Governor Jay Nixon visited Fairview Elementary in Columbia on Wednesday morning. Nixon went back to the school where his mother used to teach.
Nixon was at Fairview Elementary to applaud the academic success of the students.
“We put together a whole new kind of grade card called MSIP 5 and it’s designed to make sure that students are doing well in being challenged and takes it right down to each various school. Today, I’m proud to report that this school on a new grade card…scored 98.6 percent,” Nixon said.
Fairview scored 69 out of 70 possible points on the annual assessment measuring Math, Science and Language Arts.
Nixon reaffirmed his opposition to a bill that would cut income taxes in the state hours before the Missouri legislature failed to override his veto of House Bill 253.
“The best policy of the state to move forward is not to raise taxes on seniors and others on prescription drugs, not to make college more expensive by raising taxes on textbooks and, at the same time, that moving forward with this economy we have to support education. So, it is clearly that you cannot be for House Bill 253 and for public education,” Nixon said.
Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Chris Belcher agreed with Nixon.
“As we’ve grown, the state budget has gone down. Growing districts take a bigger hit on this and Columbia Public Schools would certainly be in the middle of that. We’ve opened a new high school, we’ve had to add staff, we’re doing everything right and this would just cripple us in another way,” Belcher said.
Nixon said if the override was successful, Columbia Public Schools would lose between $4 to 7 million.
