JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A state senator will not be running for re-election next year because she has been chosen to lead Missouri’s education department.

After seven years as the commissioner for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Margie Vandeven will resign in July. Instead of conducting a national search, the State Board of Education appointed a former assistant commissioner to be Missouri’s next top educator.

“This is our time in Missouri to make a difference for all of the children of Missouri, the families and the educators,” board member Kerry Casey said. “Missouri cannot continue in the status quo. Missouri cannot not be a leader in education. We need to be at the head of the pack, not the middle of the pack, and not at the end.”

A familiar face is returning to the state’s education department. Sen. Karla Eslinger, R-Wasola, has a long background in education. From teacher and principal to superintendent to assistant commissioner at DESE and then serving schools across the country while working as a senior analyst for education services with the AEM Corporation and provided assistance to the U.S. Department of Education.

“Our work is vital; our country is depending on our success,” Eslinger said. “I’m excited and so very honored.”

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She was first elected to the General Assembly as a state representative in 2019. Her most recent role is state senator, where she is in her first term representing the 33rd District in southern Missouri, including Branson.

“I’ll go all the way through this next session, and I will work just as I did last session and the session before that and then when that comes to an end, I will step away from being a senator and come over here and be your commissioner,” Eslinger said.

She replaces Vandeven, who announced back in October that she would be stepping down next summer. Vandeven served under both Democratic and Republican governors. Both Vandeven and Eslinger were colleagues at the department nearly a decade ago, from 2010 to 2013.

“I know the heart that is in Sen. Eslinger. I’ve seen her work and I’ve seen how she is so committed to the children and the families in this state, and I’ve seen that in action,” Vandeven said. “She needs to be treated and respected as the commissioner of education. She’s very knowledgeable and has the evidence behind her that she knows what she is talking about, and she will lead us forward.”

Since the board’s October meeting, members have met in closed session three times to discuss Eslinger’s hiring. The board started their meeting Tuesday morning in closed session for about an hour.

Unlike previous years, the board did not open applications for the position, but Board President Charlie Shields said that wasn’t necessary with a candidate like Eslinger.

“I think the idea that we saw that we had this great candidate—let’s move forward; let’s not drag a search into the middle of the legislative session,” Shields said. “Sen. Eslinger has had a great career in education but also in public service and the General Assembly, like the House of Representatives and the Senate, and I think she had lots of leadership potential ahead of her in the Senate.”

Eslinger and her husband live on the family farm in Wasola where they have owned and operated a small business for 35 years. The couple has two daughters and three grandchildren. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the College of the Ozarks, a master’s degree from Missouri State University and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri.

“I would love the opportunity to find out what it is we want to do in Missouri, what do we want to measure and how do we define good education in Missouri,” Eslinger said. “I’m not a reformer. I’m not a person who publicly defends, who champions just public education in a traditional sense. I’m not somebody who is just about vouchers or just about this or that. I’m about good school.”

With Eslinger’s start date as June 1, both her and Vandeven will overlap their time at the department in order to help with the transition between the two commissioners.

“She will come into this agency and she will make that position her own, but there are just different things that I think would be helpful for anyone coming into the position to know and to understand about the agency itself,” Vandeven said. “I plan to be as helpful as I can and then get out of her way so she can do what she wants to do to make sure we move this agency and our state forward.”

In the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 3, 2024, Eslinger pre-filed legislation last week that would increase the minimum teacher salary from $25,000 to $38,000 and increase the minimum pay for teachers with a master’s degree and at least ten years of experience from $33,000 to $44,000.

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