MISSOURI — The members of the Missouri House of Representatives have given their stamp of approval to a $46.5 billion state operating budget. The state spending plan, which received support from both sides of the aisle, makes a record investment in the state’s system of education while also allocating funds to help the state’s most vulnerable citizens, pay for road improvements and repairs, invest in water and broadband infrastructure, and bolster the state’s reserve fund.

By approving the spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, lawmakers provided full funding for the state’s K-12 foundation formula. In total, House members approved nearly $10.1 billion in funding for K-12 education, which represents an increase of more than $2.6 billion in funding when compared to the previous budget. That increase is fueled primarily by an additional $2.4 billion in federal funding. The plan also works to improve teacher pay by allocating approximately $37.4 million to revive the Career Ladder program. Additionally, the House plan invests $75 million in Close the Gap grants that will help Missouri families address the learning loss that occurred as a result of the pandemic.

House members also boosted funding for the state’s institutions of higher learning. The higher education funding plan is increased by nearly $55 million when compared to the previous budget. That increase includes nearly $43 million in new funding for the state’s four-year institutions, and more than $8 million in new spending for the state’s community colleges. The House budget also works to make college more affordable for Missouri students by increasing funding for the A+ Scholarship Program by $6 million and the Access Missouri Scholarship Program by $9 million, which fully funds the program for the first time. The budget plan also includes an additional $3.5 million for the Bright Flight Scholarship program, which fully funds the program to provide full scholarships to the top 5 percent of test takers.

The budget approved by the House also makes a strong investment in the state’s transportation infrastructure. The spending plan allocates nearly $248 million in new funding from the State Road Fund, which is used for maintenance and construction for roads and bridges. That plan includes $100 million for rural roads around the state that have fallen into disrepair. Additionally, the plan allocates $75 million in federal funds for the Transportation Cost-Share Program that partners with local municipalities to fund road repairs. The state’s Amtrak service also receives funding that will allow it to resume twice-daily rail service across the state.

The House-approved spending plan also provides substantive increases to many of the programs that serves the state’s most vulnerable citizens. The budget provides for nearly $300 million for rate increases for home and community-based service providers. It also provides more than $26 million in new funding for the state’s Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), and an additional $15.1 million for the AAAs to expand meal production capacity. The House budget also increases funding for the Veterans Health and Care Fund by more than $6 million to help further support the state’s veterans’ homes. Other funding increases include $20 million for the Children’s Trust Fund for grant programs that will assist children who are victims of sexual abuse and neglect, $2.2 million for Alternatives to Abortion, and $5.8 million for autism diagnostic centers.

While the budget approved by the House provides record funding in a number of areas, the plan also represents a reduction in spending of approximately $1.1 billion when compared to the plan recommended by the governor. The House Budget Chairman chose to scale back some of the spending increases proposed by the governor in order to ensure the state has a healthy bottom line. The House budget plan leaves more than $1.8 billion in general revenue unspent.

The vice chairman of the House Budget Committee said the budget approved by the House “will be billions more than the budget before it, and there’s only so much money you can spend responsibly within a given fiscal year, and I think we’ve struck that balance.”

One House member who supported the plan said the state legislature should not be like Washington, D.C. by throwing cash at every program. He said, “The same folks who are on the floor right now telling us we need to spend every dime that we have access to right now will be the same folks who, when we hit a downturn, will tell us we’ve mismanaged these dollars. Passing a conservative budget right now is incredibly important.” He added, “We need to make sure that we’re being responsible with the dollars we have access to, the billions we have access to today.”

The chairman of the House Budget Committee told his colleagues, “This budget, while it is the state’s largest in history, uses a lot of the federal money we’ve been sent to prioritize things like education and various infrastructures like water infrastructure and broadband infrastructure. We’ve spent a long time trying to plan and make sure that money is invested as wisely as it can be.”

The budget bills approved by the House now move to the Senate for consideration. The two chambers have until Friday, May 6 to come to a final agreement on the state operating budget.

Rep. Perkins meeting with Colonel John Clark on the House Floor. Colonel Clark was a POW in North Vietnam from March of ’67 to Feb of ’73. It was an honor to welcome this hero to Capitol.

House Approves Legislation to Require Holocaust Education Week (HB 2000)

Members of the House gave overwhelming bipartisan approval to a piece of legislation that would ensure Missouri students receive appropriate instruction about the Holocaust. The bill would designate the second week in April as “Holocaust Education Week.”

Supporters of the measure say recent studies have shown an alarming decline in awareness of the Holocaust. Studies have also found that a substantial majority of Missourians favor instruction on the history of the Holocaust. Supporters say it is becoming more urgent to increase education and awareness about the horrific events that resulted in the genocide of nearly 6 million European Jews.

HB 2000 requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop a curriculum framework of instruction for studying the Holocaust. The Department will then make the framework available to school districts beginning in the 2023-24 school year. The second week in April will officially be Holocaust Education Week, but the bill gives school districts the flexibility to provide age-appropriate Holocaust education instruction during any week.

The sponsor of the bill said, “With this legislation we’re simply establishing a week for the schools to teach about the Holocaust. When it comes to teaching the Holocaust there are many different ways for it to be taught. It does not necessarily just need to be taught in history. There are many other forms of teaching that can be used. It can be used in music even. It can be used in art.” He added, “We’re not just mandating it for history, but broadly across all educational materials.”

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