Did we just vote to abandon public education?

If the answer is no, then what the heck are our elected officials doing?

Feb 17, 2025

brown wooden table and chairs — Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

Several years ago, in an election for the local school board for Jefferson City Public Schools (JCPS), one of the candidates ran on getting rid of “Critical Race Theory” (which was not being taught in JC schools). In the name of “parental rights,” he promised to make surprise visits to classrooms to critique what teachers were teaching and how they were doing their jobs. Another candidate in the same race posted on social media that teachers were undeserving of wages commensurate with similar professions because they had so much time off during the summer when school was not in session. Both candidates held high-level positions in the state government and the Republican party.

Their candidacies reflected a nationwide campaign by right-wing conservatives to sow distrust of public-school education. This distrust had a part in persuading teachers to leave the profession. The candidates were Adam Gresham, now Missouri Gov. Kehoe’s Chef of Staff, and Marc Ellinger, an attorney for the Kehoe gubernatorial election campaign. Both lost their elections.

I had the privilege to help one of the candidates in that race who did win a seat on the school board – a young mother of a (then) 4^th grader who focused her campaign on the quality of her daughter’s education, plus getting air conditioning installed in her school. During that campaign, I learned that Jefferson City residents valued their local public schools. And they supported the school district with their money – voting for a referendum to build a new high school and substantially upgrade others.

And our public schools mean a lot to me. I have two grandsons who will be entering first-year middle school and high school this Fall here in Jefferson City, a step-grandson in his second year at Missouri State, and a three-and-a-half-year-old grandson in New York who is just beginning his public school career. A good education is necessary to equip students with the skills and knowledge for the “jobs of the future.” But to me, it’s much more than creating a pathway to employment. Education is key to helping young people find meaning and purpose in life, think for themselves, and become active, responsible citizens in our local communities.

Residents have continued to elect strong, education-minded citizens to the local JCPS school board. At the same time, Cole County and Jefferson City residents overwhelmingly voted to send Mike Kehoe to the governor’s office and elected Donald Trump as president. Both seem to have very different views from residents on public school education funding.

For Fiscal Year 2024-25, combined federal and state funding for public school education makes up almost 35% of the Jefferson City Public Schools budget, with the remainder from local sources such as property taxes. Cole County school districts, like Blair Oaks, depend on almost half of their funding from state and federal sources. So, what happens in the current session of the Missouri legislature and Washington, DC, has a tangible impact on the future of education in our region.

Missouri Legislature Squeezes Education Funding Sources

In his recent “State of the State Address,” Kehoe complained that for years the state has “thrown money” at education while public schools have been underperforming. But he and his party have controlled the state government and legislature for the past 20+ years. As a result of the GOP’s educational policies, Missouri now ranks 49th in the nation in the amount of state revenue per student. Likewise, teacher pay, hiring, and retention have been among the lowest in the country. During that time, the Republicans also had complete control over who ran the state education department and set the priorities.

The Missouri Legislature provides funding to local K-12 schools each year according to a “foundation formula” that considers student attendance, an “adequacy target” per student, regional cost of living, and the amount of funding a school district raises locally. The adequacy targets are key – they reflect the funding needed to enable students to meet state performance standards.

This year, Kehoe’s budget funds items such as school transportation and legislative mandates adopted in a big education bill last year. However, it shortchanges the foundation formula targets by $300 million. JCPS’ state funding from the “foundation formula” directly supports teachers in the district’s budget. So, underfunding those targets, as Kehoe proposes, could result in losing several million dollars to local schools, which will hurt the ability to attract and retain good teachers with competitive wages.

Kehoe’s budget also sends $50 million to fund a voucher program to help pay for students to attend private and religious schools. Other “school choice” bills being considered include the expansion of charter schools and the “open enrollment” mandate. These allow students to transfer to different districts or charter schools, without changing their address which results in the home district losing funding for that student and forcing it to pay for transportation to the other district.

Once again, an inordinate amount of time will be spent on bills that attempt to limit teacher’s freedoms, restrict how race and gender topics are addressed, impose administrative burdens on local school districts to uphold “parental rights,” eliminate DEI provisions, and restricting the rights of transgender students.

But the greatest danger to funding public schools in Missouri will most likely be the efforts by the Governor and legislature to slash taxes, which will put enormous pressure on both state and local funding for education:

· First, the Governor has vowed to eliminate the state income taxes, which currently fund 60% of the state’s general revenue budget. Several “flat tax” bills are under consideration and designed to achieve that goal.

· Second, this week, the Missouri House voted to eliminate Missouri’s capital gains taxes, which would result in a $335 million hit on the state budget this year alone. Both local representatives, Dave Griffith and Rudy Veit, voted for the bill.

· Finally, the Tax Reform Committee passed a measure that would drop personal property tax assessments over several years from 33.3% to 18%, resulting in a $900 million impact on local funds when fully implemented.

None of these bills include provisions on how the state would make up those funds. This means that for public school districts, local taxpayers must shoulder more of the burden. Otherwise, school programs will be reduced or eliminated, and students will suffer.

Dismantling of Federal Public Education Support

On the federal side, both public school districts and state colleges and universities are bracing for cuts to the federal government’s investment in education. Contrary to the US Constitution, Trump administration officials contend that they can unilaterally decide not to fund programs that Congress has already authorized. For example, they can withhold money from schools that they believe are pushing “critical race theory” or “transgender insanity” without regard to the effectiveness of those programs.

With the appointment of Project 2025 architect Russell Vought as head of the Office of Management and Budget, the administration seems poised to deliver on a key goal to eliminate or drastically curtail the US Department of Education. Bills have been introduced in Congress to do just that. It’s a common misconception among conservative voters that the Department of Education (DOE) dictates what public schools teach. That is the responsibility of state and local governments.

What the federal Department of Education does is manage Title I funding that supports schools serving low-income families, special education services for students with disabilities, federal student loan programs for higher education, and enforces civil rights protections so that all children have an equal opportunity to get a good education. Under Project 2025, many of these programs could be transferred to other federal departments and provided to states through block grants. However, oversight of how states use these funds, currently the responsibility of the Department of Education, would be jeopardized.

Several Jefferson City schools are considered low-income and offer lunch and breakfast programs to students. These programs, along with funding to support individuals with disabilities, make up the majority of over $17 million in federal funding for JCPS.

President Trump has installed Linda McMahon, former head of Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment, as Secretary of the Department of Education. Other than a brief stint on a school board, she has no direct education experience. Already, Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency has forced DOE employee layoffs and terminated 89 departmental contracts totaling $881 million. So, the future of federal funding of public school education is at risk. What happens in Washington, DC, in the coming months will have a direct impact on our local school systems.

Did we just vote to abandon public education?

I certainly hope not. However, those in charge, from the governor to state legislators, Congressional representatives, and Trump administration officials, have given up on public education. That makes me very worried about how my grandson’s schools will fare in the next four years and the impact on the quality of their education.

Call to action: To stay informed on good and bad education policy initiatives and budget proposals, follow the Missouri Equity Education Partnership experts. Visit

https://www.missouriequity.com/ and click “join us” to sign up for their weekly newsletters and advocacy efforts.

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