Latest news with #MissouriSchoolImprovementProgram
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri governor calls for task force to keep state education funding flat
State Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, chairs the Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force meeting Monday afternoon (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). A group of state officials and business leaders tasked by Gov. Mike Kehoe with creating a new formula to fund Missouri's public schools gathered for the first time on Monday under an expectation that funding should be below what lawmakers approved earlier this year. Halle Herbert, the governor's incoming policy director, told the group that Kehoe seeks funding 'consistent with what is provided in the state fiscal year 2025 budget.' Last month, lawmakers signed off on public education funding that was $300 million higher than what the governor recommended. 'A lot of times when you ask a school superintendent, 'where are the problems?….' They ask for more money,' Kehoe told the group Monday. 'That is not a great answer to me… That can't always be the answer to every problem.' Between fiscal year 2025 and 2026, a multiplier in the formula called the 'state adequacy target' increased. This number is the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's estimate of proper per-pupil funding and is calculated by looking at top-performing schools in the state's annual performance reports. The change was driven by a new iteration of the state's accountability system, called the Missouri School Improvement Program, which was introduced in 2022 and became more 'rigorous' for districts to score high and produced a smaller number of districts that could be deemed top performers. The program is required by law to be phased in, making fiscal year 2026 the first year with the updated state adequacy target. This change requires an additional $300 million to fully fund the foundation formula. Kehoe's proposed budget this January did not include the $300 million increase, and his comments in Monday's meeting show an intention to tamp down the rising costs of public education. Kari Monsees, deputy commissioner of financial and administrative services, said part of Kehoe's intention with calling for a change to the formula comes from the 'unpredictability' of the state adequacy target. State Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly and former educator, pointed out that there was a 12% increase in the multiplier this year — but before now, it had only increased 4% in 16 years. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Superintendents have been asking for a formula that responds to inflation for years, arguing lawmakers 'manipulated' the formula to keep funding flat. A study commissioned by the department and released in 2023 concluded that the current formula hurts districts with more low-income students. Multipliers for serving sensitive student groups were 'not based on any empirical analysis,' the study determined. The study recommends looking at other states and the cost associated with desired performance outcomes to determine whether the per-pupil funding is enough. But Kehoe is seeking financial incentives for high performance. Monsees said there aren't many states with performance in school funding formulas and alluded to a lack of information on that model. The group that met Monday was created by an executive order Kehoe shortly after taking office. He appointed members representing public schools, agriculture, business and charter schools. One member is to represent 'a non-profit organization that works on expanding school choice in Missouri,' according to the order. Kehoe chose Chris Vas, a senior director with the Herzog Foundation. The foundation 'advances K-12 Christian education primarily,' Vas said Monday. There was some discussion that the formula, which was previously intended to fund public districts, should also be responsible for funding charter schools and vouchers for private education. Committee member Michael Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of Missouri–Columbia, said there 'was an active discussion of interdisciplinary school choice.' 'How do you design a funding mechanism with school choice, which really means thinking about tying it more to kids,' he said. Podgursky has served as a fellow with various conservative research groups, such as the Fordham Institute and the George W. Bush institute and is a director at the conservative think tank the Show-Me Institute. The group must come up with recommendations to deliver to the governor by Dec. 1, 2026.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Budget battle brewing over Gov. Mike Kehoe's school funding proposal
Gov. Mike Kehoe, shown Jan. 28 delivering his State of the State Address, is getting resistance over his budget recommendation for school funding (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). The debate over how much to spend on public schools could turn into the first big disagreement between Gov. Mike Kehoe and the GOP-dominated Missouri General Assembly. Kehoe, a Republican who took office in January, refused to recommend a $300 million boost to public school funding in his first budget proposal. But education advocates in the legislature, and the State Board of Education, are defending the request and pushing for it to be funded as lawmakers rewrite Kehoe's $54 billion spending plan. During a House Budget Committee hearing Monday, GOP state Rep. Ed Lewis spent a lot of time defending the law that generated the request. He did so, Lewis said in an interview, because the committee has many new members who need to learn that the question of how much money schools require is not just a question of how much lawmakers are willing to spend. Of the 31 lawmakers on the committee, nine are new to the panel, including its vice chairman, state Rep. Bishop Davidson, a Republican from Republic. 'I am trying to do that because there are a lot of newbies, and the person who's sitting next to me has never been there, and now he's the vice chair and the chair of education appropriations,' said Lewis, a former educator from Moberly who chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. 'I think it's my job to make sure that the things I've learned over the last four years are understood by some of those people that have never done this before.' Gov. Mike Kehoe dips deeply into surplus as Missouri budget grows to nearly $54 billion At one point in the hearing, Lewis told his colleagues that if they don't provide the money, the state Senate will when it gets the budget later this year. 