Forum Editorial: Hold legislators accountable

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Our state legislators so rarely stand before their constituents and tell us how they are representing us at the Capitol. So on Tuesday, we encourage everyone who has an issue they feel strongly about to attend the Legislative Coffee event hosted by the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce at 9 a.m. in the Nodaway County Services building.

There is no shortage of urgent issues facing us here in northwest Missouri: a housing crisis has only worsened and extended its already far-reaching ramifications on our communities, and the same goes for childcare. The future of our schools has dominated much of our local conversations about state government. And the possibility of an AI data center, and its unknown effects, looms.

Our state leaders have done precious little to address any of those concerns. The only overlapping issue seems to be our schools — and their solution appears to be to drastically reduce support for our schools through a new funding formula and to cut off that formula’s primary revenue stream by eliminating the income tax, all without a clear plan about what happens next in communities like ours.

If you, like us, would like some explanation about the priorities of Rep. Jeff Farnan and Sen. Rusty Black, you know where to be on Tuesday morning.