Missouri education board declines to seek $300 million increase in school aid

The decision came after board members deadlocked over the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s proposed budget and whether the state should request money officials acknowledge lawmakers are unlikely to provide. 

After the board discussed budget cuts last month, the department’s finance staff brought a “significantly reduced list of requests,” said Kyle Kruse, deputy commissioner of financial services for the education department.

“Last month I mentioned there being a narrow gate through which our requests need to pass in order to make the final budget,” he said. “So we have decided which requests don’t really get through the gate.”

The department cut the amount of general revenue requested in its supplemental budget by more than half, from $159 million to $73 million. Its list of increases and new funding obligations for next fiscal year also fell by nearly $75 million.

Among the items cut were $3 million for maintenance of the department’s data reporting system and $4 million to continue Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which provides free books to young children.

For four of the board’s eight voting members, the reductions were not enough.

“I don’t think this is a serious budget,” said Mike Matousek, a board member from Kansas City. “I think we are asking for money that doesn’t exist.”

The state is bracing for budget reductions across departments in years ahead as revenue growth slows and reserve funds are expected to decline. At the same time, the amount required to fully fund Missouri’s public schools is rising.

The amount of money schools receive from the state is determined by a formula set in state law. Changes lawmakers approved in 2024 are being phased in over several years, increasing the formula’s cost.

For the current fiscal year, lawmakers provided about $190 million less than what the formula called for. Another roughly $110 million increase is expected for fiscal 2028, bringing the gap between current funding and the formula’s calculation to about $300 million.

“The question gets down to: Do we ask for money that we know we’re not going to get?” Kerry Casey, a board member from Chesterfield, said. “I think we have an obligation to inform the legislature as to what the full funding would look like.”

Underfunding the formula is a decision for lawmakers to make, Casey said. The board’s duty is to advocate for schools, she said, saying it was unprecedented for the state board to not recommend full funding of the formula.

“I don’t know that the statute implies that the board’s budget request has to mirror the (formula’s) number,” Matousek said. “If this is all predetermined, then what are we even doing here? Why are we even talking about the budget?”

The board ultimately sided with Matousek, directing the department to keep its foundation formula request flat.

Casey requested the education department include a letter with its budget request explaining its “commitment to education” alongside “our respect… for the state of the general revenue.”

“None of this is trying to take away from districts or kids. That’s still our priority,” said board member Vince Schoemehl, of St. Louis. “This is recognizing (financial) realities.”

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