7/29/2012

5:05:00 PM McGhee's plan could slash school funding EDITORIAL The Daily Star Journal; Warrensburg, MO Jack Miles Editor Missouri's Education Foundation Formula is based on the state's Constitution, which requires "equity" in public school funding, a concept under attack from Rep. Mike McGhee. "Equity" means a fair amount of state money per pupil for all school districts. Reaching equity is not so simple as dividing 100 pennies between two children on a playground. To achieve equity, there are two main funding sources to consider: state and local taxes. Local property tax income in some areas of the state is great - eight of the state's 10 richest districts occupy St. Louis County. Less money is available in rural counties where there is less business and industry, such as in the 21st Senatorial District - Johnson, Lafayette, Ray, Saline, Howard, Carroll, Caldwell and Livingston. The Foundation Formula considers the local tax base. To achieve the constitutional requirement of equity, the formula divides state tax dollars based on need. Rich districts with a solid property tax base get less from the state and poor rural districts with a weaker local tax base get more. Other concerns come into play when dividing funding equitably. Those concerns include the higher cost to educate children who may have learning handicaps. But when all state and local tax dollars are taken into account, the overall focus is on achieving equity in spending on public school children. The formula, though not perfect, works when funded properly. Therein lies a huge problem. Because expected state funding has fallen off, provisions in the present formula have tilted in an unexpected way, so that the formula favors rich school districts. Sen. David Pearce for the last three General Assembly sessions has presented bills and advocated strongly for restoring equity to the formula, and though he is right to do so, he has faced fierce opposition from St. Louis County lawmakers. They have used their filibuster power to defeat the majority of lawmakers who favor Pearce's plan. Now comes McGhee to add to the concerns of rural school districts. McGhee told Sara Seidel - a Richmond Daily News reporter and a teacher - something troubling about state funding: "He'd rewrite funding directives to take all the money

earmarked for education and divide it by the total number of children in Missouri schools. 'Everybody gets the same ... to educate the children.'" McGhee, who is running against Pearce for the 21st Senatorial District seat, proposes nothing less than a nightmare for rural schools already facing financial woes. Equitable state funding takes into account each local tax base, and considers the need for extra money to bus rural children long distances, the need to provide an education to immigrant children, and the need to aid children who have handicaps, such as blindness. Equal funding, where "everybody gets the same" from the state, takes nothing into account and would be a disaster for rural schools. Russell Smithson, immediate past president of the Missouri State Teachers Association, said the McGhee plan would strip millions from rural schools, including about $100,000 from Warrensburg, and varying amounts from other Johnson County districts. McGhee's education plan may be right for the rich school districts in St. Louis County, but is wrong for the rural districts of the 21st Senatorial District.