Senate Appropriations Committee begins markup of House FY2026 budget; senator warns $300 million education shortfall

The Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee spent most of Tuesday reviewing thousands of line items in the Missouri House of Representatives' version of the fiscal 2026 state operating budget, Senator Lincoln Huff of Springfield said.

Senator Maggie Nirenburn of Kansas City, a committee member, said the House proposal underfunds schools and pledged to press for restoration. "The proposed budget is nearly $300,000,000 short of what we need to fully fund our neighborhood schools. My priority will be to restore the full funding that our foundation formula requires," Nirenburn said.

Committee chair Senator Lincoln Huff said three days were initially set aside for the review and the panel planned to "go through and mark up as many of the operating bills as we can." Huff cautioned that the committee might not finish its work in a single day and would try to proceed as far as possible during the allocated time.

The session included discussion of the potential next steps if the Senate and House versions diverge. The transcript notes that any changes could lead to a Missouri Senate-House conference committee to reconcile differences between the chambers. By law, the budget must be delivered to the executive branch no later than 6 p.m. on Friday, May 9, the transcript said.

No formal votes or final actions on specific line items were recorded in the transcript provided. Committee members instead began line-by-line review and signaled intent to continue markup over the days set aside.