State Rep. Rebecca Roeber, of Lee’s Summit, will need to learn to walk again after a head-on collision at the end of March.
Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr says Roeber continues to recover. She has been transferred from Columbia to Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, MO as of Monday and will not return to the Capitol this session, which ends Friday at 6 p.m.
“Representative Roeber is now back in the Kansas City area, she continues to receive treatment but at least my understanding is her need for surgeries are done,” Haahr says.
The March collision happened on Highway 50 in west-central Missouri’s Syracuse. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Roeber crossed the center line on Highway 50 and struck a second vehicle.
The aftermath of a two-car collision that resulted in Rep. Rebecca Roeber being hospitalized (PHOTO/SEN. DENNY HOSKINS.)
Roeber is a conservative and Christian who was first elected to the House in 2014. She chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.
Chairwoman Roeber is the sponsor of a House bill that would allow charter schools to expand to Missouri cities and charter counties with a population larger than 30,000. The legislation, House bill 581, seems to be at an impasse for the year without her to nurture it through the House.
House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-O’Fallon, says the bill was removed from the House calendar because of the amount of time it sat in the calendar and was not brought up for debate.
Speaker Haahr says the bill already faced an uncertain future with Roeber out. He noted that charter school legislation would have probably have had come through the Senate first, where it’s already been filibustered.
“If not, we always have next year to work on that issue,” says Haahr.
Proponents of charter school expansion legislation include the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the organization Excellence in Education in Action. Supporters say school choices benefit all in society and that expansion will give more children an opportunity to attend schools that meet their needs.
Under current law, charter schools are only allowed in St. Louis, Kansas City and an unaccredited school district. Charter schools are publicly-funded schools which operate independently of traditional public schools.