OWENSVILLE — Local school districts are questioning if Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 regarding the legalization of sports betting will help fund education the way the Winning for Missouri Education campaign supporters are advertising. The measure will be presented on the Nov. 5 ballot.

While the state of Missouri’s public education funding ranks 50th in the nation and second to last in the United States territories, supporters of Amendment 2 claim passage would allow the collection of another 10 percent in taxes and raise $100 million (over five years) for school districts.

According to Winning for Missouri Education commercials, Amendment 2 can be used to pay teachers, who rank 48th in the nation on the salary scale. The group also claims the funds are constitutionally protected to go toward education.

However, many school districts disagree with the rhetoric, and the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA) are skeptical of Amendment 2..

Dr. Staci Johnson, Gasconade County R-2 assistant superintendent, said on Monday that MASA, of which the district is a member, believes Amendment 2 legislation is poorly written.

“The concern from the Superintendent Association is that the amendment is poorly written and doesn’t specify that any funding has to go toward public education at any time during any given year,” Johnson said. “One fear that we have is funding that did go toward public education, the legislature would cut the normal funding that comes from the state. So really schools don’t get anything more.”

According to Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy,  Gasconade County R-2 receives 51 percent of its revenue locally, 29 percent from the state and the remainder from the federal government.

“From our total district budget, 76 percent goes to teacher salaries,” Hardy said.

Last year at Governor Mike L. Parson’s insistence, the district increased new teacher starting salaries to $40,000.

“If Senate Bill 727 passes, next year will have to be a $1,000 teacher salary increase and the following year another $1,000 increase. After that it will at least a three percent per year increase, Hardy said. “Will know more on Thursday. Some of our districts are going to really struggle with that, especially if it becomes an unfunded mandate.”

However, Amendment 2 leaves much to be desired at the implementation level and subsequent collection.

In addition to fears that the new revenue will not be spent on education, Johnson said MASA is also concerned Amendment 2 doesn’t detail how the 10 percent taxes will be collected or what fund will tie it to education.

“The other concern from our MASA leaders is that there’s actually not a mechanism for the collection of taxes written into the amendment,” she said. “There should be a county or state collectors (responsible for collecting the funds). It’s a poorly written piece of legislation because it doesn’t have those written in there.”

The state of Missouri’s legislature consistently under funds the education formula, leaving districts to pick up the slack at the local level through local taxes and bonds.

“We are talking about the amount we are not getting from the state coming from the local level,” Johnson said. “That’s why schools are constantly coming back to local taxpayers saying ‘if we don’t get this money from you, it makes it rally hard to do things.’ (State funding) is not giving us all thing things we need to serve our kids.”

It’s questionable how much the passage of Amendment 2, even if written more distinctly, could help public schools. In one fiscal note from the Missouri State Auditor’s Office, gambling operators may be allowed to deduct up to 25 percent of promotional credits such as free play as well as federal taxes. The end result could be no gaming taxes for sports betting. The Missouri Gaming Commission was cited in the State Auditor’s fiscal note as it suggested operators can deduct up to 25 percent of the gross costs of promotional credits and free play.

Another study released by Winning for Missouri Education estimated each district would receive $36,000 annually from sports betting — a number garnered from breaking down the annual tax estimates by Missouri’s 554 school districts.

Meanwhile, all four of Missouri’s major sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals are supporting the measure. Sports betting companies have dumped about $55 million into the “vote yes” campaigns so far.

If Amendment 2 does pass, it will allow anyone 21 years and older to wager on sporting events online, in casinos and in locations where professional teams play. Locations include professional fields, college teams and other competitive events without cap on losses. Although tax revenue is taxed at 10 percent, the ballot language only requires the funds be allocated to, “institutions of elementary, secondary and higher education in the state.” The allocation does not say public education specifically, so it leaves funds open to benefit private and parochial schools, following the push to privatize public education. 

While Gasconade County R-2 hasn’t shared an official stance about its support or lack thereof for Amendment 2, Johnson advised that anyone determining whether or not to support the amendment do their research before they vote.

“Anybody who is supportive of public education needs to make sure they are reading the Amendments and doing their research,” she said. “The state of Missouri needs to figure out what they value and start investing in it.”

Ballot language for Amendment 2 is scheduled to be published in the Oct. 23 and 30 issues of The Republican.