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Mo. school funding gap hits some more than others

401k2013 via Flickr

A state funding shortfall is hitting some Missouri school districts harder than others.

A report released Wednesday by the Missouri Budget Project says the state is underfunding public school districts by $656 million this year. That's based on the amount called for under a 2005 law that re-wrote Missouri's school funding formula.

The report says the shortfall amounts to about $700 per student on a statewide basis. But those figures vary widely by district.

The largest discrepancy is a $978 per student at the Potosi School District in Washington County in rural eastern Missouri. The smallest state funding gap is a $34 per student shortfall at the Clayton district in St. Louis County.

A budget plan pending in the Missouri House would narrow but not eliminate the funding shortfall.

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