GOP - Education is priority

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republicans agree with Gov. Bob Holden on at least one thing: Education is their top priority this legislative session.

In a response to Holden's State of the State address Wednesday, House Minority Leader Catherine Hanaway said education must be supported despite a tight budget.

"Priority one for our state is education. We must fully fund the foundation formula," Hanaway, of Warson Woods, said with Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, by her side.

"Though these are trying times, the state of our state is strong," Hanaway said, "because our people are strong, their resolve is firm, and their goodness will overcome all obstacles placed in our way."

Hanaway said Republicans would support additional funding for education by creating a classroom trust fund, where money from gambling revenues could be placed.

"Not only would schools receive additional funding as the voters intended, but this money would go directly to schools on a per pupil basis, bypassing state bureaucracy," Hanaway said.

Stimulus plan missing

Kinder said he had several concerns, especially in areas that Holden did not discuss during his speech. He cited the need for a transportation funding plan and an economic stimulus package.

Hanaway said the state's revenue forecasters are partly to blame for the budget problems.

"This illogical process of over-budgeting and repeated withholdings may not have been necessary if our state budget process used more conservative revenue estimates, if we did not appropriate every penny we expected to receive, and if state government were more efficient," she said.

Tobacco funds use

While Hanaway conceded that Holden had "inherited a difficult situation," she said his recommended solutions were akin to "balancing our budget on a house of cards."

Hanaway said she was disappointed that Holden decided to use $63.5 million of Missouri's tobacco settlement funds to help reduce the budget crunch.

"Just like gambling revenues are expected to go to education, Missourians expected our tobacco settlement funds to advance health care, life sciences, and smoking prevention and cessation programs," Hanaway said.

Hanaway also said Republicans would push for election reforms recommended by Republican Secretary of State Matt Blunt that stress protection against voter fraud.

"What Secretary of State Blunt is asking for is simple: legislation to ensure that it is easy as possible to vote legally and as difficult as possible to vote illegally," Hanaway said.

Another priority for Republican is property tax changes, which Hanaway said would best help elderly Missourians, many of whom have seen their assessments increase dramatically in the last year.

Republican lawmakers have proposed to freeze property taxes for people age 65 and older on fixed incomes and cap the level of annual assessment increases for all other homeowners.

"We will not prosper as a state by penalizing home ownership and overburdening our seniors," Hanaway said.

Senate Minority Floor Leader Ed Quick, D-Liberty, praised Holden's speech and urged Republicans to offer their own solutions to the state's current budget situation.

"We do have a problem but we're all part of the problem," Quick said. "If you don't like what's going on, offer something else."