The Columbia Public School district will receive about $400,000 less funding from the state next year compared to the previous year. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, announced its preliminary allocation plan last week. The estimation is based on the state foundation formula. DESE’s spokesperson Sarah Potter says the state doesn’t have enough money to keep up with the foundation formula, which has been in effect for six years.
“What we’ve done is to adjust the state adequacy targets to keep it at its current level. So it’s going to be $6,131 per student. And we are going to distribute the funds to as much as they are available. ”
Potter also says following the economic downturn, the state formula will be underfunded by $251 million for next year.