The 411 on Missouri Defunding Public Education, Libraries, and the Budget Surplus with Missouri State Representative Deb Lavender

The Missouri legislature has kept itself in the headlines more than Scandoval has recently, and that’s saying something. Unfortunately, the reasons are just as shady – from defunding public education, threats to library funding, bills on banning gender affirming care, and so much more. This episode we get into it with Missouri State Representative Deb Lavender, who paints the picture of Missouri politics as a whole and walks us through many of the nuances behind the headlines. We talk education – specifically the model of funding that’s used in the state (hint: it’s horrendous). We talk budgets – who signs off on them, what a surplus means, and why Republicans refuse to spend taxpayer dollars on taxpayers. We talk about teacher shortages and the four day school weeks many districts have implemented. Loads of tangents, loads of nitty gritty details you need to know.

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