Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Monday signed into law the series of bills that make up the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
The budget totals around $50.8 billion. That’s over $2 billion less than the amount lawmakers passed in May.
Included in this year’s budget is money to fully fund the state’s K-12 public education foundation formula. It also includes around $375 million to fully fund the state’s school transportation obligation.
One budget item Kehoe requested that made the final cut is $50 million toward the Empowerment Scholarship Account program, which allows families to get funding to send their children to the school of their choice, including private schools.
While Kehoe initially did not request money to fully fund the foundation formula, the full amount, which was added by the Senate, is in the final budget.
Vetoes within the education sector include $2.5 million for a literacy program in St. Louis.
Kehoe also vetoed over $3 million, including $1.6 million in general revenue, for teacher recruitment and retention state scholarships, saying the budget already included $800,000 for this program.
For higher education, Kehoe kept in 1.5% CPI increases for the state’s community, technical and four-year colleges.
The legislature attempted to increase that amount, but Kehoe vetoed the extra money.
Transportation dollars see hit through vetoes
In the released statement on the budget, Kehoe touted the $91 million in the budget allotted for rural road improvements across the state.
However, Kehoe also vetoed several state transportation projects.
His largest veto throughout the entire budget is over $1 billion to the Federal Road Fund Spending Authority for the Missouri Department of Transportation’s construction program.
In his veto letter, Kehoe said the legislation to create this fund failed to pass the General Assembly. He also said that not placing these funds into the State Road Fund could be a violation of state law.
In a similar fashion, Kehoe vetoed additional dollars that went into the Federal Road Fund Spending Authority.
Limited spending due to unforeseen expenses
According to Kehoe’s office, the $50.8 billion budget includes $15.4 billion in general revenue.
In the budget approved by the legislature, Kehoe’s office said nearly $775 million in new general revenue spending was added above the governor's budget recommendation.
Kehoe’s office said while the state “currently has a general revenue fund balance to absorb some of this imbalance in the short term, the current trajectory of state-level spending grows this imbalance, exhausts any remaining surplus.” That could lead to a budgetary shortfall based on revenue projections.
Additionally, the office said several budgetary items that were not originally planned by Kehoe have compounded the budget challenges the state is facing.
Those items include fully funding the state’s K-12 education formula and over $100 million for storm relief.
The office said while the need for storm relief is “undeniable, the cost must still be reconciled in the budgetary process.”
Kehoe also cited the legislature passing a bill that eliminates the capital gains tax in Missouri as another reason to reduce spending.
Kehoe issued 208 budget vetoes, which totaled nearly $300 million in general revenue money.
