BY: RUDI KELLER
Missouri Independent
The Senate Appropriations Committee boosted funding to the foundation formula and this week will finish amending the $48 billion spending plan approved in the Missouri House
The Missouri Senate will debate a state budget that adds large sums to public education, endorses Gov. Mike Kehoe’s longevity raise plan in full and sets up a showdown between two powerful lawmakers over earmarked projects for their districts.
To get the bills to the full Senate, appropriations staff will have to overcome or work around a faulty new software system that crashed Tuesday while the Senate Appropriations Committee took a lunch break. Chairman Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield, said staff would use spreadsheets to track changes that were lost when the $100 million system malfunctioned.
He also cut $13 million from the Office of Administration, which signed off on the software system, to show his anger with the problems.
Despite the difficulties, the committee on Tuesday finished amending nine of the 13 budget bills that pay for the day-to-day operations of state government. When passed in the House, the 13 bills proposed spending just under $48 billion.
For public schools, the Senate plan will include almost $300 million more than recommended by Kehoe in his January budget proposal or the Missouri House was willing to spend. The money will fully fund the state foundation formula by matching the state adequacy target — how much high-performing districts spend per student.
The foundation formula was given $3.7 billion for the current year with an adequacy target of $6,760. The calculation made in 2023 shows it should be $7,145 for the coming year.
“I’ve been very, very on the record in a number of ways, saying that if we’re going to pass legislation, and we know that there’s costs associated with it, we’re going to pay the bill when it comes due,” Hough said.
The budget actions taken Tuesday did not include many offsetting cuts large enough to cover the $300 million item. One possible cut that would provide a portion of the money was not discussed Tuesday.
Kehoe requested — and the House endorsed — $50 million in general revenue to expand a scholarship program for private school students called MoScholars that is supposed to be funded from donations and tax credits.
The money would be spent in the state Treasurer’s budget, where MoScholars program is housed. That budget will be discussed Wednesday and Hough would not say what he intended to do.
The move to spend more on public schools is sure to win support among Democrats, and many Republicans have said they feel the same as Hough. Kehoe in January said he would establish a bipartisan commission to study the current formula.
State Sen. Karla May, a Democrat from St. Louis, said she welcomes the additional funding but feels it is not enough. The most recent changes to the formula were designed to reduce its cost.
“We’ve got to figure out for our state, you know, what is the actual cost to educate our students?” May said in an interview after the committee adjourned. “We want a very intelligent Missouri, and we’ve got to figure that out for every school district.”
The committee also included $107 million Kehoe requested in new federal funding for child care to revise how providers are paid. Instead of being paid based on attendance at the end of a month, providers would get their money at the beginning of the month based on the number of children enrolled.
The current system, where payment comes at the end of the month based on days of attendance for each child, has been plagued by missed and delayed reimbursements since a new software program was launched.
Other changes to the budget Wednesday include:
- Increasing the base funding for each college and university by 3% rather than the 1.5% recommended by Kehoe and approved in the House. The Senate budget plan cuts $28 million the House approved for one-time maintenance needs.
- Restoring Kehoe’s full longevity pay plan of a 1% raise for every two years of state employment, capped at a 10% raise. The House had cut the plan in half, allowing 1% for every two years up to 10 years.
- Diverting federal highway aid from the State Road Fund to a new Federal Road Fund. The move would reduce by hundreds of millions of dollars the funds under the direct control of the Highways and Transportation Commission and mirrors a change mandated by legislation that passed the Senate this week.
The committee will finish its work Wednesday, Hough said as the panel adjourned. The remaining spending bills allocate money for the state health, mental health and social services departments as well as the judiciary, elected officials and the General Assembly.
Committee staff will be given a week to produce revised bills that can be debated, with the week starting April 29 set aside for debate by the full Senate, Hough said.
Just before the committee began meeting, the Missouri House gave first-round approval to three additional spending bills for construction and maintenance projects. There were few changes in the bills that spend almost $4 billion and include 45 new earmarked items.
About half of that amount is in a bill using American Rescue Plan Act funds and state revenue for projects approved in previous years.
All spending bills must be approved by May 9.
Including the three capital appropriation bills, the House added 148 earmarked items costing $289 million, all but $27.5 million coming from general revenue. In the rapid-fire run through budget lines, Hough announced cuts from House earmarks and the addition of Senate items, cutting and spending amounts that could not be tracked as fast as he spoke.
The House Budget Committee releases a list of proposed changes as it begins the amending session. The Senate Appropriations Committee did not provide a master list for the assembled department officials and staff, lobbyists and reporters who watched the proceedings.
For each item, Hough generally had one of three responses to staff announcing a line — the “House position” or “Governor’s position” or one of those plus new items.
The speed showed Hough had discussed each earmarked item with its backers and made sure no one else objected well ahead of the meeting. There was rarely a murmur about any decision he made.
May, the senior Democrat on the committee, said she was satisfied with the decisions.
“We have got an excellent system, and we move very quickly,” May said.
The challenge over earmarks was set up by House Budget Committee Chairman Dirk Deaton, a Republican from Noel.
During committee work, Deaton moved a large number of Department of Transportation projects approved in previous years to a reappropriation bill. Keeping them in the MoDOT bill added to its apparent size when the items represented the remaining money on unfinished multi-year projects.
But instead of shifting $8 million to rehabilitate a historic footbridge in Springfield to the reappropriation bill, Deaton cut it. In retaliation Tuesday, Hough cut $19 million Deaton added to buy land for a state park in McDonald County where he lives.
First came the footbridge. As appropriation staff announced the cut, Hough’s eyes opened in mock surprise.
“Well, that’s changed,” Hough said. “We’re putting it back in.”
After lunch, the committee worked on the Department of Natural Resources budget, where the park money was added. The park funds were not recommended by Kehoe and a similar item was vetoed last year by then-Gov. Mike Parson.
As the staff reached the line, “governor’s position” was all Hough said.