Bill Lant
HB586 and HB651 dealing with the foundation formula for schools passed the House after a lengthy debate. The current formula is underfunded by approximately $550 million dollars, and the more we put into the appropriation for the formula, the larger the deficit grows. If we found the money to make up the $550 million, then the adequacy target would grow to the point where we would need an additional $400 million by 2019. As you can see, this is a race with no finish line.
The formula is currently funded to an adequacy target of $6,110 per student based on daily attendance. With the 5 percent cap provided by HB586, the target would increase to $6,241 or a statewide increase of $90 million next year. In 2019 that growth rate of 5 percent would take us to $6,316 -- an additional $100 million dollars. The removal of the cap several years ago in anticipation of gambling revenues that never materialized created a situation where higher spending was encouraged to raise the base amounts for the next year. A slower predictable growth is better for all districts.
We were also able to increase school transportation funding by $5 million dollars. The governor has been methodically stripping the budget of transportation money with his yearly withholds. This is putting an unfair burden on rural districts such as ours.
Missouri is going to be rid of Common Core educational standards. Our concerns were that the standards were developed without enough local input. I have never argued that we don't need some standard to shoot for in our schools, but local input from citizens and school boards should dictate how we attain those standards. Common Core only was supposed to cover math and English, but there were some really bizarre teaching methods required in the program. Now Missouri schools will design their own curricula to help students meet the standards. Groups of teachers, parents, and students had important input in designing the new standards.
Missouri Standards will cover not only math and English, but also social studies and science. Elementary-school students will also be taught cursive writing. The next step is for the state to design tests around the new standards. The testing will not take place until the 2017-2018 school year. HB1611 also deals with education and will, among other things, change the requirements on total days of school per year to total hours. This change would allow school districts to adjust their start and stop dates to suit their needs.
HB2011, one of the budget bills, was sent to the governor on Thursday. In it are provisions to defund Planned Parenthood of all state money.
The 27-billion-dollar budget was completed and passed by both bodies last week and sent to the governor. We expect him to veto parts of it, but we will have an opportunity before we recess in May to over-ride some of his veto attempts. The House and Senate Budget committees have been working since last summer to complete the budget in a timely manner.
I'll bring you up to date again next week. Until then, I am and remain in your service.
State Rep. Bill Lant may be reached by calling 417-437-8223 or 573-751-9801, or emailing [email protected]. Opinions are those of the author.
Community on 04/28/2016