Report: Funding gap hits some schools harder than others

The Missouri Budget Project, a not-for-profit policy analysis organization, has concluded that shortchanging the state's education system is depriving students of receiving the world-class education they need to compete in today's global economy.

The organization's report, "A Shaky Foundation: Missouri Underfunding the School Formula," released Wednesday, said Missouri is underfunding kindergarten through 12th-grade schools by $656 million, or almost 20 percent below the required level. Funding for the foundation formula is $3.075 billion, so 35 percent of Missouri's general revenue fund is dedicated to K-12 education, the report said. Voted into law in 2005 and enacted in 2006-2007, the foundation formula for funding schools was drafted to provide equity and adequacy to all Missouri schools, but districts have not yet seen full funding.

"Very few parts of the state have been spared with nearly every county in Missouri having at least one school district that is $700 or more short of the required funding level per student," the report said.

The report also said there are funding disparities between districts in the same county, and the funding problem tends to be worse in rural areas compared to schools in large metro areas.

In Cape Girardeau County, the high end of the shortfall is $858 per student in the Delta School District and a low of $383 per student in the Oak Ridge School District, the release said.

Missouri Budget Project director of communications Traci Gleason said current tax cut and budget discussions have been centered in broad terms, leaving out what it means to the community.

"We are truly failing our children. We're undermining our state's economic development and our future," Amy Blouin, founder and executive director of The Missouri Budget Project, said in a conference call Wednesday.

While there are tax cut proposals "floating" around the legislature, some have triggers intended to protect education, Blouin said. But the data shows those triggers won't effectively protect education funding, let alone other services, she said. She said there are no mechanisms in those triggers to fully fund education permanently.

Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Cape Girardeau, said those triggers would protect education funding.

As far as where things are in the budget process, Lichtenegger said House Budget Committee chairman Rick Stream will present his budget to the House floor for a vote next week. If it passes, it heads to the Senate. Lichtenegger said the state House and Senate would then meet in conferences and work out differences.

Although she didn't have a hard amount because nothing has passed yet, Lichtenegger said there isn't enough money to fund K-12 education at the level Gov. Jay Nixon wants. "And we have to have a balanced budget," she said.

Because of changes in the funding formula and other factors, the funding shortfall is projected to shrink to $556 million for fiscal year 2015, Gleason and The Associated Press reported. A budget plan in the Missouri House would provide schools at least a $122 million increase in the 2014-2015 school year, with the potential for a $278 million increase if revenue meets Nixon's projections, AP reported.

Roger Kurtz, executive director of the Missouri Association of School Administrators, also in on the conference call, said he is more optimistic about the funding formula than he was a year ago.

"The leadership of the governor on that issue has been a tremendous help," Kurtz said, adding that the work of Stream to find ways to fully fund the school formula "is encouraging."

With reduced funding, Kurtz said, districts had to eliminate or reduce the number of reading teachers, instructional aides, increase class sizes or cut courses.

If superintendents had added funding, they could hire those positions back or buy buses, for example, he said.

Cape Girardeau public schools aren't counting on a windfall. Cape Girardeau School District communications director Dana Saverino said in an email to the Southeast Missourian the district will wait until the legislative session is over and the budget is approved, then budget accordingly.

As for district needs, Saverino said, the district reviews its needs and priorities and addresses them according to funding. One of those needs would be technology, she said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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