Missouri’s public education system is crumbling, and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), under Commissioner Karla Eslinger, is at the epicenter of the collapse. Tasked with overseeing nearly 900,000 students across 550 school districts, DESE is mired in bureaucratic excess, funding chaos, teacher shortages, and a stubborn resistance to school choice. Eslinger, a former state senator appointed in July 2024, has failed to deliver the bold leadership Missouri needs, leaving parents, educators, and taxpayers disillusioned. This article exposes DESE’s systemic breakdowns and Eslinger’s inadequate stewardship, revealing a department in disarray and a commissioner incapable of steering the state’s schools toward success.
DESE’s Bureaucratic Quagmire: Choking Missouri’s Classrooms
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has become a bloated bureaucracy, strangling the state’s education system. Lawmakers like Sen. Andrew Koenig and Rep. Doug Richey have blasted DESE for its “significant bloat and mission creep,” arguing that the department has drifted from its core purpose of supporting classroom instruction. In a scathing letter to the State Board of Education, they demanded a complete overhaul, accusing DESE of prioritizing administrative sprawl over student needs. The Missouri Times echoed their concerns, painting DESE as an inefficient agency that squanders resources ...
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