Divisions are emerging among Missouri state lawmakers over the fiscal 2027 budget the House passed last Tuesday.
The $50.3 billion House budget would close an approximately $2 billion deficit by using much of the surplus in the general fund and revamp the state's approach to higher education funding while keeping the level of funding the same from 2026.
"This is a fiscally conservative budget that moves us in the right direction," Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Seneca, the chairman of the House budget committee, said at a
There is less spending in fiscal 2027 than in fiscal 2026, he said, "which is appropriate and necessary… Trying to balance a budget, it's all hard decisions. There's no easy decisions."
A staffer for Deaton said he is not responding to media requests and referred questions to a press release, the existence of which The Bond Buyer and a House communications staffer were unable to verify.
Republicans have massive majorities in both houses of Missouri's legislature, and Gov. Mike Kehoe is a Republican.
The House budget "shortchanges public education while increasing taxpayer funding for private schools. It attempts a radical, on-the-fly overhaul of how we fund higher education, and it makes devastating cuts to state childcare programs. But it could have been much worse," said Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, at the House Democrats' press conference following the budget's passage of the House.
Aune pointed to the reversal of proposed cuts to services for people with developmental disabilities, which were in Kehoe's $54.5 billion fiscal 2027
The minority leader criticized a "logical disconnect among members of the majority party," who talk about the need for deep budget cuts, "then they immediately turn around and pass dozens of bills that will increase the costs of state government," she said.
"We've got to spend less money," Deaton said at the Republicans' press conference. "Got to have discipline. Can't be all things to all people. The General Assembly probably should stop passing bills with fiscal notes attached… The General Assembly needs to proceed with caution when it comes to fiscal policy."
Education policy was possibly the most divisive element of the House budget, with Deaton's plan to change higher education funding reportedly landing poorly in the Senate. The House budget calls for the total funding to be divided among community colleges and four-year institutions based on student enrollment.
One influential Senate Republican, Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, called the House higher ed plan "a complete joke," the
Deaton seemed aware in the press conference that his higher ed plan faced an uphill battle. "It's their prerogative… just like it is ours to look at that," he said of the Senate. "I certainly look forward to having conversations with our Senate colleagues about that… because I think it's high time to do something different."
In the Democrats' press conference, Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, said the House Republicans' plan underfunds the K-12 school foundation formula and advances "the continued march toward privatization of our educational system.
"We felt some pain the budget room," Fogle said in the press conference. "Those cuts and that pain are only going to get worse in the next few fiscal years, especially if we continue to have a conversation about the complete elimination of the income tax."
Republicans in Missouri are trying to pass a constitutional amendment that would exchange the state's income tax, which generates about $8.5 billion of general revenue, for expanded sales taxes.
"It sounds appealing to say that people aren't going to pay income tax; it does not sound appealing to give this body blanket authority to increase the sales tax and increase the taxation on services to whatever they see fit for the next three years," Fogle said. "I stand opposed to any effort to increase the tax rate on working families and decrease those for the top 1%."
Fogle did not respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment, nor did Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Missouri's general obligation bonds are rated triple-A across the board.
