Senate appropriations chair unveils 16‑bill operating package that restores cuts to education and services
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Summary
Sen. Greene, chair of the Senate Appropriations effort, presented a 16‑bill operating package that he says comes roughly $175 million under the governor’s general‑revenue recommendation while restoring $105 million in cuts to services for people with disabilities and fully funding the K–12 foundation formula.
SPRINGFIELD — The Senate Appropriations chair introduced a 16‑bill operating package on the floor Wednesday that he described as an alternative budget arriving roughly $175 million below the governor’s general‑revenue recommendation.
Senator from Greene explained the package during an extended floor explanation, saying it "fully funds the foundation formula" for K–12 education at about $4.473 billion and restores transportation and other categorical lines that the chair said the governor had proposed to reduce.
The package includes Senate Bill 17‑51 (the DESE budget), which the chair said funds the foundation formula and restores roughly $26 million previously restricted for pre‑K, $5 million for the teacher career ladder, and additional baseline salary grants. He also highlighted Senate Bill 17‑59, which he said restores roughly $105 million in cuts to the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Health and Senior Services that otherwise would have reduced rates for day habilitation and self‑directed care providers.
"This puts that $105 million back in so we won't have a wait list," the senator said on the floor, framing the restoration as preventing service interruptions for people with disabilities. He described the overall budget as not built on expected withholds or capital‑improvement laps that were included in the governor’s proposal.
Greene told colleagues the package also restores a 1.5 percentage point portion of a higher‑education core increase the governor had vetoed, roughly $15.7 million for two‑ and four‑year institutions, and included line items for MoDOT projects, transit assistance, and investments in targeted industrial zones.
During back‑and‑forth questioning, other senators pressed for detail on specific tradeoffs, including reductions connected to a long‑troubled Office of Administration IT upgrade known as the "mover" system. The chair said he had removed tens of millions for later phases of that IT project and used available bonding authority to restore a roughly $85 million package of capital projects on university campuses.
The bill package was informationally introduced on the floor; next steps will include committee reviews, fiscal analyses and votes as the budget moves through the legislative process.
The session recessed after additional floor business; the appropriations package will proceed through the usual committee and conference steps before any final adoption.