JEFFERSON CITY — On Tuesday, State Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, offered an amendment to fully fund the Foundation Formula for the first time in state history by adding $45 million in general revenue dollars back into the education budget bill: House Bill 2. With the support of a bipartisan group of senators, the amendment passed. The House budget originally included the $45 million, but the money was later removed by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“For more than a decade now, the Legislature has been talking about fully funding the formula, but that’s all it’s been — talk,” said Romine. “After all these years and countless conversations that’ve gone nowhere, I felt it was important for my Senate colleagues and I to at least get the opportunity to vote on whether we’re going to fully fund it. So I offered an amendment to restore the House’s $45 million in funding. In doing so, we finally got the chance to put a stake into the ground as to what education means to us as lawmakers.
“At the end of the day, education is a nonpartisan issue, which is why it speaks volumes there was an almost equal number of Republican and Democratic senators who believed this was the right thing to do for Missouri’s children, and now was the right time to do it.
“While some have been critical of my decision to offer a budget amendment during floor debate, I say this is proof that making education funding a priority and getting away from playing politics is what our constituents voted us up here for,” added the senator.