HERMANN — The purpose of a school district’s Government Relations Day event is to provide an opportunity for local education officials to talk directly with state and local elected officials about issues of concern. But what happens when no elected officials show up?

That was the situation facing R-1 Superintendent Geoff Neill Friday morning: Empty seats all around with essentially only R-1 folks on hand to hear him discuss the concerns facing public education — concerns that only state legislators can help resolve.

Only about a dozen people attended this year’s Government Relations Day. That number included four of the seven members of the R-1 Board of Directors. While they, indeed, are elected officials, they’ve heard the pitch many times before.

Surprisingly, State Rep. Bruce Sassmann, R-Bland, was a no-show; often, as in the case of last year’s event, he is the only state elected official at a Government Relations Day gathering. State Sen. Ben Brown, R-Washington, also was absent.

But that wasn’t the main surprise for R-1 officials. There were no Gasconade County government officials on hand, nor were any of the Hermann aldermen in attendance.

The two non-local folks on hand were Franklin County R-2 Superintendent Audrey Freitag and a field representative for Republican Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

In what amounted to a case of preaching to the choir, Neill outlined the concerns of public educators, from the potential impacts of a controversial property tax-relief law (Senate Bill 3) on R-1 to the concerns surrounding the state allowing the use of vouchers for private schools. Indeed, much of Neill’s talk focused on the potential effects of Senate Bill 3 — which is being challenged in court — and a gubernatorial panel’s review of the state’s Foundation Formula. Neill’s analysis, thus far, shows R-1 in danger of losing as much as $1 million in state aid.

Such a loss would only compound the problem of the financial shift in supporting public education in Missouri.

“We have shifted the cost of public education from the state to the local,” he said, noting again that local taxpayers provide about 70 percent of a district’s operating revenue while the state provides only about 20 percent. The other 10 percent comes in the form of money from the federal government for mostly special education programs.

Neill also referred to the “50 & 5” position Missouri is in. “Fifty is where we rank in the nation” regarding public education funding by the state.

The 5? Well, he said, that’s where Missouri ranks (5th highest) in terms of the local burden of funding public education.