PLATFORM

Megan has spent most of her adult life being a champion for our children and believes in the Ferguson Commission’s Call to Action that we must place our youth at the center of our decision making. Through her work at Lemay Child and Family Center and ChildCare Aware of Missouri she saw first hand the difference that having access to high-quality early childhood education can make in the difference of our children.  In fact, 80% of brain development occurs before age three and every dollar that is invested in early childhood education results in $8 of future savings. As a daughter of two public school teachers and a product of public schools, Megan understands the need to protect our public school system from privatization. While Charter Schools held promise when they were initially proposed, in the two decades that they have been operational in Missouri, very few have lived up to that promise by outpreforming the Public School District. 

Megan holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from St. Louis University, and is in the process of completing her Ph.D in Education Policy. As State Senator she is committed to:

Supporting our Public Schools

• Increasing the funding formula for public schools to ensure all schools, regardless of the zipcode in which they are located, have the resources they need to educate our children
• Supporting a moratorium on the opening of new Charter Schools, closing Charter Schools that continually underperform the public school district, and replicating the handful of charter schools that are outperforming the public school district in partnership with the public school district
• Holding Charter Schools to the same standards as public school districts
• Expanding Special School District to St. Louis City
• Allowing school districts to be “held harmless” when allocating tax breaks to big corporations and developers to ensure that our schools have the financial resources they need to educate our children

Universal Early Childhood Education 

• Supporting statewide universal early childhood education starting at birth
• Raising the reimbursement rate for Missourians qualifying for childcare subsidies 
• Implementing a Quality Improvement Rating System (QIRS) to ensure quality educational programs for our kids from birth to five years. Missouri is currently the only state to not have a QIRS

Eliminating Child Hunger

• Ending childhood hunger through the expansion of WIC and SNAP and allowing all students in public school to have access to free lunch

Halting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

• Ending the school-to-prison pipeline by supporting policies and programs that address the needs of children and youth most at risk for crime or violence and eliminate aggressive law enforcement tactics in schools that stigmatize youth and marginalize their participation in schools and communities 

With public trust in government at all time lows, it is more important than ever that we implement campaign finance and ethics reforms to restore trust. In 2018, voters in Missouri overwhelmingly supported CLEAN Missouri, which enacted fair redistricting and campaign finance laws. Megan had worked to bring these reforms to the local level and opposes any efforts to repeal CLEAN Missouri. 

• Supporting campaign finance limits imposed by CLEAN Missouri
• Supporting fair redistricting conducted by an independent demographer
• Supporting a ban on lobbyist gifts 

Megan believes that all people should have access to high quality, affordable healthcare, including mental healthcare and reproductive healthcare, no matter where they live or how much money they make. In St. Louis City, healthcare disparities fall along racial lines, with the City having Black infant and maternal mortality rates that rival developing nations. Megan has been a long time advocate of abortion rights, passing legislation at the local level to protect access to abortion and fighting to include abortion rights in the Missouri Democratic Party platform. The 5th Senatorial District is home to the last abortion clinic in the State of Missouri and Megan has been an instrumental part of the fight to keep the clinic open. As State Senator, Megan is committed to:

Access to Healthcare

• Expanding Medicare. Missouri is one of only 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid, leaving 232,000 people without access to healthcare 
• Supporting efforts to develop a universal “Medicare for All” healthcare system
• Addressing our opioid epidemic by adopting a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Missouri is currently the last state in the country that needs to adopt the program   
• Implementing the Mental Health Parity Act that recognizes that mental health is healthcare
• Supporting efforts to decriminalize HIV

Protecting Abortion Rights

• Protecting abortion rights through opposing any efforts to limit further access to reproductive healthcare including access to contraception and abortion
• Stopping the public funding of predatory “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” that mislead about reproductive healthcare options

Healthcare as Violence Interrupter

• Treating gun violence as a health epidemic and supporting community level initiatives that prevent violence

Megan believes that all people deserve access to safe, affordable housing regardless of zipcode. The City of St. Louis is rapidly building new housing, yet over 80% of new housing is considered luxury, making affordable housing out of reach for more and more people in the City of St. Louis. This problem is compounded by the Missouri Low Income Housing Tax Credit program being put on pause. At the same time, the City of St. Louis has over 100,000 renters and Missouri has some of the most lax renter protections in the United States, making it difficult for renters to hold landlords accountable for not fixing their properties. As State Senator, Megan is committed to:

