In Missouri over the last several weeks, the House has been working very hard on many issues including election reform bills, initiative petition reform, and several public safety issues. However, we have spent the most time on the state budget, and because of that, I’ll concentrate on budget issues this report.
But before we talk about budget, I’ll highlight a very special trip that Sandy and I went on during spring break. We attended our son’s graduation ceremony from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Matthew Paul Evans graduated with honors and was selected to be an airborne cryptologic linguist. Our family is very proud of his achievements and his commitment to serving his country.
Getting back to the budget, I’m honored to serve on the budget committee with my good friend and committee chair, Cody Smith. Sadly, a couple of senators recently publicly criticized our chair as being “irresponsible” and “incompetent” and bragging that the “Senate always wins” on budget issues. The truth is that Cody is one of the most honorable human beings I know-a great guy. He, the House budget staff, and the committee tirelessly worked day and night to finish the budget.
The House did spend additional time working on the budget this year but for a very good reason. The federal government has been sending out a whole lot of “free” money. Missouri has received over 10 billion dollars in additional one time “free” COVID relief funds. For the upcoming budget year (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023), our state budget has risen over 30 %. Last year’s budget was approximately 35 billion. The 2023 budget is over $46 billion. To the majority of us on budget, it’s a smart and prudent thing to take a little more time to carefully manage this huge amount of new funds from the federal government. I’ve written about excessive federal spending before. Missouri requires a balanced budget, and the federal government must as well.
The following figures are highlights from the budget now out of the House and heading to the Senate. Public school funding (K-12) in Missouri from federal and state sources is increased this budget year to over 2.6 billion dollars. Noting one increase, the House budget restarts the teacher Career Ladder program (merit based increases for all teachers) with a new expenditure of 15.7 million dollars.
We also increased spending for two good early education programs. Funding for First Step is increased 9.4 million dollars and Parents As First Teachers by 5.8 million dollars. Of special interest to public safety folks, I’ll note that we added over 10 million new dollars to criminal task force grants that have been underfunded for many years. We also budgeted over $250 million new dollars for rural broadband, and finally, we set aside roughly 1.2 billion dollars of the federal relief funds for future needs as a “rainy day fund.” We’ll see what the Senate now does with our hard work to create a fiscally conservative budget.
To wrap up for now, I just spent an afternoon at the Willow Springs High School talking to students. We had a great discussion on current issues, and I was extremely impressed with our future leaders. Special thanks for the invite to students Marjorie Sheehan and Isabella Davis.
It is my honor to be your representative and to speak for your common sense values. If you would like to schedule a specific time to meet locally or at the Capitol, please call my office at 573-751-1455, or email my office at david.evans@house.mo.gov. Please watch the House website for updates on bills and resolutions, and remember, you can offer your testimony and your opinion on-line through that same site.
