Legislation that redefines Missouri’s funding targets for K-12 schools is heading to Governor Jay Nixon’s desk.
The change does not give the schools any more money, it just rewrites the formula. Instead of being $400 million short of being "fully funded", the gap would only be $54 million. Republican David Wood of Morgan County carried the proposal that passed the House Tuesday.
"It’s not an endless pot of gold that we have here in the state of Missouri," Wood said. "So, we’re putting the cap back in to make the adequacy target achievable. Is is the full-blown amount? No. But it's stable and actually something we can achieve."
Democrat Judy Morgan of Kansas City says it would still hurt students in the long-run.
"The education bill has been underfunded since about 2008 or 2009, so basically we have not been putting the money into it that we said we should," Morgan said. "And now the legislature wants to say, well, we’re just going to give up and set a lower standard."
Nixon is expected to veto the bill, even though it passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities.