Kansas City charter schools poised for $36M in funding under bill headed to Parson’s desk
Charter schools in Kansas City would receive millions more in state funds each year under compromise legislation headed to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.
The Missouri House on Thursday voted 116-29 to approve the bill that seeks to remedy a debate over how the schools— which operate independently— should be funded. A previous version of the bill would have taken money away from Kansas City and St. Louis public schools.
Under the revised bill, the increased funding would come directly from the state.
The legislation comes as Kansas City’s charter schools are expected to enroll more students than traditional public schools after years of falling public school enrollment. Advocates have argued for years that the state’s charter schools should receive their fair share of state money and have sought to close the funding gap between public schools and charters.
Opponents to the push to increase charter school funding have said that the schools don’t have the same state oversight as public schools and, therefore, should not receive the same amount of funding.
Currently, Missouri’s charter schools receive local property tax dollars based on property values assessed in 2005, which some advocates call a “glitch” in the formula. This means a child attending a charter school in Kansas City is funded at a rate of about $1,700 less than a student attending a public school. In St. Louis, charter students receive about $2,500 less.
The bill, which was seen as a compromise among lawmakers, would fuel charter school funding through an increase to the state’s foundation formula, which is used to calculate public school funding. It would cost the state an estimated $62 million in fiscal year 2023, according to a fiscal analysis produced for lawmakers. That number would likely increase by roughly $2 million each year.
The 20 charter schools that operate in Kansas City would receive about $36 million in additional state aid in 2023, according to the bill.
Amid the push to increase transparency in charter schools, the bill also sets some state oversight requirements, including a provision that each schools’ board members be state residents.
The bill also requires charter schools to publish their annual performance reports on the school website and states that companies that manage charter schools must be non-profit organizations.
