Missouri Board of Education requests budget $270 million less than funding formula requires

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. — KSHB 41 News reporter Braden Bates covers parts of Jackson County, Missouri, including Lee's Summit. Send Braden a story idea by e-mail.

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The Missouri Board of Education approved and submitted an education budget request that falls $270 million short of what's required to fully fund school districts across the state.

Schools are funded based on a formula. The state calculates how much it costs per public school child.

For fiscal year 2028, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education calculated the cost to the state to be $7,145 per child.

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While DESE recommended the board fully fund the formula, the Missouri Board of Education voted to hold the funding formula flat. That freezes funding at fiscal year 2026 and 2027 levels — approximately $6,750 or $6,790.

"We rank 48th or 49th in the nation in state funds per kid," Lee's Summit R-7 School District Superintendent David Buck said.

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The number the state estimates is what school districts use to plan their budgets.

"So the last two years it has not been fully funded by the state legislature," Buck said.
This has caused some shortfalls, with state, local and federal funding falling short of what school districts need.

"Currently, we're being paid about $395 less per kid for our district, so it'll be even lower next year, if this is what the state legislature does," Buck said.

The Lee's Summit R-7 School Board recently voted to address the lost revenue. The district projections had them at a loss of $7 million to $10 million for this school year. The board voted to partially eliminate the voluntary property tax rollback that was in place. That means property taxes will up.

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Buck says it appears the state is passing on the costs.

"It's relying on local funds to pay for educating kids," Buck said.

This puts the burden of the cost on the taxpayer instead of getting it from state funds, Buck said.

Bess Hayles is a Lee's Summit parent, teacher and taxpayer. She criticizes the state board's plan to not fully fund the formula for another year.

"Every district in our state is suffering, and every district in our state is facing these budget shortfalls," Hayles said.

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"It just really scares me as a a citizen of the world that we are cutting from education when it is so vitally important, not just for my students and for my classroom, but for the society as a whole," Hayles said.

When the state board chose not to fully fund the formula for districts, some members said there were other items, like transportation, needing to take priority.

On Thursday, the state board submitted their request to the Missouri Legislature. The request will then be discussed and voted on in the spring.

DESE released this statement after the vote:

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