Did the Missouri AG approve the form of DeeAnn Aull's 2019 Article IX education-funding initiative petition (version 2, file 2020-118)?

Plain-English summary

DeeAnn Aull filed several drafts of an initiative petition in fall 2019 to amend Article IX of the Missouri Constitution, the public-education article. Petition 2020-118 is version 2.

Under § 116.332 RSMo, the Secretary of State sends each filed petition to the AG for a "sufficiency as to form" review. AG Schmitt's letter here approves the form of version 2. Form approval is structural; it does not endorse the policy and it does not bind the Secretary of State, who retains final approval authority under the same § 116.332.

This is the form-review step that came before the fiscal-note review (213-2019, on October 10) and summary-statement review (225-2019, on October 18) for the same petition.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: What does "sufficiency as to form" actually check?
A: Whether the petition has the structural elements Chapter 116 RSMo requires: a heading, the full text of the proposed amendment, signature pages with statutory recitals, identification of who is circulating it, the bracket-deletion / underline-addition format under § 116.050. The AG does not assess the policy or constitutionality.

Q: Where in the cluster does this opinion sit?
A: Earliest. Version 2 of petition 2020-118 got its form approval here in September 2019. Fiscal note and summary statement reviews for the same petition followed in October 2019.

Q: What is Article IX?
A: Public education. It establishes the duty of the General Assembly to maintain free public schools, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the local school-district structure, and section 3(b)'s requirement that "not less than twenty-five percent of the state revenue" go to public schools (the floor referenced in Aull's petitions' "exceed the current minimum of 25%" language).

Q: Who has final authority on form?
A: The Secretary of State, John R. Ashcroft at the time. § 116.332 expressly reserves "final authority to approve or reject" to him.

Background and statutory framework

Chapter 116 RSMo lays out the initiative-petition pipeline. This opinion covers step 2:

1. Proponent files the petition with the Secretary of State.
2. AG reviews sufficiency as to form under § 116.332 RSMo (this opinion).
3. State Auditor prepares a fiscal note; AG reviews under § 116.175.4 RSMo.
4. Secretary of State drafts a summary statement; AG reviews under § 116.334 RSMo.
5. Petition certified for circulation.

Citations and references

Statutes: § 116.332 RSMo (the operative provision).

Sister Aull Article IX form-review opinions in this cluster: 203-2019 (version 1, 2020-117), 205-2019 (version 3, 2020-119), plus 206-2019 (v4, 2020-120), 207-2019 (v1, 2020-121), 208-2019 (v2, 2020-122).

Fiscal-note opinions for the same Aull cluster (later in the pipeline): 213-2019 (v1, 20-117), 214-2019 (v2, 20-118), 215-2019 (v3, 20-119), 216-2019 (v4, 20-120), 222-2019 (v1, 20-121), 223-2019 (v2, 20-122).

Summary-statement opinions for the same Aull cluster: 225-2019 (v1, 2020-117), 226-2019 (v2, 2020-118), 227-2019 (v3, 2020-119), 228-2019 (v4, 2020-120), 229-2019 (v1, 2020-121).

Source

• Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/204-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain, the linked PDF is authoritative.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI

ERIC SCHMITT

September 23, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 204-2019

The Honorable John R. Ashcroft
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101

Dear Secretary Ashcroft:

This opinion letter responds to your request dated September 16, 2019, for our review under § 116.332, RSMo, of the sufficiency as to form of an initiative petition to amend Article IX of the Missouri Constitution submitted by DeeAnn Aull, version 2 (2020-118).

We approve the petition as to form, but § 116.332 gives the Secretary of State final authority to approve or reject the petition. Therefore, our approval of the form of the petition does not preclude you from rejecting the petition.

Because our review of the petition is simply for the purpose of determining sufficiency as to form, the fact that we do not reject the petition is not to be construed as a determination that the petition is sufficient as to substance. Likewise, because our review is mandated by statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed as an endorsement of the petition or of the objectives of its proponents, or the expression of any view respecting the adequacy or inadequacy of the petition generally.

Very truly yours,

ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General

Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3321
Fax: (573) 751-0774
www.ago.mo.gov

OP-2019-0234