JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Lawmakers gaveled in for the 2024 legislative session Wednesday afternoon with hopes to continue working on many of the priorities that didn’t make it to the finish line last year.
More than 1,400 bills had already been filed by Wednesday. Those bills have until May 17 to make it across the finish line. Budget bills must be passed even earlier.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers from Columbia identified education as an early priority. Of course, the different parties have different ideas on what is best for Missouri education.
Like many Missouri Republicans, Sen. Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) said school choice is one of his top priorities. School choice is a policy that would allow families to use public funding to either switch public schools or send their children to a private school. Advocates for school choice had some success recently, but only in certain regions of the state.
“Education reform has kind of just been the thing that I’ve really been the most passionate about for the last number of years,” said Rowden, who is part of the Senate Republican leadership. He touted moves toward allowing school choice — public funding for private school tuition.
Some Missouri Democrats support school choice. However, the party is split on the issue. Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) said he wants to ensure public schools are properly funded and fight against what he called the bullying of Columbia Public Schools.
“There’s always a war on public schools,” Smith said. “And so one of the things I want to do is make sure that we protect them. We don’t underfund them. We don’t defund them. You know, right now, nationally, Missouri’s at the bottom of the list as far as the funding of public schools.”
Rowden is entering his last year in the Missouri Senate. One thing he’s proud to get done is funding the expansion of Interstate 70 and the improvement of the I-70-Highway 63 connector.
“If I’m being honest, I never thought I’d be able to do it,” Rowden said.
Some factors are working against the legislature this year. A smaller budget for fiscal 2025, at only $35 billion compared to last year’s record-breaking $50 billion, will mean fewer lawmakers’ priorities can be included.
This year is also an election year, and several outspoken members of the Missouri legislature are running for higher positions such as governor. Many lawmakers and even the governor expressed some expectations that political grandstanding may occur at the expense of productivity.
“As past history goes, normally in a political year, not a whole lot of stuff happens. You know, I think the main goal this year is probably try to get the budget done,” said Gov. Mike Parson.
The Senate Republicans are once again divided. The Freedom Caucus returned, one year after it disbanded. Wednesday, some members of the Freedom Caucus held the Senate floor, already filibustering.
“Everyone says it’s going to be chaos, right?” Smith said. “And so the trick is to be able to work through that and hopefully get something done that’s good for the people.”