“…Missouri ranks 49th out of 50 in state funding for public education…”
Missouri Schools Face $270 Million Gap in Funding
14 Oct 2026 education funding, foundation formula, K-12 schools, Missouri education
While the cost of educating students continues to rise each year, the funding Missouri schools receive from the state to pay for teacher salaries and classroom supplies would remain flat under recent recommendations from the State Board of Education. If those recommendations are enacted into the next budget, there would be a $270 million gap between the cost of educating students and the amount school districts receive from the state. This means local public schools will need to make tough choices in the coming years to balance their budgets, like cutting teachers or support staff or student programs.
Missouri’s Foundation Formula is the calculation used by the state to determine how much state funding is needed to provide a baseline level of per student funding for all Missouri school districts. The cost of fully funding the Foundation Formula grows each year to keep pace with rising inflation. But for the first time in a decade, Missouri will no longer reimburse districts for the full amount required under Missouri’s Foundation Formula, based on current requests.
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A $270 million shortfall in the Foundation Formula is a $315 gap per student .
Statewide, it is the equivalent of the average salary of over 4,500 teachers or over 8,100 support staff (such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, paraeducators, and office staff) across all of Missouri’s local school districts[1].
This could result in a gap of over $1,000 per student in the school districts that rely most heavily on state funding.
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WARRENSBURG R-VI
The estimated shortfall in this school district is $1,125,390 each year or 1.8% of all spending.
That is a gap of $328 per student and is the equivalent of 19 teacher(s) or 34 support staff.[….]
HOLDEN R-III
The estimated shortfall in this school district is $327,570 each year or 1.7% of all spending.
That is a gap of $274 per student and is the equivalent of 6 teacher(s) or 10 support staff.[….]
– Missouri’s own formula for what schools need calls for a $388 million increase in funding in the next budget year. But in September, the State Board of Education instead opted to request flat funding.
– Based on that decision, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) does not even request full funding in its recently released departmental budget book.
– Schools were already underfunded by $190 million in the current state budget, with an additional cut to student transportation.
– What’s more, policymakers used one-time budget tricks to balance the budget in the current year. Because they used temporary measures this year, DESE needs $118 million in new general revenue funds just to reach the flat funding level requested next year.
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And:
Missouri vs. national average
Where school funding comes from (FY25, share of total revenue).National avg
Where US schools get funding
47% state
45% local
8% fedMissouri
What MO schools rely on
33% state
49% local
18% fed[….]
Missouri already gets 14 percentage points less from the state than the national average. Missouri ranks 49th out of 50 in state funding for public education, and this year the legislature undercut the foundation formula by $190 million. We are starting from a bad place — not what kids and teachers deserve….
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“…Missouri ranks 49th out of 50 in state funding for public education…”
This arrived in today’s mail:
“…Brandon Phelps puts our kids, teachers, and classrooms first…”
Bullshit is right.
Brandon Phelps (r) is the incumbent in the 54th Legislative District. Taigan Plummer (D) is the Democratic Party candidate challenging him in the November General Election.
“…Missouri ranks 49th out of 50 in state funding for public education…”