'The question is, do we want to, as the House of Representatives, think we want to go beyond the governor's recommendation or leave that for the Senate to do?' Lewis said. The budget committee is in the middle of hearings on department budgets. Any decisions on what will be in, and what will be out, of Kehoe's recommended budget will be made next month in markup sessions. The foundation formula, as the public school funding mechanism is known, is costing taxpayers $3.8 billion in the current year. The amount required to fund it is determined by a variety of factors, including the amount spent in districts that do well on state achievement tests and expected attendance. To meet that obligation, lawmakers use money from the state lottery, casino taxes and the general revenue fund. Kehoe agreed to fund changes to the formula included last year in a major education bill that will add $200 million to the total cost. What Kehoe doesn't want to fund is the new, higher basic spending requirement determined by annual evaluation under the Missouri School Improvement Program, or MSIP. If lawmakers accept Kehoe's recommendation, it would be the first time since fiscal 2018 that the budget doesn't fully fund the formula. 'While we are committed to making good on the funding commitments passed by the legislature last year,' Kehoe said in his State of the State Address last month, 'this budget does not include the additional $300 million liability that was imposed by an administrative body.' That 'administrative body' is the State Board of Education, which met Tuesday for the first time since Kehoe presented his budget proposal. Board President Charlie Shields, who helped write the foundation formula in 2005 when he was a state legislator, said he understands Kehoe's position even if he doesn't like it. The state general revenue fund must provide the $300 million, if appropriated, and it is also being tapped for money to replace shortfalls in revenue from gambling on the lottery and in casinos. Kehoe's budget proposal increases general revenue spending for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by $464 million, Shields noted. 'In my time, in both the legislature and on the State Board of Education, I have not seen those levels of increases in education funding,' Shields said in an interview. He has not spoken to Kehoe about the budget proposal, Shields said, or Kehoe's call to rewrite the formula. 'We're cognizant that (the education department) sits within, you know, 14 other state departments, and there's limited resources,' Shields said. 'The legislature will make decisions about that, but I don't think we have any question of either defending or explaining why we put in the request that we did.' Missouri has a substantial balance in the general revenue fund — $4.3 billion at the end of January — and Kehoe's budget projects a $2.6 billion surplus at the end of the fiscal year in June. But state revenues are falling so far this fiscal year, and Kehoe wants a big income tax cut. That is putting pressure both on the governor and the legislature to limit new spending. The key figure driving the increase for the foundation formula is called the State Adequacy Target, determined by the cost of education in districts that do well on the MSIP evaluation. Far fewer districts met the standards of the newly revised MSIP, and they tended to be districts with more property wealth and fewer students in poverty or having special needs. Over the past two years, the adequacy target has increased from $6,375 per student to $7,145. But the figure was nearly static for nearly two decades prior to that, increasing from $6,117 in 2005 to $6,375 in 2020, where it remained for four years. The reluctance to fund the higher target, which has increased 17% since it was created while inflation has increased prices by 65%, has drawn fire from Democrats. 'It's very concerning that when the foundation formula remained flat for year after year after year, as inflation was just climbing through the roof, we didn't have a problem with the formula,' state Rep. Kathy Steinhoff said when Kehoe unveiled his budget. Steinhoff is a Columbia Democrat and former teacher. 'But now that the formula is starting to work and the student adequacy target is starting to gain and getting more money into our schools,' she said, 'now all of a sudden we're looking at it.' If lawmakers don't include the $300 million for the increased adequacy target, the board of education can adjust it so spending matches the appropriated amount. The education department didn't design the new MSIP evaluation to increase the cost of the formula, Kari Monsees, deputy commissioner of education, told the House Budget Committee on Monday. 'The office of quality schools had no inside baseball on what the impact would be of the MSIP criteria that were established,' Monsees said. During the state board meeting, members said they want legislators to consider what the state needs, not how much it will cost. 'I would just, again, put in a plea to our legislators that if we want to have a high quality workforce for tomorrow, we have to invest today,' said Carol Halquist of Kansas City, vice president of the state board. While he expects the money to get into the spending plan, Lewis said, politics may have a bigger role in the decision than anything else. 'Is there a reason that we aren't going to fund it other than just raw money?' Lewis said. 'By doing it right now, in his first year, kind of obligates you to continue to do that in future years.' The question, Lewis acknowledged, could come down to whether lawmakers are ready to buck Kehoe so soon after his election. 'It's his first budget, right?' Lewis noted. 'Do you want to stomp on the first budget?' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Mike Kehoe dips deeply into surplus as Missouri budget grows to nearly $54 billion
Gov. Mike Kehoe begins his State of the State address by celebrating firsts in state leadership, such as the Senate's first female president pro tem (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). A boost Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe touts as the largest increase in public school funding in two decades will fall about $300 million short of meeting the targets set in state law for public education. He also suggests shifting $50 million into a program that helps pay for students to attend private and religious schools. Kehoe, elected in November, presented his first budget Tuesday. Overall, he is asking lawmakers to use about $2.5 billion of accumulated surplus cash to balance a $53.7 billion budget in the coming year, an increase of about $450 million from the amounts allocated for the current fiscal year. The budget proposes spending $4 billion on the foundation formula, the basic state aid program, in fiscal 2026. Lawmakers put $3.8 billion into the formula in the current year, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requested an increase of $500 million. CONTACT US In remarks prepared for his State of the State speech, Kehoe said he was recommending enough to cover changes to the formula included in a major education bill passed last year. But he's not providing the $300 million needed to match an increase in the state 'adequacy target' triggered by the results of the Missouri School Improvement Program and included in the State Board of Education's budget request. 