hat the state must provide the same educational opportunity to children living in rich and poor districts" ("Missouri: Historical Background" 1).
Despite new legislation passed by the Missouri legislature and increased taxes and improved funding equity, the Committee for Educational Equality returned to court in January 2004 and claimed that the education finance system in the state had failed to remedy the inequities that had previously existed. Based on a costing-out study that was designed to determine an adequate level of funding needed for Missouri's public schools to meet state and federal goals, this group argued that it was necessary to find an additional $913 million beyond the $6.5 billion then being spent to adequately fund Missouri's public schools ("Missouri Costing Out Study Finds..." 1).
Angela Hill (2) reported in 2004 that the problems in Missouri led to new lawsuits:
In late 2003, a group of school districts formed the Committee for Educational Equality and filed a lawsuit regarding equity and adequacy. About 250 of Missouri's 524 districts are participating. Many are rural districts, while the Hold Harmless Coalition, made largely of suburban districts, will likely participate in the case...Also in 2003, the Missouri General Assembly established a Joint Interim Committee on Education with the express purpose of examining the K-12 school finance situation in Missouri."
Hill (4) stated further that "Despite the adequacy lawsuit and the committee's suggestions, no policy changes resulted due to political crossfire." This demonstrates that the issue of school finance in Missouri, as elsewhere, is an inherently political issue. While Hill (5) recognized that there are significant financial and economic issues involved in changing a state's school funding formula and also increasing state finance for education, the issue is political at its core.
Many groups, said Hill (6), believ...