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On Sept. 17 the Institute for Women's and Gender Studies hosted a lunchtime discussion with Democratic candidate for state representative of the 64th District Rachel Storch.
Storch, a St. Louis native, received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University before going on to obtain a law degree from Washington University. A political career was not always the forefront of Storch's plans. She admitted to wanting to start a family and have children, but ultimately decided on law school.
As a recipient of The Olin Fellowship at Washington University, Storch's law school tuition was fully funded. "Being debt free when I graduated left me free to pursue a career in public service," Storch said.
She did just that. Storch went on to serve as a public interest attorney with the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. The event was more conversational than speech orientated and Storch was allowed to engage with those attending in an open exchange of ideas.
The notion of being debt free, which Storch had mentioned as key to her ability to pursue public service, wound up a central theme of the discussion as the rising costs of education, both higher and K-12 were talked about.
"Missouri receives a very low, low grade for affordability of its university system and over the last two years we've seen a tuition increase at the University of Missouri of nearly 20 percent," Storch said, "that is unacceptable...we have to make sure that we are sending adequate funding to our universities so that the burden of the tuition increase doesn't get put upon the backs of our students."
Many of those in attendance also spoke frankly about their concerns and experiences with the St. Louis public education system. The consensus of the group was that the way the public schools are funded is terribly inequitable.
Currently, school districts are funded by property taxes. It leads to a situation in which areas with greater revenue from these taxes wind up with better schools. Children in impoverished areas are forced to attend inferior institutions because the area is not generating the same amounts of property taxes as areas such as Clayton.
Teresa Guess, assistant professor of sociology, was in attendance and said that "the purpose of taxation is to support the community." However, due to the current system wealthier areas are benefiting.
People wondered why property taxes are not distributed more equitably. As Sandra Zambrana, senior, political science, said, "All the funds should be pooled together and distributed equally."
"I would like to see a change written into Missouri's foundation formula, which is the formula that determines the allocation of funding by district at the state level," Storch said. "I would like to see a funding mechanism written into the formula that would take our gaming revenue and target them, maybe in an earmark, towards low-income and low-performing schools."
Zambrana, also a mother, has had to deal with the decision of pulling her child out of St. Louis public schools and switching to private education to ensure the quality of her child's education.
"St. Louis city does not have a lot of very good schools," Zambrana said, "as a mother that lives in the city with her child, you try the magnet schools because they are supposed to be better, but they don't work out, then you have to take the money you would normally spend on different things and use it to put your child in a private school."
"I don't think that gives us many options. But, why isn't the city schools working, that's my question," Zambrana said.
Storch also served as deputy chief of staff for Jean Carnahan during Carnahan's two years as Senator. She also served as legal counsel and director of policy for state Sen. Ken Jacob.
The Lunching with Leaders program at the Institute will continue on Friday Sept. 24 when Denise Lieberman, legal director for the ACLU, will stop in for a conversation on the Patriot Act.
Joyce Mushaben, professor of comparative politics, and director of the institute said they are trying very hard to make this series a bipartisan endeavor. "We have invited at least two representatives of the Republican Party and they haven't responded to our emails... We're really trying to get people on both sides, but there's a limit to what we can do," Mushaben said.
Any students who need to register to vote can stop by the Institute located at 212 Clark Hall and become registered.
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