies in different places,” Johnson said.
He described the organization’s priorities as a three-pronged approach with pushes for adequate funding, accountability and “public school choice.” This includes legislation that boosted funding for public schools, expanded charter schools and proposals to open public school boundaries to neighboring students.
Passing charter school funding reforms is the pinnacle achievement in Quality School Coalition’s final impact report. The law, which altered the formula for state aid to charter schools, added over $60 million to charters statewide.
Johnson first advocated for the bill as co-founder and executive director of Crossroads Charter Schools, a network of charter schools in Kansas City. He also served as the board chair for the Missouri charter Public School Association.
Johnson doesn’t have “definitive plans” but looks to stay engaged in education advocacy.
“I’ve learned a lot, so I’m looking at different opportunities to stay involved in trying to improve education and other other areas in the nonprofit sector,” he said.
State Rep. Marlene Terry, a Democrat from Bellefontaine Neighbors in St. Louis County, said the Quality Schools Coalition had “the best interest of education and children in mind.”
“They were very knowledgeable about educational issues, and they had a passion for education and children,” she told The Independent. “It has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican or anything like that. They had everything to do with children and education.”
Quality Schools Coalition spent about $28,000 campaigning for Terry in August’s primary election. In the final impact report, the nonprofit praised Terry’s decision to support a large education package that gave more funding to public schools, expanded charters and opened up eligibility for a program that gives state funds for private school tuition.
According to its latest tax filing, the group gave most generously to political action committees supporting Republicans. In 2023, the coalition contributed its largest donation, $35,000, to a PAC supporting state Sen. Curtis Trent, a Republican from Springfield.
Johnson said the Quality Schools Coalition supported Trent’s bill proposing a new method of school accountability, based largely on performance and growth.
In 2022, its top donation was to Catalyst PAC, a committee largely contributing to Republicans but with some Democratic contributions. Quality Schools Coalition’s revenue reached over $2.1 million that year.
As a 501(c)(4), its funders are private.
In addition to Johnson, who founded the nonprofit, the Quality Schools Coalition included former mayor of Kansas City Sly James and education consulting company founder Kathy Smith.
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