Senate finally hears school trust fund bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After languishing nearly nine weeks in the upper chamber, a House bill that would distribute state gambling revenue equally among public school districts was finally heard by a Senate committee on Tuesday.

Changing the distribution of gambling proceeds was a top issue for Republicans in their successful drive to win a House majority in last fall's elections. Once in control, they acted swiftly to send the bill to the Senate Feb. 20 on a 97-58 vote.

Although Republicans also run the Senate, that chamber is less enthusiastic about the proposal. It wasn't even assigned to the Senate Education Committee for a hearing until April 7.

While not pleased with the Senate's inaction to date, House Speaker Pro Tem Rod Jetton said sufficient time remains in the legislation session, which ends May 16, for passage.

"I don't think this is necessarily dead," said Jetton, R-Marble Hill. "The Senate just works differently. Most of our priority bills are just getting started over here."

The bill would take legalized gambling proceeds -- currently about $205 million a year -- out of the complex formula for distributing state aid to local school districts and into a newly created Classroom Trust Fund. Money in the fund would be divided evenly among districts on a per-pupil basis.

Triggered in 2004-2005

Because of the state's budget problems, however, the trust fund would not be triggered until the 2004-2005 school year and then only if the formula is fully funded, which isn't expected for the foreseeable future.

State Sen. Bill Foster, the Senate education chairman, said his committee will likely move the measure, since it is a House priority. However, he doesn't anticipate a strong push for upper chamber passage.

"It doesn't do a lot; it's more fluff than anything else," said Foster, R-Poplar Bluff. "There's not a lot of energy for it because who wants to use floor time to accomplish very little?"

Jetton said his bill is not an effort, as some have characterized it, to shift money from poorer districts to wealthier ones, such as the Cape Girardeau school system, that enjoy no funding growth under the formula.

"The Classroom Trust Fund would be bonus money on top of the formula," Jetton said.

However, Otto Fajen, a lobbyist for the Missouri National Education Association, said his organization is concerned the law could be changed to reduce the amount of money needed to claim full funding of the formula, potentially at the expense of poorer districts.

The disparity between rich and poor prompted a lawsuit that led to the creation of the current formula in 1993.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill plans to release an audit today showing that the current formula has grown obsolete to the point that it now provides less funding equity than the formula it replaced.

Opponents of Jetton's bill say that even if equity wasn't an issue, the state's financial constraints would render it meaningless.

To achieve full funding for the 2003-2004 school year, the state would have to come up with an additional $415 million based on the current appropriated level of $2.18 billion.

Adding money to the formula isn't a viable option at present. To the contrary, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday considered a cost-saving proposal that would reduce funding for the upcoming school year by $274.5 million.

A special legislative committee will consider changes to the formula over the summer. Foster said that panel could review incorporating elements of the trust fund legislation during its deliberations.

The bill is HB 288.

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