Clear as a Muddy, Cracked School-Bell

Section 163-031 of the Missouri revised statutes is the law that defines how much state aid each Missouri school district receives. It's a nice little bit of prose, with writing that makes me recall Flannery O'Connor's stories. Here is the first *sentence*:

"School districts which meet the requirements of section 163.021 shall be entitled to an amount computed as follows: an amount determined by multiplying the number of eligible pupils by the lesser of the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes as defined in section 163.011 or two dollars and seventy-five cents per one hundred dollars assessed valuation multiplied by the guaranteed tax base per eligible pupil times the proration factor plus an amount determined by multiplying the number of eligible pupils by the greater of zero or the district's equalized operating levy for school purposes as defined in section 163.011 minus two dollars and seventy-five cents per one hundred dollars assessed valuation multiplied by the guaranteed tax base per eligible pupil times the proration factor. "

Can you say "run-on sentence?" Paragraph 6 of the statute gives you a neat little formula, spelled out clearly, to use in your calculations. Here's the first part of the formula:

"6. State aid shall be determined as follows:
District Entitlement 1(a). Number of eligible pupils x (lesser of
district's equalized operating levy for
school purposes or two dollars
and seventy-five cents per one hundred
dollars assessed valuation) x (proration
x GTB per EP) ..................................... $....... "

There are about two dozen more calculations after this and they're as easy to read as this one is.

Oh, yeah, you don't see anything directly tying state appropriations to education quality until you get to paragraph 8 near the bottom of the statute:

" In addition to the penalty for line 14 described in subsection 6 of this section, beginning in school year 2004-05, any increase in a school district's funds received pursuant to line 14 of subsection 6 of this section over the 1997-98 school year shall be reduced by one percent for each full percentage point the percentage of the district's pupils scoring at or above five percent below the statewide average level on either mathematics or reading is less than sixty-five percent. "

If you are wondering where all the good teachers are, many of them have probably been assigned to figure out ways to increase the size of their district's entitlement!