Missouri Schools Looking To Feds For Money

Jefferson City, Mo. – The head of the Missouri School Boards Association is calling on Congress to come through with more federal money, in hopes that the state's public schools can be fully funded next year.

The association's executive director Mike Reid suggests that without help from Washington, Missouri schools will have to reduce staff and increase class sizes.

"Putting more people, more kids, more students in a classroom, a lot of times is not conducive for education, and if we're gonna work our way out of some of the holes that we're in, a proper education is one of the ways to do it," says Reid.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's proposed state budget depends in part on $300 million from Washington. State Budget Director Linda Luebbering concedes that they don't know yet if that money will come through.

"Will the federal government provide more money? We don't know, there's obviously a chance of that, but right now our focus is on the fact that our own general revenue collections are doing very poorly," says Luebbering.

With uncertainty growing over whether those funds will be available, the governor is expected to soon announce more cuts.