The Missouri House will spend a large part of this week passing its version of the state budget. Lawmakers will spend a maximum of six hours debating the budget on the House floor Tuesday. The body will then pass it out of the chamber Thursday. “I think you'll see a budget that shows that we're committed to funding all the needs of Missourians, but also something that is fiscally responsible but meets our obligations,” House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, said. According to Patterson, the House’s version of the budget is a little under $49 billion, which is roughly $5.8 billion less than Gov. Mike Kehoe requested in his initial version of the budget. Patterson highlighted some aspects of the House-proposed budget last week, including raises for police officers and funding the obligations listed in a wide-ranging education law that legislators passed last session . However, the budget does fall short in providing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with the full amount it requested for its funding formula for public schools. Kehoe said during his State of the State address that his proposed budget provided $300 million less than DESE asked for. Patterson said the legislature is still funding education at record levels. “I think my takeaway from the budget is we are providing schools with record funding. Does it meet the definition of fully funding the foundation formula? I think it's been said enough that we're not doing that, but it is record funding,” Patterson said. Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, said this reduction in the foundation formula is one of the larger frustrations in this year’s budget. “Fully funding public education is one of the most important things we do in this body, and we'll leave a lasting legacy for all children back home,” Fogle said. Fogle also said she was disappointed in the House’s decision to remove federal dollars for child care that Kehoe’s office proposed. Once the budget passes the House this week, it will go to the Missouri Senate, where it will likely undergo changes. Last year, the legislature did not have time to have conference committees between the chambers on the budget bills before the deadline. Patterson said he believes there will be conference committees this year. Fogle said that on a procedural basis, the work on the budget couldn’t have gone better this session. “We have put our heads down and sat in that budget room for hundreds of hours, which I really appreciate, and have reverted to the old way of going through the budget, line by line, which I know is quite time consuming, but I think the right thing to do when we're talking about a $50 billion budget,” Fogle said.
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