State funding update for 2009-2010 school year

We are hearing promising things out of Jefferson City today. Gov. Jay Nixon announced that he will distribute funding cuts for this school year among all 523 Missouri school districts rather than exempt more than 150 "hold harmless" school districts. Legislation previously approved by both the House and Senate would have left 372 school districts, including Springfield Public Schools, shouldering the burden of the funding cuts.

We appreciate Gov. Nixon and Missouri Commissioner of Education Chris Nicastro for all they have done to help preserve funding for education and to ensure that cuts are fairly distributed among all school districts.

This news is a relief to SPS and many neighboring school districts. It will mean SPS will lose about $850,000 in revenue in 2009-2010 rather than $1.1 million. It is unfortunate that we will have to make any reductions, but thanks to our conservative budgeting practices and efficient and effective use of resources, we anticipate SPS will be able to adapt to the lesser reduction without any drastic cuts between now and June 2010.

The funding outlook for 2010-2011, however, still remains bleak. Due to continuing debate among legislators, we have had to delay our budgeting process and may not know anything certain until after May 7.

The school board will meet May 10 for its budget work session so we should have more information to share by then.