Did You Know? A Look At Missouri Education Requirements

Written by Jared Grafman.

What time does school start? How many students are in the class? How many hours in the school day? How many days are in the school year? What are students required to learn?

These are just a few questions that can be answered, at least in part, by taking a look at Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education — DESE — grade school education requirements throughout the state. 

There's even a Frequently Asked Questions page that explains topics like class sizes, the length of school days, graduation requirements and more.

Class sizes requirements vary depending on grade, according to the FAQ page. According to the website, desired standards — but not the mandatory maximum — class sizes are five fewer children per class than the maximum state requirement.

• Kindergarten thru second grades have a maximum of 25 children per class.
• Third and fourth grades have a maximum of 27 children per class.
• Fifth and sixth grades have a maximum of 30 children per class.
• Seventh thru 12th grades have a maximum of 33 children per class.

Schools try to stick to desirable guidelines — in the theory it provides students with a higher quality education — but the difference between desirable and mandatory standards have been a hot topic in St. Louis, recently, in accommodating students transferring from unaccredited schools. 

The unaccredited Normandy School District announced last month that it will provide student busing to the Francis Howell School District, while unaccredited Riverview Gardens chose at first to provide transportation to the Mehlville School District and then after Mehlville announced it couldn't accept any additional students Riverview chose Kirkwood School District as its next choice.

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement Friday, according to a St. Louis Post Dispatch Report, which said it's inappropriate for Kirkwood and Mehlville to limit Riverview Gardens student transfers because of class size.

How do your school guidelines compare? Share with Patch and the community, and contribute in the comments below.