JEFFERSON CITY Mo.
State attorneys asserted Thursday that Missouri is far exceeding a constitutional requirement for public school spending as a judge sought to wrap up the lone lingering aspect of a so-far unsuccessful lawsuit by schools.
The suing school districts have claimed Missouri is violating its own constitution by failing to provide schools enough money and distributing what it does give them unfairly.
Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan ruled against almost all of their claims last month.
But he called attorneys back to his courtroom Thursday to hear additional arguments on whether the state is meeting a constitutional requirement to dedicate at least 25 percent of state revenues to public schools.
During a lengthy trial earlier this year, the state asserted it was doing even more than required by allotting nearly 36 percent of state revenues to schools in 2006.
Callahan wanted to hear more arguments because of a dispute among state officials and the suing school districts’ attorneys about exactly what funds should be included in the calculation.
