Missouri District 12 State Senator Rusty Black, of Chillicothe, has represented 19 counties in the state's northwest since 2023. He has risen to prominence in the legislature: in Sept. 2025, he was named chair of the senate appropriations committee, which oversees the distribution of state funds, and he is chair of the School Funding Modernization Task Force, which is reworking the state's public school funding formula.
At the outset of the 2026 legislative session, which began on Jan. 7, Black spoke with KXCV News about his legislative and budgetary priorities, his approach to the school funding formula, the MO Scholars Program, and other topics of concern.
