Standing Up for Our Rural Schools

What We Learned at Our Community Town Halls

By John French, Superintendent of Lewis County C-1 School District
As Superintendent of the Lewis County C-1 School District, one of my most important duties is advocating for children and our schools, while keeping our community informed about our schools. Our local public schools do far more than teach reading, writing, and mathematics. They are the heart of our community, where our children build their futures and our town gathers. 
On October 29, 2026, we hosted an important Community Town Hall presentation to discuss the state of rural education in Missouri and examine our local district finances. The full live streamed recording is available @ https://bit.ly/4zcBNuH. During this meeting, we looked closely at two major presentations: a statewide report presented by Duane Martin on Missouri’s rural school policies, and an in-depth breakdown of four local school districts’, including our own Lewis County C-1, budgets and state funding challenges. I want to share a high-level overview of what we discussed, what the numbers mean for our families, and how we can work together to protect our schools. 

1. The Statewide Picture: Proud Student Results, Troubling State Policies 
The first presentation focused on how Missouri treats its rural public schools compared to other states across the nation. In Missouri, about 75 percent of all school districts are classified as rural, serving more than 200,000 students across 389 rural districts. Our rural students perform exceptionally well. According to the National Rural Education Association report titled Why Rural Matters, Missouri rural schools rank 12th best in the nation for educational outcomes, boasting a 92.2 percent high school graduation rate that comfortably tops the national average of 89.4 percent.
However, while our students and teachers excel, state policy support tells a very different story. The same national report ranks Missouri’s state education policies as the second most concerning in the entire nation for rural schools. Overall, Missouri is listed as the seventh highest priority state needing policy improvement.
The presentation outlined four major state policy trends that create ongoing hurdles for rural districts: Chronic Underfunding: Missouri provides only 71 cents in state revenue for every local dollar raised for rural schools, compared to the national rural average of $1.25 in state aid per local dollar - that’s a 54 cent difference. Shifting Costs to Local Taxpayers: Over the past decade, the state’s share of public school funding has steadily declined, forcing local property owners to carry a larger share of the burden.
Diverting Tax Dollars: State tax dollars are increasingly redirected away from public education toward private school vouchers through programs
like MOScholars. Out of the top recipients of MOScholars funds, 58.5
percent goes to suburban St. Louis and 28.4 percent to urban areas, leaving only
11 percent for rural and all other areas of the state. Furthermore, a recent $50
million shift into private vouchers took away roughly $57 per student from
the public school basic funding formula.
Expanding Unfunded Mandates: State requirements on local districts
continue to grow. For example, the state checklist for district compliance
grew from 37 required questions in 2017 to 125 questions for the
2025–2026 school year, adding heavy administrative burdens without
providing extra funding to cover the costs.

2. Local Realities: How the Lewis County C-1 Budget
Works: The second part of the presentation included John Rinehart from the Financial
Firm L.J. Hart and Company. Mr. Rinhart focused his discussion primarily on the
Canton R-V, Knox County R-1, Lewis County C-1 and Palmyra R-1, but I will only
discuss our home district for this article. For the current school year, Lewis
County C-1 operates on a total budget of $14,974,677.
To understand where our money comes from, it helps to look at our three main
revenue sources:
Local and County Taxes: Provide 49.99 percent of our revenue
($7,485,374). State Funding: Provides 33.50 percent of our revenue ($5,015,954).
Federal Programs: Provide 16.52 percent of our revenue ($2,473,349).
**It is important to note that due to the construction of the FEMA Building
at the Elementary, our Federal Programs Revenue looks higher than it
typically is because 90 percent of the FEMA structure is covered by the federal
government. In reality, our Local and County funds are usually around 55 percent,
State funding is around 35% and Federal funds are generally around 9 percent.
Our budget is divided into distinct legal funds. Day-to-day operations and certified
teacher salaries are paid out of Funds 1 and 2, which determine our overall
operating fund balance percentage—the primary measure of our district’s
financial health. Fund 3 handles voter-approved debt service, which Lewis County
does not have. Fund 4 pays for capital projects and facility improvements. By
law, debt and capital funds cannot be mixed with daily operating funds.
The Illusion of “Full Funding” and Loss of Buying Power. State leaders often claim that the Missouri public school funding formula is “fully
Funded”  or have referenced that schools have received “record funding.”
However, local tax dollars do not buy what they used to.
Back in 2016, the Missouri Legislature lowered the baseline funding target for
public schools by 8.4 percent. Between 2016 and 2025, inflation increased prices

