Watch now: Join a discussion on school funding and gun violence in Missouri

Across Missouri, school districts suffering the most from gun violence often receive the least financial support from the state. Ranking next to last in the U.S. for state education funding, Missouri has seen how poor educational outcomes contribute to the ongoing cycle of gun violence.

On average, Missouri funds about 32% of school budgets, but funds only 7% of the St. Louis City School District budget and less than 3% of the Kansas City Public Schools budget. In rural areas, school districts struggle to address suicide in both children and their parents, but have no money to provide mental health and social service resources.

Join American Public Square at Jewell and The Kansas City Star on Sept. 15 at 12:30 p.m. for the next program in our series Gun Violence in Missouri: Seeking Solutions. The discussion will be live-streamed on The Star’s website.

RSVP for the event here.

Our discussion will focus on how education funding, and wrap-around support services for Missouri schools that need it most, could improve educational outcomes and in turn reduce community gun violence.

This digital event is part of the Missouri Gun Violence Project, a two-year, statewide journalism collaboration investigating the causes and possible solutions to gun violence. It is supported by the nonprofits Report for America and Missouri Foundation for Health. The Star has partnered on this project with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Springfield News-Leader and the Missouri Independent.

The discussion will be moderated by Hurubie Meko, a member of the gun violence reporting team at The Kansas City Star.

This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 11:59 AM.