The decision, which will cost the not-for-profit $150,000, comes as a result of a recent court decision that said tobacco companies did not have to make a $50 million settlement payment to Missouri. In response to that decision, Nixon trimmed $46.1 million from the budget, including the Bright Futures USA funding.
The organization has relied heavily on taxpayer financing over the past two years, as its only other sources of income have been fundraisers, which have lost more money than they brought in, membership fees from new school districts, and registration fees from the annual Bright Futures Conference, which member schools are required to attend.
This year's funding for Bright Futures USA may be restored if the state wins its appeal of the court decision.
2 comments:
I'm torn... Do I want the tobacco companies to pay for all the evil they perpetuated on the people of Missouri? Of course I do. Do I want $46 million in other funding trimmed from the state budget? Probably not all of it as I'm sure many good things are now either under budgeted or downright axed all together. But do I want Bright Futures to have a dark future? More than I have words to possibly express....
The only problem with this method of removing state tax dollars from BF USA is that the action isn't targeted at BF USA and they can easily explain it away to the people they are soliciting the replacement dollars from.
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