Mid-Missouri school districts are awaiting the final fate of this year's state budget to know for sure whether they will receive more funding next year with the Legislature's proposed full funding of the state's education aid formula.
"I don't know just how excited to get just yet," said Jason Hoffman, chief financial and chief operating officer for Jefferson City Public Schools.
He said he's cautiously optimistic, while he didn't necessary expect full funding by the state, given its budget concerns.
The state Senate voted Tuesday to approve about $48 million in additional K-12 public school funding, which would meet targets called for under state law.
The House also approved full levels of education funding in its budget proposal, so it's likely, though not necessarily guaranteed, full education funding will be included in the jointly approved version of the budget to be sent to Gov. Eric Greitens' desk.
Full funding for the state's education aid formula, or equity foundation formula, means $3.392 billion.
"I'm still not sure how I will budget," Hoffman said of the prospect of full funding. If JCPS gets everything it's entitled to from the state under the current law, that would translate into about $650,000 more in fiscal year 2018 than this year, he said.
What the state appropriates for education isn't necessarily what schools actually get, he added, noting the withholdings in transportation funding for schools earlier this year.
The most exciting news is the prospect of mandatory spending on early childhood education that would be triggered by full funding of the state education aid formula, which "would trigger quite a bit of money for us" for preschool funding, Hoffman said.
"If that generates more money for us, that would allow us to open up more seats for preschool," he said, adding the district is "not going out and filling more seats just yet."
The state education aid formula was redefined last year to allow the state to meet its funding targets, but actually pay out less money than initially promised.
For example, the Blair Oaks R-2 district received about $1 million less in the 2013-14 school year than called for in the original language, district Superintendent Jim Jones said.
However, Jones said, the district has focused on making the most of all funding it has gotten from local, state and federal sources, for the betterment of students' learning. He said the district has worked to ensure its students "will not be collateral damage of an under-funded anything, at any level."
He noted the Blair Oaks district was the 13th-lowest spending district in the state on per-pupil expenditures for the 2015-16 school year.
Pleased with the prospect of full funding from the state, he explained, "Any additional revenues will provide the district with the means for addressing technology infrastructure upgrades needed to support a one-to-one educational technology initiative we plan to kick off for the 2017-18 school year."
He said full funding would also provide support for one or two mobile units to "support further educational program expansion, as well as small group instruction and testing."
There's also hope additional revenue will be available to be applied to the staff salary schedule and additions to staff, including in the maintenance and food service departments.