Governor Mike Parson touted the state’s pandemic recovery and economic outlook during his annual State of the State speech yesterday.
"When other states will be filling spending gaps and budget shortfalls, we will be making investments in the future, because in Missouri, we took a commonsense approach to the pandemic, never shut our down businesses, and have always had a conservative and balanced budget," said Parson.
The governor also applauded the results of workforce development initiatives in Missouri and proposed a budget that uses both state money and federal American Rescue Plan funds to spend millions on strategies to strengthen the workforce.
Speaking from the Missouri State Capitol Parson stressed how investing in higher education supports the state’s economy and shared his plans to use American Rescue Plan funds for capital improvements on Missouri campuses.
“We are very proud to be able to increase our investments in higher education. We will recommend funding for the top capital improvements at state community colleges and four-year institution,” said Parson.
Additionally, Parson’s budget proposal includes a 51-million-dollar increase in core funding for Missouri’s higher education institutions and millions more for infrastructure projects throughout the state.