• Reinstating the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program to address our affordable housing crisis
• Implementing a Tenant’s Bill of Rights that prohibits landlords from refusing a tenant solely on the basis of past evictions, race, gender identity, and other non-discrimination rules

• Protect the Historical Tax Credit program which allows for the revitalization of historical buildings
• Update the definition of “blight” in Missouri State Law to ensure that only truly distressed communities can benefit from tax incentives such as TIF and tax abatement

In recent years, basic human rights have been under attack in Missouri. From the passage of SB 43, which makes it easier for employers in our state to discriminate, to prohibiting DACA recipients from accessing in-state tuition rates at public universities, to the fact that Missouri continually ranks among the lowest states in the nation for protections for our LGBTQIA+ community, it is clear that we have a lot of work to do to create a state that is inclusive for all people who live here. As Alderwoman, Megan co-sponsored legislation to ban conversion therapy and sponsored resoutions to support immigration into St. Louis. As State Senator, Megan is committed to:

• Passing the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA) which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Missouri Human Rights Act
• Decriminalizing HIV and sex work in Missouri
• Providing statewide and local level public accommodation protecreform transgender and gender non-conforming residents
• Banning conversion therapy statewide
• Opposing any efforts to preempt the ability of local municipalities to become Sanctuary Cities
• Supporting undocumented people in accessing in-state tuition at public universities

Prohibiting public universities from discriminating against applicants as a result of their immigration status 

Megan has been a long time criminal justice reform advocate, introducing legislation to bring the City of St. Louis use of force policies regarding First Amendment rights into compliance with the Ferguson Commission recommendations and two Federal Injunctions against the City. As a Board Member with Local Progress, Megan co-facilitated a national working group of local elected officials to develop a policy tool-kit for criminal justice reform. Megan has been a long time advocate of drug reform and the legalization of adult use of marijuana. As an employee at Shalom House, Megan has worked first hand with chronically homeless individuals with mental illness and substance abuse, experiencing first hand how our criminal justice system often does not support our most vulnerable members of our community. Megan believes that we need public safety solutions that prevent crime, build trust between police and our community, and keep people out of the criminal justice system. As State Senator, Megan is committed to:

Reforming our Criminal Justice System

• Ending the costly and ineffective War on Drugs, legalize the adult use Marijuana, expunge the records of those with past marijuana convictions, and invest revenues from legalization in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs
• Eliminating predatory cash bail systems which keep people who are legally innocent, and too poor to afford bail, in jail while they await trial
• Increasing funding to our public defenders to reduce caseloads and ensure that all people have access to quality representation
• Supporting Homeless Bill of Rights legislation to ensure that homeless individuals are not criminalized for lack of housing and have access to quality services 
• Stop racial profiling by curbing discriminatory policing among law enforcement agencies to increase trust in our police departments

Supporting Victims of Crime

• Protecting Title IX and the ability of survivors of sexual assault to seek justice
• Allowing companion animals to be included in orders of protection
• Supporting common sense gun laws such as background checks, requiring a permit and training to conceal carry, and laws that keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers 

Public Safety Beyond Policing

• Creating safe communities through investments in programs like Cure Violence, which seek to address the root causes of crime

Megan has been a lifelong advocate for working people. She was raised in a union household by a mom who was President of her local Teachers’ Union, New York State United Teachers – NYSUT (NEA, AFL-CIO, AFT Affiliate) and a father who was a member of United University Professors. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Washington University in St. Louis, Megan is a member of Washington University Graduate Workers Union – an affiliate of SEIU Local 1.  Megan previously worked with the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 on efforts to stop so-called Right to Work laws. As Alderwoman, Megan was instrumental in the passage of legislation to raise the minimum wage in the City of St. Louis and is committed to paying all of her campaign staff at least $15 per hour. As State Senator, Megan is committed to:

Championing Workers

• Opposing so-called Right to Work legislation that take rights away from working people
• Opposing “Paycheck Deception” and similar legislation which seek to undermine public sector unions
• Supporting a $15 minimum wage
• Supporting fair workweek legislation to give employees greater control over work schedules
• Fighting the misclassification of workers
• Supporting prevailing wage legislation
• Opposing any efforts to undermine workplace safety
• Opposing any efforts to undermine collective bargaining rights
• Opposing tax handouts to major corporations who automate and outsource jobs (Example)

Protecting Consumers

• Capping interest rates on predatory payday lending companies
• Opposing efforts to privatize public assets and utilities
• Fighting efforts to raise utility rates on consumers
• Oppose so-called “reforms” that limit citizens’ ability to hold corporations accountable for their actions in court