Educational consultant Stacey Preis will lead the state’s education department while the board searches nationwide for a permanent replacement
By: Annelise Hanshaw
Missouri Independent
The Missouri State Board of Education on Monday named educational consultant Stacey Preis as the state’s interim commissioner, putting a former department official and legislative researcher in charge as the agency navigates a leadership shakeup and a set of major policy changes ordered by Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Preis told The Independent that she does not plan to apply for the permanent position but is committed to helping through the transition.
The board also launched a nationwide search for a long-term commissioner and is assembling an advisory committee to help guide the process. Board President Brooks Miller told The Independent the search is likely to take months.
“We may have somebody right away that just fits the whole bill, and certainly we’re going to look at anybody that does,” he said. “But we also have to do our evaluation of what our needs are, what kind of person we need to hire to fill those needs.”
Miller said the board does not have a short list of candidates and is “starting from scratch.”
“We may have somebody right away that fits the whole bill, and certainly we’re going to look at anybody that does,” he said. “But we also have to do our evaluation of what our needs are and what kind of person we need to hire to fill those needs.”
One name already circulating in education and political circles is Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican and former chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. At an event in Macon, O’Laughlin hinted at interest in the job.
“I am always available if the education establishment wants to take advantage of my willingness to work with them to make education better,” O’Laughlin said.
Her Senate biography cites her experience “as a school bus driver, an administrator at a local Christian school and as a member of her local school board.” State law requires the commissioner of education to “possess an educational attainment and breadth of experience in the administration of public education.”
O’Laughlin acknowledged Friday that she may not fit what some board members are looking for.
“Some people would be looking for someone a little more status quo for a position like that,” she said.
For now, Miller said, Preis is a “good fit” to help the board in the interim.
Preis takes over after former Commissioner Karla Eslinger retired in May, just two years into the job and with only a couple of weeks’ notice to the board. Two days later, Kelli Jones, then deputy commissioner of learning services, announced she would retire at the end of May.
Mary Schrag, who had served as president of the State Board of Education for a year, resigned June 2, making way for two new board appointees the following day. Schrag was already serving on an expired term, but her departure left the board with just two appointees from former Gov. Mike Parson.
While the state board hires the commissioner, Kehoe has significant influence over the process, having appointed six of its members. He has also signaled that he wants the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to be more open to school-choice policies.
“We are a friend of public education, but it doesn’t have to be an either/or,” he said in a press conference in May. “There can be options out there for parents to choose from.”
He said he hopes the next education commissioner shares that view.
Preis began her education career as a high school English and journalism teacher in Jefferson City before eventually earning a doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri-Columbia and moving into a statewide role in education.
From 2008 to 2014, Preis worked as the executive director of the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, leading research into how the state’s public schools were performing and teacher pay. She joined the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2014, starting as an assistant commissioner of early and extended learning before working as the deputy commissioner of learning services for over four years.
In 2019, Preis became the director of policy at St. Louis University’s education thinktank, the PRiME Center, before launching Preis Consulting LLC. Her clients include PRiME, a workforce development advocacy group called Aligned and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which had a contract with her that ended a month early because of her selection as interim commissioner.
Her research and advocacy work includes proposals bridging public education and a movement toward giving families more options, such as charter schools and open enrollment policies allowing students to enroll in neighboring schools.
The State Board of Education has been showing interest in growing options outside of traditional neighborhood public schools. Board members Jon Otto, from Kansas City, and Kerry Casey, of Chesterfield, have held leadership positions on charter schools’ boards prior to their appointments. And in December, the board approved a slate of legislative priorities that signaled support for “legislation on voluntary public school open enrollment.”
The department’s change in leadership comes as major parts of its work are being reimagined.
For the past year, a task force has been crafting a new formula to decide how state aid is distributed to public schools. Its recommendations are due to the governor Dec. 1.
Kehoe has asked the department in an executive order at the beginning of the year to create a plan to grade public schools on an “A” through “F” scale based largely on standardized test performance with a July 1 deadline.
Preis will be at the helm as the department implements the A-F system and will “continue advancing department priorities” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Missouri students, parents and educators expect a department that is responsive, supportive and relentlessly focused on excellence,” Preis said. “I am honored to serve and will work closely with the state board, the dedicated team at DESE and our partners to drive innovation, strengthen outcomes and continue the progress for Missouri’s children.”