Education Legislation Heard in Committee

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Education considered Senate Bill 173, legislation I filed to address a funding formula anomaly that will cause the Valley R-VII School District in Washington County to lose significant funding for the 2015-2016 school year if no action is taken.

A school’s funding level is determined by a complicated formula that includes a number of components, one of which is the average daily attendance (ADA) rate. Currently, hold harmless school districts with an ADA of 350 or less receive state aid under a different calculation than hold harmless school districts with an ADA of greater than 350. For the past three years, Valley’s ADA has been 339 students. For no one reason in particular, their ADA for the current year has substantially increased nearly 50 students, driving up the rate by which their funding is determined.

Under the current formula, if Valley has an ADA of 350.000, they will gain $5,000 in funding for the 2015-2016 school year; if, however, they have an ADA of 350.001, they stand to lose $650,000 in funding. While this is a very large, potential problem for the community of Caledonia, Senate Bill 173 provides a timely and effective solution.

Specific to Washington County, SB 173 allows the R-VII school district’s aid to be calculated using the formula it used to calculate this year’s funding. Since Valley’s current attendance rate appears to be a one-time occurrence and has been steadily decreasing toward its normal attendance rate for the past three years, SB 173 provides stopgap funding to ensure that the district can plan for the future without digging too deeply into its reserves, as well as an emergency clause so it will receive the funding it needs in the next school year.

During that same committee hearing, we took up Senate Bill 1, this year’s transfer bill. While discussing this legislation, an amendment was offered addressing unoccupied buildings owned by school districts.

Essentially, the amendment would allow any vacant properties to be publicly listed for sale and, if necessary, sold at auction. I understand that vacant buildings present more negatives than positives; that being said, I was strongly opposed to the amendment. A school district’s properties are oftentimes paid for by local tax levies, bonds and local funds. Therefore, the state should not be mandating how local school districts dispose of their properties. I voted not to adopt the amendment, but unfortunately it passed anyway.

We debated Senate Bill 24 on the floor this week. This bill tightens the work requirements on recipients of welfare or food stamps. It’s important to take care of our citizens who need help, but it’s also important that our social services programs don’t become a lifestyle. After three days of intense discussion, the Senate gave initial approval on Thursday to SB 24.  

I’m pleased to say Senate Bill 38 was third read and passed this week. The measure amends current statute so that the Joint Committee on MO HealthNet becomes a permanent fixture in the Legislature. With Missouri’s Medicaid program consuming 34 percent of our state budget, it is essential that the Legislature has an independent source of information to help us streamline the program and make it more efficient. Senate Bill 38 now moves to the House for further consideration.

I was honored to welcome a number of visitors to the Capitol this week. On Tuesday, I spoke with the Missouri Council of Career & Tech Administrators and was very pleased with the response of the organization in trying to give career tech education the high regard that it deserves. I also met with members of the Missouri Dental Hygienists Association; Missouri Landlord Association; Library Association; Future Farmers of America (FFA); and students and faculty from the Missouri Association of Career & Technical Education (MOACTE).

Several constituents also made the drive up to Jefferson City to discuss various pieces of legislation: Maddie McMillian from the Associated Students of the University of Missouri (ASUM); Dustin Winnick, Mayor of Leadington; and Carla Crocker and Stephanie Bennett, with the Southeast Missouri Family Violence Council.

Sen. Romine’s Sponsored Legislation for 2015

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