School funding disparity likely to be focus of attention in '04

FESTUS, Mo. -- A roomful of children sitting on bleachers hesitantly search for the notes to "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" on their recorders.

Their music teacher, Joshua Rhine, encourages them and eventually relents, playing the music on a stereo for them to follow along.

For the moment, he's devoted to his class at the Festus Intermediate School, but his attention is sometimes diverted. He is the music teacher for the entire district, so he also visits other schools; other teachers and counselors also divide their efforts among the kids.

The Festus School District, with about 2,700 students, has among the lowest spending levels per student in the state -- $4,588 last school year, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Across the St. Louis metro area is the Clayton School District, which at $13,748 spends the most per student in the state, aside from a St. Louis district that teaches special education students.

The disparity in school spending is expected to get lots of attention in 2004 -- in the legal system, the legislature and on the campaign trail.

Missouri's current distribution formula tries to equalize funding by giving more money to poorer school districts and less to wealthier ones. But there still is a wide range of local school spending, and budget shortfalls have left the formula underfunded.

A coalition of nearly half the state's school districts, including Festus, plans to file a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the state does not spend enough on schools and does not distribute the money fairly. The legislature begins its annual session Wednesday.

Gov. Bob Holden predicts the state will lose the lawsuit, but he said school funding solutions should not depend on the legal outcome, which could take years.

"The schoolchildren can't afford for us to wait," he said. "Those are the people who are going to lose, because how do you replace your fourth-grade or third-grade classes 10 years down the road?"

With an eye on the impending legal battle, legislators have hired a consultant to recommend ways to improve the funding formula. They hope to have some workable ideas by mid-February. But the prospects remain uncertain for passage of a major formula overhaul in 2004, which is an election year.

Making every dollar count

A look at the two St. Louis-area districts of Festus and Clayton provides a good indication of why politicians and lawyers are taking aim at school funding.

In Festus, where money is tight, classrooms average 21 students per teacher -- compared to a 12-to-1 student-teacher ration in Clayton. And nearly 57 percent of Clayton graduates last year scored at or above the national average on the ACT college entrance exam -- compared to 43 percent in Festus, which despite its light spending still did better than most Missouri schools.

Festus superintendent Robert Taylor says he makes every dollar count, citing his students' ACT scores, and that he doesn't sacrifice programs such as athletics, band or art. Yet there are areas that don't get ideal funding, such as staff salaries and benefits, he said.

"You put your resources toward things that have a direct result, a core benefit in learning, which means other things don't get as much attention," he said.

Fourth-grade Festus teacher Kim Neel said the district needs more money to upgrade its computers, to provide classroom supplies and to add teachers to lower class sizes.

"Technology is the one area we can kind of see it falling off," she said.

Festus teachers rarely use the sometimes 20-year-old textbooks and even have to buy their own printer cartridges, they said, while students bring their own boxes of tissues to class.

'Poster child for spending'

On the flip side, the Clayton district is in an affluent area with many businesses contributing to the property tax base. School officials point out that nearly all the money for their 2,400-student district is locally raised.

"We're the poster child for spending money on our kids," superintendent Don Senti said. "The citizens of this town expect this level of service. Our little elementary schools are not very efficient, but they're really good."

Senti said the money allows the district to offer opportunities that children might not get elsewhere. For example, all children study Spanish starting in elementary school, and they have the opportunity to switch to other languages such as German in seventh grade. In contrast to Festus, each Clayton elementary school has its own art teacher, music teacher and librarian.

The district also worked with the city to build a recreation center, where students take physical education classes and where other residents can join for a fee. The center includes swimming pools, a top-of-the-line weight room and even a climbing wall.

Not only are Clayton students generally in small classes, but young students struggling to read get up to speed through one-on-one work with a teacher. Specialty electives also are available, including a scientific forensics class for high school seniors, started after students showed interest from watching television programs such as "CSI."

Yet for all the financial advantages at Clayton schools, officials said the district has not closed the academic performance gap between white and black students.

Previous battle

Missouri has gone through court battles over its funding formula before. In 1990, education groups also claimed the distribution method was unfair. A Cole County judge agreed in 1993, prompting the legislature to enact the current funding formula.

That precedent provides part of the reason Holden foresees the state losing in court again and why lawmakers already are studying ways to change the school formula. Holden hopes a solution can be reached before the court orders one.

"We will need additional funding for education," Holden said. "I think it is a legislative issue to deal with, not a court issue. When the courts step in, then you lose some control over the solution."