After nearly five months of vigorous debate, compromise and ensuring the passage of meaningful and impactful legislation the first session of the 98th General Assembly came to an end. The General Assembly must adjourn by 6 p.m., on the third Friday each May.

This session, while busy, has been productive.

Investing in education is investing in our state’s greatest resource. This is why lawmakers place such an importance on providing a quality education to every student in the state. Education, from early childhood to post-secondary, is the foundation upon which we build our future. No program, no service, is provided without an educated individual delivering it, whether they have a high school diploma, technical certification or a four-year degree.

That’s why the issue of unaccredited districts and the importance of a school transfer law has been a pressing priority for the Legislature for several years now. Inaction has real and lasting consequences for students caught in the legal limbo that exists right now. From the start of the 2015 session, passing legislation addressing these educational issues was a major goal.

In a bipartisan vote, the General Assembly passed House Bill 42, which addresses student transfers in failing districts. Hours of hard work and cooperation from both the House and the Senate resulted in a bill that will make meaningful changes to Missouri’s education system, while protecting rural schools from a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

House Bill 42 modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education and creates a process for students to transfer to accredited districts. In order to bring accountability while balancing the needs of the districts, the Legislature approved a process to accredit not only entire school districts, but also accredit each individual school building within a district. Students must first attempt to transfer to a successful building within the district of residence before they are allowed to transfer out. This will hopefully reduce the number of transfer students to begin with.

While the bill includes provisions relating to school transfers, it also addresses an issue of great concern to many school districts across the state. Because of changes in the formula to fund K-12 education during the 2014 session, there was the possibility that payments to certain school districts would be drastically changed. Due to the addition of $84 million in the Foundation Formula and a one-year extension before the change goes into effect in HB 42, districts will not see a dramatic shift in their funding levels.

Ahead of the May 8 constitutional deadline, Missouri lawmakers delivered the budget to the governor’s desk two weeks early.  Our overall goal this year was to have the budget to the governor in time for him to have signed or line-item-veto the legislation while the legislature was still in session. By having it on his desk, we were ensured a chance to override his vetoes, without waiting until a late September veto session. We work with a limited budget based on general revenue. The state can’t spend more than it receives. This forces us to make tough decisions on how we allocate dollars. It also requires the Legislature to prioritize state government services. I am pleased the governor signed our budget without making any line item vetoes this year.

It does make the process difficult, and necessitates compromise, but also imposes fiscal responsibility in the process. Our state spending plan must be balanced. Lawmakers must allocate taxpayer dollars as wisely and prudently as possible. We’ve made tough choices in the past, but those decisions allowed us to weather rough economic times and maintain our state’s AAA credit rating. A positive credit rating allows us to issue bonds with lower interest rates to repair state infrastructure in House Bills 17, 18 and 19. All contain bonding language for Capital improvements, including $12.23 million for the University of Central Missouri.

Other priorities of the Legislature this session included increasing education funding that is distributed by the Foundation Formula by $84.2 million and an increase in aid to Missouri’s public higher education institutions of $12 million, including the University of Central Missouri. Scholarship funding was increased with the addition of $2 million to the A+ Program to help students attend community college. The highly successful Parents As Teachers program will see a $2.46 million increase as well. To help protect and promote the military interests in Missouri, including Whiteman Air Force Base, $400,000 was included for a position at the Department of Economic Development to establish a presence in Washington D. C., and the Pentagon.  Also, to increase the on-time performance and continued operation and expansion of Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner, $700,000 was added to defray costs of Amtrak.

Legislation that I was proud to sponsor includes Senate Bill 145 which identifies standards of care treatment guidelines for eating disorders which are currently included under Missouri Mental Health Parity. This legislation would help hundreds of Missourians fighting the most serious, and complex of all mental illnesses. Working together with advocates and insurance industry representatives, a bill was developed that will provide much-needed, lifesaving care throughout the state.

Eating disorders are highly treatable diseases, but treatment has been extremely difficult to get in Missouri. These serious conditions are the most fatal of all mental illnesses with a 20 percent fatality rate. Nearly 90 percent of those affected with eating disorders are females between the ages of 13-28.  Eating disorders are killing our children. We can no longer stand by and push those who suffer under the rug and pretend they don’t exist. It was an honor working on the eating disorders these past seven years before this landmark legislation was passed.

As always, please feel free to contact me or my staff with any questions or concerns at any time. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions and trying to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at 866-277-0882 (toll-free) or (573) 751-2272, or by fax at (573) 526-7381.