Responsible Budget for Missouri Taxpayers

By Brian L. Baker

President Ronald Reagan once said, “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose -- somehow we win out” Once again, the Missouri Legislature debate and exchanged ideas on how to move Missouri forward and we completed the FY2009 budget.

In Missouri, we have a constitutional responsibility, and I believe, an ethical one, to balance our budget every year and spend within our means. Our budget for the next fiscal year comes in at 22.4 billion dollars, and I have taken every stand that I can to insure that every single dollar is being spent wisely.

But I will not mislead you. We still have spending issues in our state budget. I voted against several budget bills because I have concerns that we can do more to prioritize our spending. For example, our budget continues to provide 17 million dollars to stadiums. That is 17 million that could be used to help fund rising school transportation costs. Another budget concern is the continued subsidizing of ethanol. Citizens should be aware that researchers at Cornell University and the University of California-Berkeley say it takes 29% more fossil energy to turn corn into ethanol than the amount of fuel the process produces. Other studies show it does not improve fuel efficiency and is not reducing our dependency on oil. Missouri continues to provide massive subsidies (your tax-dollars) for ethanol. I am simply concerned about the wisdom of some of our spending.

Yet, the budget does bring some good news. First, during my six-year service we have not raised taxes. In fact, we have cut taxes for many Missourians, including seniors and veterans. We have helped promote a thriving economic climate by adding more jobs and new businesses improve our state revenue. This has let us keep taxes low for the average Missourian, but has also allowed us to continue providing essential services for Missourians across the state.

Improved efficiency in our state budget has aided in providing the state’s most essential service - education. As it is every year, one of the top priorities in our state budget is to ensure our young people have exceptional educational opportunities. The FY 2009 budget will allocate more than $5.3 billion in funding for elementary and secondary education – the largest education budget in Missouri history. This marks the sixth year in a row we have increased funding to our public schools. One of the key items contained in that increase is an additional $121 million for our Foundation Equity Formula that allocates funding to our public schools. Also included are:

• An increase of $2.5 million for Early Childhood Special Education that provides critical education services to the youngest Missourians who may have a developmental disability.


• Nearly $3.5 million additional funding for our A+ Schools Program, a high successful endeavor that helps to ensure Missouri students are prepared to pursue advanced education.


• $2.9 million increase to educate severely disabled children.


• $5.8 million for the Missouri Virtual School Program (MoVIP), which enables all schools to offer Missouri students equal access to a quality education using technology.

These increases exhibit our commitment once again to our system of education and will further enhance educational opportunities for K-12 students in Missouri.

One of the reasons we put more than 25 percent of our general revenue into funding elementary and secondary education is to help prepare Missouri students for the future – a future we hope includes further education. With the FY 2009 budget we also have made a commitment to enhancing funding for our institutions of higher learning.

• The budget for the first time includes more than $1 billion in state funds for higher education funding, including a $43 million increase to Missouri’s public two and four year institutions of higher education.


• We also allocated an additional $23.8 million for the Access Missouri Financial Assistance Program, bringing total funding to $95.8 million. We have raised the income cap for this program as well, which will allow even more middle-class Missouri families to have access to affordable higher education.

These increases will help support our universities while also making sure we help more students bear the financial burden associated with obtaining a college degree.

In addition to education funding, our budget includes additional dollars for many other programs that will benefit Missourians here at home and across our state. The Missouri Department of Transportation will receive $1.7 billion for road and bridge projects. The budget also includes $30 million for grants aimed at reducing death, injury, and property damage on state highways. Improvements that MoDOT has made over the past few years have led Missouri to have the largest decrease in traffic fatalities in the nation, and we want to continue our efforts to ensure the safety of the millions who drive on our roads and highways every day.

We also are continuing to work to provide health services for Missourians. Our budget contains $5.8 billion in total funding for Mo HealthNet, which reflects $420.4 million in new funding. This includes $4.8 million to expand health care coverage for children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and $13 million to provide access to health care coverage for low-income women. We have also approved $6.4 million to address the waitlist for services for autism treatment. Support for our veterans was also included as we provided $2.2 million for family support and housing assistance for homeless veterans.

With these and other programs we are giving vulnerable Missourians access to the services they need most while also making certain they are provided in a way that ensures optimal performance and accountability.

The budget once again includes $200 million for the Rainy Day Fund. Many of us remember the recent earthquake in Illinois and we remember the recent years of tornado damage. There is a need to plan for disaster. I am pleased we have been able to create a responsible budget that provides for current programs while also ensuring we will have a safety net for the future. As I leave the Missouri House and have completed my work, I know that I did my best to insure your tax dollars were distributed wisely. Yet, there is much work to be done in the future. Reagan was right “…if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose -- somehow we win out” We set our goals…we made progress…we will win out!