Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe delivers State of the State Address

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Missouri’s new Gov. Mike Kehoe laid out his plans for this year in his first State of the State address.

Missouri’s state revenue is shrinking, and some departments are already falling victim. Kehoe issued an executive order to rewrite the K through 12 education foundation formula, after proposing a budget that falls 300 million dollars short of fully funding it.

“Throwing more money at the problem is not the solution,” Kehoe said. “We have invested over $4 billion in K12 education and we still aren’t seeing acceptable results across the state.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Ashley Aune opened her response to the State of the State address with a jab at Kehoe for this decision.

“Right out of the gate, the new istration is planning to retreat from its commitment to public education by failing to fully fund K-12 schools,” Aune said.

The state is predicting a 0.6% decrease in revenue this fiscal year; that comes as one-time federal funds from the pandemic are no longer in the mix. The non-partisan research group Missouri Budget Project also attributes falling revenue to income tax cuts put into place a few years ago.

Income tax makes up about 59% of the state revenue, but Kehoe wants to cut it even more.

“It won’t be easy. It will take time, but I have directed the Missouri Department of Revenue to work with my staff on a sustainable and comprehensive plan to eliminate the individual income tax once and for all,” Kehoe said.

This also comes as state budget makers are thrown into confusion by President Trump’s decision to pull back federal loans and grants. State budget makers were as surprised as everyone else about this order and say it’s too soon to know the effects. Kehoe did not address the potential shortfall in his address.

“To listen to the governor stand up there today and discuss his budget priorities while ignoring the fact that we may have an enormous hole just blown into our budget by the federal government I think is very concerning,” Aune said.

Kehoe’s proposed budget is about $53.7 billion dollars, which is about $500 million more than last year’s budget. Kehoe left $1.5 billion unspent in his budget plan.