Equity & Diversity

Highlights of New Funding Law

August 05, 1998 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Several major provisions of Missouri’s new school funding law will take effect only if the parties to St. Louis’ 26-year-old desegregation case reach a settlement. Many other features are slated to kick in regardless of whether such a deal is reached.

Provisions Contingent on Settlement:

City-suburban transfer program: Sets up a nonprofit corporation to administer the voluntary transfer of students from St. Louis to nearby suburbs and from those districts to city magnet schools. Provides for state aid to subsidize the transfers.

Redistribution of state aid: Changes the state aid formula to reward districts that have high local tax rates and large numbers of poor children qualifying for free or subsidized lunches. Funnels more money not only to Kansas City and St. Louis, but also about $37 million annually to other districts statewide.

Help for Kansas City: Generates an estimated $28 million more each year for Kansas City, Mo., school. That money would help offset the far larger loss in state subsidies set to occur next year under a deal in that city’s desegregation case.

Provisions Not Dependent on Settlement:

Transitional status for St. Louis: Creates a “transitional” school board, overlaying the existing board, to oversee implementation of a settlement in the desegregation case. The mayor, City Council, and school board each appoint a member to the new board, which would be responsible for seeking voter approval of a local tax increase to help replace court-ordered state payments.

Other governance changes: Phases out the current St. Louis school board, whose 12 members are elected at large to six-year terms, replacing it with a seven-member board elected from subdistricts for four-year terms.

Charter schools: Authorizes charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis, sponsored by either the city school board or a higher education institution. Limits the number of existing schools that can convert to charter status to 5 percent districtwide.

State takeovers: Authorizes state education officials to take temporary control of districts that lose their state accreditation and fail to win it back after two years.

Failing schools: Requires Kansas City, St. Louis, and other districts with graduation rates below 65 percent to identify “academically deficient” schools and authorizes the districts to reconstitute those schools–restaff them and start from scratch–or convert them to charter status. Also allows the state to create parent-dominated accountability councils in low-performing schools to help oversee changes aimed at raising student achievement.

Tax credits and tenure: Extends a tax credit to employers of up to $2,000 per student for the costs of mentoring at-risk students through programs approved by local districts according to state regulations. Eliminates tenure for principals in St. Louis, the only district statewide to grant them that protection. Also extends the provisional period before teachers earn tenure in the city from three to five years.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the August 05, 1998 edition of Education Week as Highlights of New Funding Law

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Teacher, Students Sue Arkansas Over Ban on Critical Race Theory
A high school teacher and two students asked a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.
2 min read
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. On Monday, March 25, 2024, a high school teacher and two students sued Arkansas over the state's ban on critical race theory and “indoctrination” in public schools, asking a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark.
Andrew DeMillo/AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion What March Madness Can Teach Schools About Equity
What if we modeled equity in action in K-12 classrooms after the resources provided to college student-athletes? asks Bettina L. Love.
3 min read
A young student is celebrated like a pro athlete for earning an A+!
Chris Kindred for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Girls Are Falling in Love With Wrestling, the Nation's Fastest-Growing High School Sport
A surging number of states have sanctioned the sport, with bolstering from various groups.
6 min read
Benton's Callie Hess, left, battles Plum's Saphia Davis, right, during the first found of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Callie Hess, left, battles Saphia Davis, right, during the first round of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Matt Rourke/AP
Equity & Diversity What's Permissible Under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law? A New Legal Settlement Clarifies
The Florida department of education must send out a copy of the settlement agreement to school boards across the state.
4 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don't Say Gay.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024, between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged the state's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Phil Sears/AP