(Jefferson City) -- Missouri State Senator Rusty Black is among committee members examining how money is allocated to the state's public schools in the future. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe recently named Black along with other members of a state school funding formula committee. Speaking on KMA's "Morning Line" program Tuesday morning, the Chillicothe Republican says it's the formula's first review in about two decades. "This formula has been in effect for over 20 years," said Black. "What's happened, many people believe in our state, we've seen tremendous growth in certain areas--primarily suburban areas of our state--where rural areas have decreased population, and decreased local taxing value." Among other things, the committee will examine a perceived disparity in funding, based on assessed values. "Our system in Missouri, about 40% of the money comes from local taxes, local property taxes," he said. "Around 40-45% bounces back and forth, with state government, with just a slight amount coming from state government from the end. People are concerned that students are not being treated equal in those areas comparing while kind of local assessed valuation there is in those areas." Black is one of four legislators on the committee. Other members include administrators from K-12 schools, colleges and universities, the Missouri Farm Bureau plus representatives from other organizations. "There will be people from all over the country show up and talk to us about different ways to look at the formula," said Black. "We may get done with this, and everybody says, 'no, no, it's as good as we can make it,' and there may be some people tweaking it, and doing small changes. "Right now, I'm going into it pretty open minded. I don't think that our formula is broke, and we have to get something done. There's no court cases out there. Last time it was changed, it was due to court cases. I think we're at a point where everybody wants to reevaluate it now," he added.
CONTINUE READING
