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House passes FY 2015 budget

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House of Representatives gave first-round approval to a series of budget bills today, setting in motion the passage of the state’s FY2015 budget.

Both parties worked quickly and under strict timetables to move though a slew of appropriations bills, almost all sponsored by House Budget Chairman Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, that will eventually form the state’s operating budget for the next year.

Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood
Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood

Early debate centered largely around bills funding primary, secondary and higher education, before eventually coming to a head in a contentious floor debate over Medicaid expansion.

Rep. Vicki Englund, D-St. Louis, moved for an amendment to strip funding for charter schools from the budget. The amendment was ultimately defeated. On the Republican side, Rep. Bryan Spencer, R-Wentzville, looked to amend the budget for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to prohibit funds associated with common core. That amendment was largely symbolic, as it focused on prohibiting federal grant money for the common core program. Currently, there are no federal grants associated with common core.

“I’ve actually been in classrooms where they are teaching common core and it is working,” Englund said of Spencer’s amendment. “If we undo that we are undoing the good work that school districts like mine are doing.”

The budget for DESE tops $3.1 billion and higher education will receive just under $1 billion, both exceeding allocations in recent years. Lawmakers and Gov. Jay Nixon will still have to reconcile the difference in their consensus revenue estimates before ultimately signing any bills.

During debate for the Department of Social Services, Rep. Jill Schupp, D-St. Louis, offered an amendment to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Democrats rose on the floor to call the issue the state’s top priority while Republicans chided the proposal as fiscally irresponsible.

The House approved more than a dozen appropriations bills comprising the entire state budget. The bills are now before the Senate where the chamber is expected to act on them in the next two weeks.