Missouri House fine-tunes state budget

The measure needs several more votes of approval to move to the Republican-led Senate.

The latest version of the budget includes close to $2 billion in federal funding to help K-12 schools recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including $75 million set aside to repay families for tutoring and other expenses aimed at helping students catch up.

Another $444 million is budgeted to prop up childcare services in the state. Public colleges and universities would get a 5.4% budget increase, not including extra money for building improvements and other projects.

Primarily Democratic critics decried Republicans for not spending enough money and leaving millions of federal dollars unspent.

“Yes, we’ve left a lot of money unexpended,” Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith said said. “We’ll get to that in time.

House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade warned that House Republicans’ efforts to budget cautiously and conservatively could be undone by senators hoping to earmark money for pet projects.

A Democratic amendment to help school districts pay for teacher raises, which Republican Gov. Mike Parson asked lawmakers to do earlier this year, failed.

The proposal would have set aside $100 million to subsidize teacher pay raises, with the state footing 70% of the costs and local school districts responsible for the other 30%.

The budget also would bar schools, colleges and other organizations that accept public funding from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a recent coronavirus test for access to ticketed events.

The provision drew bipartisan criticism from lawmakers who argued that it could penalize universities that host concerts by musicians who require attendees to be vaccinated.