Last week Cole County Circuit Court Judge Callahan ruled in favor of the State of Missouri and against 262 school districts that had challenged the school funding formula created by the state Legislature in 2006.
One constitutional question – whether the State is meeting the constitutional requirement to spend 25 percent of its annual budget on education – remains
and will be discussed at a hearing scheduled for later this month. District experts had proposed an increase of $1 billion per year in state spending to meet an adequate spending target, which the districts will not receive, according to this ruling, without an act by the Legislature.
Three advocates of privatizing public education – Menlo Smith, Bevis Schock and Rex Sinquefield – joined the State in this case, spending close to $800,000 from private donations to pay for attorney’s fees and other case preparation expenses, claiming that Attorney General Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon wasn’t doing enough to prepare the State’s case. The school funding issue and desegregation cases have dogged Nixon for years and hurt his image among some of the Missouri Democratic Party’s base.
The plaintiffs are certain to appeal, and the case is almost certain to end up before the Missouri Supreme Court.