© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Missouri Senate Committee Begins Reviewing State Budget Passed By House

Credit Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio

Budget writers in the Missouri Senate have begun their review of the state's spending plan for Fiscal Year 2015.

On Monday, the Senate Appropriations Committee  chose to stick with the House's proposal to have a two-tiered spending plan for the state's K-12 schools. The plan offers two budget figures — one based on Republicans' predictions for revenue growth for the upcoming year; the other based on projections from , a Democrat. If the governor's "rosier projections" hold true, K-12 spending would increase by $278 million next year.  If they do not, public school spending would go up by only $115 million, based on changes made by Senate budget writers. That's $7 million less than the $122 million increase being sought by the House. The Senate's budget committee is chaired by Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia.

"The governor put the House, and us, in a position to make it look like (there would be) money (available) that he budgeted, that clearly is never going to be there," Schaefer said.  "That's from the governor's completely artificial belief that(general revenue)wasgoinggrow at 5.9 percent…. We just finished the (1st) quarter (of 2014) at 1.7 (percent, and) we're at 1.3 today."

Schaefer also accused the governor of basing his version of the budget on his desire to expand Medicaid.

Nixon "lit this budget up like a Christmas tree," Schaefer said, "so what we had to do was go back and see, OK, what really can be funded and what was just a Christmas present that was put out there as an inducement to do Medicaid expansion."

Meanwhile, Schaefer and other Senate budget writers plan to increase funding for universities and community colleges by 5 percent, instead of the 3 percent approved by the House. Nixon's proposal contains a 5 percent spending hike for universities and 4 percent for community colleges.  Committee members also chose to allot $33 million to build a new home for the Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will resume its review of the state budget on Tuesday.  The full Senate will vote later on the recommendations being made this week, and a final version of the state budget has to be voted on and sent to Nixon by May 9.

Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter:   @MarshallGReport

Copyright 2020 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit .

Marshall Griffin is the Statehouse reporter for St. Louis Public Radio.
Marshall Griffin
St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.