Governor Eric Greitens Changes Education Budget

Eric Greitens was elected as Missouri governor during the 2016 governor election and took office January 9th, 2017.

Since taking office, Governor Greitens has made headlines for budget cuts in his 2017-2018 Missouri budget across many government programs. Totaling approximately $250 million in total cuts, including $15 million from public school transportation budgets, specifically busing costs. According to Governor Greitens, the budget cuts were necessary because Missouri state tax revenue was coming in slower than it was expected to.

Fair Grove School’s Superintendent Mike Bell stated, “Governor Greitens has cut about $15 million from the transportation budget, but that is misleading because the previous administration had already withheld the money.” Governor Greitens had only made the transportation cut final to the budget. Superintendent Bell added that the education budget as a whole for K-12 schools has been increased by $48 million. With the increased budget, Fair Grove Schools have been able to to increase the base salary of all teachers by $500 as well as increase the hourly wages of non-salary employees by 50 cents. As stated by Mr. Bell, the extra funds from the budget will be evenly distributed across the entirety of the school.

“Most importantly, we have been able to put more money into the student budget. Before Prop C, we were 3rd from the bottom in the state for how much spent per student. The additional funds will be able to increase this,” commented Mr. Bell. The money cut from the transportation budget was replaced in part by the added funds from the passing of Prop C; along with being able to get three new buses, some of the school’s facilities were improved upon.

Mr. Bell noted that,” Governor Greitens has protected K-12 education financially and we will see the impact moving forward toward the end of 2017.”