House passes bill Nixon opposes bill he says would cut public schools funding

UPDATE: The Missouri House has voted in favor of Senate Bill 586 by a margin of 116-38. The bill now goes to Governor Jay Nixon, who has indicated he would veto it.

The bill’s language says it would modify “the definition of ‘current and operating expenditures’ and ‘state adequacy’ target for the purposes of state funding and applies the definition of ‘average daily attendance’ to charter schools.”Critics of the bill say it would lower the bar for educational funding.

Original Story (4/15):Gov. Nixon opposed a measure he said would cut public schools funding Friday.

The Governor said Senate Bill 586 would decrease funds to the state’s K-12 Foundation Formula by nearly $418 million.

He said if the bill passed, communities would have to raise taxes to meet education needs.

“I think this bill is the wrong way to go and I’m hopeful that it does not get to my desk, but it appears to be relatively fast-tracked,” Nixon said.

Columbia taxpayers just approved an operating budget tax levy last week to prevent the district from deficit spending.

The intent was to not have another levy for the next three to four years, according to Columbia Public Schools Board of Education Member Jan Mees. But if the bill passes, Mees said the district may have to ask taxpayers for more money or cut programs as Nixon said the change would include a cut of about $10 million from CPS.

“If you don’t have adequate funding, you can’t hire the best and the brightest teachers,” Mees said. “You can’t have the best programs for students who are coming to us with a very very wide variety of needs.”

“The legislation that we pass out of Jefferson City needs to focus on supporting and retaining teachers and providing additional academic opportunities for children,” Rep. Stephen Webber, (D)-Columbia, said. “And this bill doesn’t do that.”

Nixon said the quality of schools should not depend on property taxes.

“If you live in a really poor place or a really rich place, I mean quite frankly, the formula helps equalize that out so that because you live in a place with lower assessed valuation of your property you don’t suffer an educational penalty,” Nixon said.

ABC 17 News reached out to the bill’s sponsor Sen. Jay Wasson. Wasson said the bill would put a 5 percent cap on the growth of current operating expenditures that was removed in 2009.

Without the cap, Wasson said the formula is growing exponentially more than it was designed to. If it keeps increasing at this rate, Wasson said the legislature would not be able to fund other programs.

SB 586 passed the senate last month and is currently pending in the house.