Education

Funding Formula Veto Overturned

KBIA | By Marshall Griffin
Published May 5, 2016 at 4:24 PM CDT
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A state Senate committee is examining legislation allowing children from unaccredited schools to transfer to accredited ones.
File Photo

Legislation that redefines the funding formula for K-through-12 schools is now state law, after the Missouri House overrode Governor Jay Nixon’s veto on Thursday.  

The new law caps at 5 percent part of the formula used to decide how much state money schools get each year. The change means public schools will only be 54 million dollars short of being fully funded instead of being 400 million short.

Democrat Judy Morgan of Kansas City said lawmakers are turning their backs on Missouri’s children.

"We’re just lowering the target for educating our kids, we’re putting less money into the formula…policy decisions have been made, promises to school districts about their amount of funding, but these promises have been broken to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars," Morgan said.

Republicans defended the cuts, saying you can’t lose money that you never had to begin with.

EducationJay NixonJudy Morgan
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Marshall Griffin
Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.
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