Editorial

School lawsuits could have big impact

Funding hopes for Missouri's public schools could be dramatically affected -- positively or negatively, depending on final rulings -- by any of several lawsuits that challenge the amount of state funding, how equitably the funding is distributed, whether some district can raise levies without a vote and what standards should be followed in providing special services to disabled students.

These lawsuits -- three are already in the courts and one is expected to be filed before the year ends -- are prompted for the most part by the state budget crunch.

Of the current $19.1 billion budget, only a few billion dollars are subject to regulation by the legislature and the governor's veto pen. And the biggest chunk of that amount is spent on education, which is why public schools and higher education have been hit so hard by the current belt tightening.

In order to balance this year's budget, legislators appropriated considerably less for public schools than most districts say they need.

Some districts will lose up to $3 million in state funding. Most districts are dipping into reserves to make ends meet, and officials are worried about what the future holds in the face of forecasts that state revenue will be up to $1 billion less than spending needs in the next fiscal year.

As a result, school districts and taxpayer groups have turned to the courts.

One lawsuit filed last week by the Liberty, Lee's Summit and Fort Osage districts -- all suburbs of Kansas City -- challenges the governor's authority to withhold any of the funds appropriated for public education by the legislature.

Gov. Bob Holden twice vetoed the legislature's education budget because he felt there should be more money for local schools. After he accepted the hold-the-line spending plan, he immediately withheld $190 million that could only go to districts if state revenue during the current year improves enough to cover that amount. The three districts claim in their lawsuit that the governor doesn't have the authority to make cuts in school funding.

Because so many of Missouri's 524 school district are in a similar situation, it is no surprise that 147 of them have banded together to file another lawsuit that maintains the state is obligated to give them however much funding they need. In addition, this lawsuit -- which will likely be filed later this year -- will contend that the state's funding for education is inequitable.

A similar lawsuit in 1993 resulted in the passage of the Outstanding Schools Act, which included one of the largest tax increases in state history. That massive increase in school funding was supposed to address both the adequacy and equity concerns, but many school officials say the districts are worse off today than they were a decade ago.

Meanwhile, a group of Morgan County taxpayers contends in a lawsuit that a 1998 constitutional amendment that allows districts to raise taxes in certain instances without a vote violates the tax-increase limits of the 1980 Hancock Amendment. The question is whether the 1998 vote satisfied the Hancock requirement that tax increase which exceed its cap must be approved by voters.

Still another lawsuit whose outcome will affect district spending is the one claiming that a statute changed in the 2002 legislative session improperly lowered the standard for providing special assistance to disabled students. If the court agrees that a higher state standard should be met instead of the lower federal standard authorized by the 2002 law, it would mean extra costs to district to meet those standards.

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