STATE HAS FAR-REACHING SCHOOL CRISES

At least some state officials appear to recognize that, as of Jan, 15, Missouri has a full-fledged school crisis that is just now in its preliminary stages. How it will play out in the weeks and months ahead, it is not surprising to note, no one knows.

The crisis began in mid-January with a ruling from Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder in two cases filed against the State of Missouri, the first by the Committee for Educational Equality, et al., and the second by the Lee's Summit School District R-VII, et al. In both cases, Judge Kinder's decision found for the plaintiffs, and in so doing, he handed down rulings that strike not only at the way the state is currently funding public education but also question the way the state is distributing its general revenue tax collections.

Although some members of the General Assembly, as well as several state officeholders seem not to have noticed, the ruling has caught the eye of several others, including Governor Mel Carnahan, the leaders of both the Missouri House and Senate and most lawmakers directly involved in education legislation. For example, the chairwoman of the House Education Committee, state Rep. Annette Morgan, D.-K.C., believes Judge Kinder's ruling may have as far reaching consequences as the nation's most celebrated funding distribution ruling by a Kentucky court. That ruling threw Kentucky into a turmoil from which it is just emerging, after taking steps to equalize not only its public school funds but its overall tax system.

To qet an idea of the ramification of the Kinder ruling~~~~~ in cases No. CV190-1371CC and CV190-510CC, it is necessary to recognize that not only did he declare the state's current School Foundation Formula inadequate, he also said it violated several provisions of the Missouri Constitution, in effect declaring the current formula unconstitutional. It is one thing for a judge to rule a state function illegal, but the Cole County circuit judge went a step further. In his judgment, Kinder wrote: "The Court determines and declares that the General Assembly and hence the State of Missouri is under an enforceable duty to establish and maintain a system of free public education in Missouri which is available to every child in Missouri."

In other words, the judge is holding the state responsible for devising a system of tax revenue distribution that will meet his requirements of fairness, equity and constitutionality. What's more, the judge set down those requirements by ordering the state to provide "the same opportunity (for children in poor districts) to receive substantially the same education as a child living in a rich district." Moreover, he has ordered the state to make no deviations from equality in "the distribution of resources," except to provide special resources for the "least advantaged" and for "specially identified educational needs."

Making an even stronger statement, Judge Kinder's ruling orders the state, i.e., the General Assembly, to "provide adequate funds to establish and maintain a system of public education at the elementary and secondary level providing a general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence at the level necessary in this era to preserve the rights and liberties of the people." Many officials we've talked to take this last provision to mean the state has been handed the responsibility of finding sufficient general revenue funds to provide full funding of any School Foundation Formula that is devised. In this case, full funding would mean adding perhaps as much as $1 billion to the present $2.5 billion appropriation now going to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Other officials believe the figure required may be somewhat less, but all agree that the court's judgment, when fully carried out, will require a major increase in additional revenue. Make that read new taxes.

Judge Kinder, taking note of current efforts in this year's session of the General Assembly to rewrite the foundation formula, allows 90 days after the May 14 adjournment for his judgment to take effect. He also allows the grace period in order for the state to take his ruling to the appellate courts, something Gov. Carnahan has already indicated the state will do. Just to make sure lawmakers don't procrastinate in their rewrite of the formula, the Cole County jurist orders them to "proceed with all deliberate speed," although he notes the court realizes the task "cannot be accomplished overnight."

Making sure that legislators don't overlook his desire for dispatch, Judge Kinder wrote, "Until the constitutional infirmities in the funding of public education in Missouri are corrected, thousands of Missouri school children are being deprived of their rights under the Missouri Constitution."

The Cole County circuit judge says he will decide at a later date whether the constitutional requirement of "25% of state revenues" is met by any new formula yet to be devised and approved in the Capitol. He said he would entertain any court test of such a distribution at a later date.

There's also more than a hint from Judge Kinder that in the event there is no satisfactory denouement to his judgment, his court could (and perhaps would) take over the state's public school system to see that its orders are carried out. This came when he said his court retains jurisdiction in order to grant pleas for injunctive relief or the appointment of qualified persons to serve as judicially appointed masters.

As a part of his ruling, Judge Kinder made additional findings which could make the job of revising the formula even more difficult. He noted, for example, that "Statistics show that in Missouri those persons in districts with the least capacity, in fact, put forth greater effort than those persons in the most affluent districts." He further observed that "disparities in expenditures per pupil among school districts are influenced to a much greater extent by local wealth than by local tax rates." Judge Kinder said he found that "The poorest school districts put forth greater effective tax effort than do the richest school districts."

The Kinder ruling is far-reaching, a fact which appears not to have been noticed by some state officials and not at all by those who will have to pay more to comply with it: the taxpayers of Missouri.