By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A local state representative who chairs the Missouri House Higher Education Committee says state colleges and universities came out well during the legislative session.
Rep. Brenda Shields of St. Joseph says a strong budget year, helped with federal coronavirus stimulus money, allowed lawmakers to pump much more money into college campuses.
“We were able to do projects on each one of the campuses with the federal stimulus money that we received, the ARPA funds,” Shields tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, I mean I think our higher education campuses came out as a win.”
Shields is pleased the legislature was able to provide a substantial piece of the funding for the Convergence Technology Alliance Center Missouri Western State University is building in partnership with North Central Missouri College. That was one of the projects dubbed transformational by Gov. Mike Parson financed for each of the state’s public colleges or universities.
Shields says a healthy state budget allowed legislators to devote more money to higher education.
“I am also excited about the $1 ½ half million that I was able to bring home for design and planning of the new medical school that we’ll have on Mosaic’s campus for UMKC,” Shields says. “So, I think that all of our universities did well.”