www.kansascity.com 05 11 2008 Missouri budget falls short on education, health care

Missouri lawmakers last week finished work on a state budget that will lead to hard times. State spending will increase at a faster rate than tax collections are expected to grow.& One watchdog, the Missouri Budget Project, estimates that the state will be nearly $500 million in the red by 2010.& Still, legislative support for several valuable programs was inadequate.

A $121 million increase in basic aid to schools is not enough to fund many districts with quality programs. Lawmakers also included no new money to offset rising fuel costs for school buses.& In higher education, legislators missed an opportunity to help state universities train more health-care workers for underserved areas.&

Because lawmakers refused to look at new revenue sources to improve funding for education and other important programs, their efforts fell short in most areas this year.& For instance, lawmakers approved a slight increase in the state's child-care assistance program to help low-income parents. But more would have been much better.

Child care is a costly item in many family budgets, and state help is a necessity for low-income workers.& The General Assembly gets another chance with still-pending legislation to set up a quality rating system for child-care centers. The bill includes a substantive increase in child-care subsidies, too. But the funding would be up to next year's legislature.&

Slight improvements in foster-care and adoption subsidies will be helpful, but likely won't go far enough to raise Missouri from ranking near the bottom of states.& Gov. Matt Blunt deep-sixed his own admirable plan to improve health coverage for workers after taking himself out of the running for re-election shortly after the session opened.

Although lawmakers may consider an alternative this week, a rough draft of the proposal appears to fall far short of the governor's plan.& Lawmakers even refused to restore dental services to Medicaid.& In one bright spot for kids, lawmakers voted to allow community health centers and rural clinics to treat children who are presumed to be eligible for the state children's health program, but who aren't enrolled.&

A couple more good moves: A law that penalized Kansans who work in Missouri on their income taxes was repealed, although this should have been done more quickly. And Democrats beat back attempts to cut the voter-approved minimum wage for tipped workers.& There still is time to pass a stronger Sunshine Law to prevent government officials from closing records or meetings.& The state constitution requires legislators to end their work at 6 p.m. Friday.&

They should «em»not« em» waste precious time on proposals that would:« p»«p»& 8226;Allow unlimited individual campaign contributions.& 8226;Increase highway billboard blight.&

8226;Restrict the judiciary, and« p»«p»& 8226; Require photo identification to vote.& Leaders should put their final work days to good use on legislation that helps those most in need.& What's your opinion? How do you grade the Missouri General Assembly? Go to voices.KansasCity.com.& Matt Blunt damaged his health-care plan's chance of passage when he announced that he would not seek re-election.

State spending will increase at a faster rate than tax collections are expected to grow. One watchdog, the Missouri Budget Project, estimates that the state will be nearly $500 million in the red by 2010. Lawmakers also included no new money to offset rising fuel costs for school buses. In higher education, legislators missed an opportunity to help state universities train more health-care workers for underserved areas.

Because lawmakers refused to look at new revenue sources to improve funding for education and other important programs, their efforts fell short in most areas this year. Child care is a costly item in many family budgets, and state help is a necessity for low-income workers. But the funding would be up to next year's legislature.

Slight improvements in foster-care and adoption subsidies will be helpful, but likely won't go far enough to raise Missouri from ranking near the bottom of states. Although lawmakers may consider an alternative this week, a rough draft of the proposal appears to fall far short of the governor's plan. Lawmakers even refused to restore dental services to Medicaid.

In one bright spot for kids, lawmakers voted to allow community health centers and rural clinics to treat children who are presumed to be eligible for the state children's health program, but who aren't enrolled. And Democrats beat back attempts to cut the voter-approved minimum wage for tipped workers.

There still is time to pass a stronger Sunshine Law to prevent government officials from closing records or meetings. Friday. They should not waste precious time on proposals that would: & 8226;Allow unlimited individual campaign contributions. 8226;Increase highway billboard blight. 8226;Restrict the judiciary, and & 8226; Require photo identification to vote. Leaders should put their final work days to good use on legislation that helps those most in need.

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