by 34.1 percent. Because state funding targets were cut and inflation surged,
nearly 70 percent of Missouri students attend school in districts with less real
purchasing power today than nine years ago.
For Lewis County C-1, our state formula aid has suffered a 21.8 percent loss in
actual buying power. That creates a $1,072,223 gap between what we receive
today and what we would need just to match our 2016 purchasing power.
Looking ahead, regional estimates show that if the state fails to fully restore
formula funding, Lewis County C-1 could lose an estimated $398,553 in state aid
for Fiscal Year 2028. Neighboring districts face similar shortfalls, including a
projected loss of $207,265 for Canton R-V, $214,164 for Knox County R-I,
$483,216 for Palmyra R-I, and over $1.46 million for Hannibal.
For Lewis County C-1, our assessed valuation stands at $105,869,044. Every
penny on our local property tax levy generates $10,587 in revenue for our
schools. Raising $100,000 in local property tax revenue requires a levy rate of
$0.0994 per hundred dollars of assessed valuation. So, to make up for the nearly
$400,000 shortfall, Lewis County taxpayers would need to increase operating ta
rate by 40 cents or cut roughly eight  teaching positions - increasing class sizes and
eliminating programs - just to maintain our current operations.
3. Pushing Back on Forced Consolidation Myths: During the Town Hall, we also addressed suggestions made by some state political leaders who claim Missouri could save millions of dollars by consolidating its 500-plus school districts into 50 or 60 large suburban-style
districts, similar to Lee’s Summit or Blue Springs.
While that idea might sound simple on paper in a dense suburb, it ignores rural
geography. In Lewis County and Northeast Missouri, land areas are vast. If we
merged all four surrounding rural districts into one, the combined district would
still be less than one-fifth the size of Lee’s Summit. Forcing such massive district
mergers would require our students to sit on school buses for hours every
morning and evening, taking children away from their families and hurting
community life without saving meaningful administrative costs.
4. Academic Excellence Beyond Single Letter Grades: Finally, we discussed academic accountability. Missouri is introducing a new A- through-F school grading system. While accountability is important, this system relies almost entirely on standardized test scores. It leaves out vital factors like attendance, school morale, art, social studies, career programs, and the extra support provided to students with special needs or lower household incomes.
The reality is that our Missouri students achieve great results when evaluated
fairly. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 8
math and reading tests, Missouri students outscored peers in states like Texas,
Florida, and Mississippi. On the ACT, Missouri students earned an average
composite score of 19.8, outperforming Florida, Texas and Mississippi — even
though Missouri ranks 49th in the nation for the state’s share of school funding
(28.6 percent). Still, some of our legislators push for policy to make Missouri
more like Florida, Texas or Mississippi -- except that they want Missouri to pay
less of a share than these same states!
Moving Forward Together: Our rural public schools deliver strong academic results for our children despite ranking near the bottom in state financial support. Our teachers work tirelessly,
our students excel, and our community consistently steps up to support our local schools. The truth is: Missouri educators do more with less and we will continue to try to provide the best opportunities for children. However, we cannot do it alone. To preserve quality programs, maintain safe facilities, and protect local decision-making, we need our state leaders to

prioritize rural public education. I encourage every parent, taxpayer, and
community member to stay engaged, ask questions, and advocate for our
children. When our rural schools thrive, our entire community succeeds.
How Community Members Can Take Action: As emphasized in the regional communication “Every Child. Every Community. A Promise Missouri Must Keep” (Oct 19, 2026), protecting rural public education requires collective advocacy.
I invite our parents, taxpayers, businesses, and civic leaders to take three concrete steps:
1. Contact State Lawmakers: Write and call our state representative and state senator. Urge them to restore full formula funding for public education, fully fund student transportation, and oppose state budget cuts for FY 2028.
2. Defend Local Rural Schools: Remind lawmakers in Jefferson City that one-size-fits-all suburban consolidation plans and test-centric rating systems do not serve rural Missouri students.
3. Stay Informed and Engaged: Participate in upcoming school board meetings and district updates, surveys and community meetings as we navigate state legislative sessions together.
Our rural public schools are the foundation of Lewis County’s future. Every
student counts, and every moment matters. On behalf of the Board of Education,
faculty, and staff of the Lewis County C-1 School District, thank you for your
unwavering commitment to our schools and our children.