Missouri Lawmakers Approve State Budget

Budget bills making up state operating budget for Fiscal Year 2025 now head to governor's desk

With hours to spare before their constitutional deadline of 6pm on May 10, lawmakers put their final stamp of approval on the budget bills that make up the state's operating budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Totaling more than $50 billion, the budget passed by lawmakers provides funding for state departments and services. Overall, the state's spending plan for FY 2025 increases funding for education and provides additional resources for infrastructure projects throughout the state.

Senator Lincoln Hough discusses one of the budget bills on the floor of the Missouri Senate. Photo courtesy of Sen. Lincoln Hough’s office.

"The end product is a good, sound, fiscally responsible, conservative and prioritized budget," said Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield.

From an education perspective, the 2025 state budget provides $3.78 billion to fully fund the state's K-12 education foundation formula. It also appropriates additional funding for public K-12 schools to raise the starting salary of teachers to $40,000 a year. In terms of higher education, lawmakers gave public higher education institutions a 3 percent increase in core funding.

In 2023, lawmakers approved a plan to rebuild and widen Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City. Building on the I-70 project, the General Assembly signed off on more than $727 million in funding to expand and improve I-44, specifically targeting areas near Joplin, Rolla and Springfield.

Members of the Missouri Senate work on the budget bills that make up the state’s spending plan for Fiscal Year 2025. Photo courtesy of Sen. Lincoln Hough’s office.

"In this budget, we've made investments in communities all over the state," said Hough. "We've made investments in teachers, education, higher education, workforce development and a whole host of infrastructure projects — things that folks back home actually expect their government to take care of."

Additionally, the 2025 state operating budget includes a 3.2 percent pay increase for state employees, plus additional raises for workers at prisons, mental health facilities and state veterans' homes. The budget now heads to the governor's desk for his consideration. While the governor cannot add items to the state spending plan for 2025, he does have the ability to cut projects passed by lawmakers in the budget. The upcoming fiscal year begins on July 1, 2025.