Section 163.044 - Annual appropriation of thirty million dollars for specified uses1. Beginning with the 2007 fiscal year and each subsequent fiscal year, the general assembly shall appropriate thirty million dollars to be directed in the following manner to school districts with an average daily attendance of three hundred fifty students or less in the school year preceding the payment year: (1) Twenty million dollars shall be distributed to the eligible districts in proportion to their average daily attendance; and(2) Ten million dollars shall be directed to the eligible districts that have an operating levy for school purposes in the current year equal to or greater than the performance levy and any school districts which have an operating levy for school purposes in the current year less than the performance levy solely due to a modification of such district's levy required under subdivision (4) of subsection 5 of section 137.073. A tax-rate-weighted average daily attendance shall be calculated for each eligible district in proportion to its operating levy for school purposes for the current year divided by the performance levy with that result multiplied by the district's average daily attendance in the school year preceding the payment year. The total appropriation pursuant to this subdivision shall then be divided by the sum of the tax-rate-weighted average daily attendance of the eligible districts, and the resulting amount per tax-rate-weighted average daily attendance shall be multiplied by each eligible district's tax-rate-weighted average daily attendance to determine the amount to be paid to each eligible district.2. The payment under this section shall not be transferred to the capital projects fund.3. Except as provided in subsection 2 of this section, districts receiving payments under this section may use the moneys for, including but not limited to, the following: (2) Extraordinary transportation costs;(3) Rural teacher recruitment; and(4) Student learning opportunities not available within the district.Amended by 2024 Mo. Laws, SB 727,s A, eff. 8/28/2024. L. 2005S.B. 287 , A.L. 2008S.B. 711