Supreme Court decides in favor of current school funding formula

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state's school funding method is constitutional.

In 2004, more than 200 Missouri school districts sued the state, saying that it didn't spend enough on education and had not allocated funds equitably among the state's more than 500 school districts.

At issue was the state's local property tax system that allowed richer districts to generate more per-student funding. Since the lawsuit was filed, the legislature revised the school funding formula to address the disparities.

The Columbia Public School District was among the plaintiffs in the original case, but was not among those who filed the Missouri Supreme Court appeal.

Columbia School Board member Karla DeSpain, who was president of the school board in 2007, said it decided to bow out after the 2007 ruling, because it seemed clear at that point that the plaintiffs could not win.

"We felt after the initial ruling that the appeal did not have legs," she said.

Jan Mees, the school board's current president, said leaving the suit was a difficult decision for the board to make, as it believed the suit could have led to more funding. But the board simply could not afford to continue.