Lawmakers hold legislative update session in Kennett

United States Representative Jo Ann Emerson makes her opening comments at the Kennett Chamber of Commerce with Missouri Reps. Otto Bean, Jr., and Rob Mayer in Monday's legislative update at the Kennett Chamber of Commerce. [Click to enlarge]

United States Representative Jo Ann Emerson, and Missouri Reps. Otto Bean, Jr., and Rob Mayer discussed the MAP scores and the energy bill Monday at the Kennett Chamber of Commerce during a legislative update session.

The three agreed MAP testing was not an outlet for accurate comparisons with other states.

"Our MAP standards are actually higher than most states," Mayer said. "It's not fair for our Missouri students and teachers to be seen as being lower."

Emerson explained the MAP test requires students to perform above their grade level to achieve good scores, while other states test at grade level.

Though the results seem dismal, Emerson said Missouri actually exceeded national goals under the No Child Left Behind program.

"We want every state to be on equal standing as the entire U.S.," Bean said.

Emerson said it's fine for Missouri to have its own standards, but a second standardized test would be required to give better comparisons with other states in the No Child Left Behind program.

She said the current testing procedures do not give a fair assessment of Missouri students without equal grade-performance testing with other.

The trio also spoke in favor of an energy bill, allowing the United States to become less reliant on other countries for fuel.

"It is absolutely critical that we get energy prices under control," Emerson said.

Emerson said the current bill would allow for about 2,000 acres of Alaska to be used for drilling that currently is not used for anything.

Emerson made a comparison to counter opponent arguments about using a land allocation of that size.

She said 2,000 acres is less than many local farmers use for crops, and the area could provide about 15 years worth of fuel that would not necessarily be used at one time.

Bean pointed out that no new refineries have been built in the United States in the past 27 years and the energy bill could help fund more refineries.

"We certainly need to make ourselves much more energy independent than the rest of the world," Emerson said.

In looking for interior sources of energy instead of relying on middle east countries and on Venezuela, she promoted agricultural energy capabilities, like soy and ethanol fuels.

Emerson said these can provide win-win situations, helping reduce fuel costs with more abundant fuel, and also will help United States farmers.

Bean said his own farm made sole use of soy diesel fuel, and challenged other farmers to use it, among other reasons, for its cleanliness.