'While we are committed to making good on the funding commitments passed by the legislature last year, this budget does not include the additional $300 million liability that was imposed by an administrative body,' Kehoe said. The adequacy target is the key to the formula, which last went through a complete revision in 2005. It is the amount deemed necessary to provide an education that will allow students to meet state performance standards. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican, said he's still learning the details of Kehoe's budget. But he said lawmakers should fund schools at the level the laws direct. 'I have an issue with passing legislation and then not funding it,' Hough said. 'If we're going to pass things that cost money, we have to fund it.' Democrats said Kehoe's budget plan shortchanges public schools. 'The governor's budget plans regarding public education are, quite frankly, incompatible with this economic agenda,' said House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat. Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck of Affton said Kehoe's failure to put the $300 million formula increase into the budget undermines last year's work on education. 'The constituents in my community send a lot of tax dollars to Jefferson City,' Beck said. 'Meanwhile, you're trying to take $50 million of taxpayer money from those same taxpayers and give it to rich people for vouchers to send their kids to private schools. I have a problem with both.' Kehoe said he was holding back the $300 million because he wants to overhaul the foundation formula. 'We must find a solution that does a better job of incentivizing performance and managing unrealistic annual adjustments,' Kehoe said. Last year's education bill altered some of the factors that determine individual district funding, such as shifting from a pure attendance-based formula to one that also factors in total enrollment. Kehoe is proposing a complete rewrite. 'It's about looking decades ahead, and not just the current needs of school districts,' Kehoe said. 'I urge those involved to keep that in mind so we can solve this problem for future generations of children.' The budget also includes $50 million to expand a scholarship program for private schools, funding not required by last year's education bill. That program, which provides aid to families with incomes less than 300% of the free-and-reduced-lunch eligibility amount, was to be primarily funded with donations and tax credits. 'By adding state funding to the tax credit program we will be able to serve substantially more children than the program has in the past year,' Kehoe said. The spending is of questionable legality, Aune said. 'My understanding is that the reason that we have made these tax credits is because it is unconstitutional to directly give money to private school institutions,' she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Other boosts to education include $33.4 million to fund increased base salaries for teachers, $16.8 million to increase support for higher education and $15 million to continue fully funding public school transportation needs. 'The transportation is fully funded, which, for my rural district, that's huge,' said state Sen. Kurtis Gregory, a Republican from Marshall. Kehoe's budget proposes spending $16 billion from the general revenue fund, which will require him to use about $2.5 billion from accumulated surpluses. On Dec. 31, the general revenue fund held $4.1 billion, a balance built up when state revenues grew at unprecedented rates in 2021 and 2022. Other funds that can be spent like general revenue hold another $1.5 billion, and there is $2.6 billion in funding dedicated to major projects that could be redirected if needed. State revenues are no longer growing — collections for the fiscal year so far are down 1.7% through Monday — but the budget expects that trend to reverse, with growth of about 1.6% in the coming year. Along with tapping the surplus to support spending, Kehoe told lawmakers he wants tax cuts that will phase-in a reduced top income tax rate. The current rate, 4.7%, will be cut to 4.6% for 2026 if revenues increase by $200 million in the current fiscal year. One more cut, to 4.5%, is already in state law. Kehoe wants additional cuts tied to rising revenue. 'It will take time, but I have directed the Missouri Department of Revenue to work with my staff on a sustainable and comprehensive plan to eliminate the individual income tax once and for all,' Kehoe said. In a briefing for reporters, budget staff said fund balances would remain healthy when the next fiscal year ends on June 30, 2026. Budget documents project the remaining general revenue balance will be about $1.4 billion on that date. Other significant new spending proposed by Kehoe includes: A pay raise for state workers that rewards longevity. Workers will receive a 1% increase for every two years on the job, capped at 10%, with a projected cost of $130 million. $149 million to eliminate wait lists and improve in-home services for people with developmental disabilities. $71.6 million to provide Medicaid-paid behavioral health services for an additional 2,100 adults and 6,700 children. $161.5 million to increase child care funding, an amount that will allow the state to make payments based on enrollment, rather than on attendance. Payments would be made in advance and backlogs in payments plaguing the system would be eliminated. The pay plan follows three years where the state implemented a $15 base wage for all state jobs and boosted pay for all workers at least 21% while increasing the differential for night work to $2 an hour. The longevity-based pay plan was implemented last year at state institutions where workers must be present 24 hours a day, such as veterans nursing homes and prisons. About 10% of state jobs have been vacant in each of the two most recent fiscal years. 'It's extremely difficult for our agencies to operate efficiently with an average turnover rate of 20% in our state workforce,' Kehoe said. Hough said he's inclined to support Kehoe's pay proposal. 'We've done a lot to try to get those numbers up to where they need to be,' Hough said, 'and now it sounds to me like the new governor would like to incentivize people to stick around, so that's probably a good idea, instead of retraining everybody all the time.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
