MOScout Daily Update: More on Deaton Higher Ed Plan - Show Me on Property Taxes - MACCCA Wants Hearing - Stop The Ban Hiring and more…
Last week before spring break….
More on Deaton Higher Ed Funding Shift
I wrote on Saturday about House Budget Chair Dirk Deaton’s proposed changes to the Higher Education budget. It has some college presidents “freaking out,” creating some big winners – and losers. For example, Missouri State University would see a $30 million gain, while Truman State University would lose $27 million in funding.
Here’s some reaction…
· In defense of the plan: Deaton’s higher ed plan takes into account FTE, as in full-time equivalent. It’s all the credit hours a school provides (full-time, part-time, and dual enrolled students). He used DHEWD’s data that is provided to them by the schools. The community college FTEs are all the credit hours divided by 12. The four-years and State Tech are all the credit hours divided by 15. The money follows the students. We have schools with half the population they had 10 years ago and there’s been no adjustment for that.
· Criticism: I get that the metric was supposed to simplify the process, but this allocates funding for freshman Psychology or English majors the same as a graduate student in Engineering or Medicine. And if you’re going to move to a true FTE model, it would make more sense to allocate the total core of all public higher education institutions by the total number of students at each public 2 and 4 year institution and the plan fails to do that. It seems it’s just an excuse to funnel money to Southwest Missouri and risk closing the doors of the universities that educate our minority students… If the legislature is serious about a better model, maybe they should consider the priorities of the state; things like workforce development, student outcomes, earnings, etc. and include the House Budget and Senate Appropriations committees, Governor’s office, and higher education institutions in the discussion.
And
One observer wonders if this proposal should be seen as a first step toward consolidation. By lowering the funding to schools with lower enrollment, is the plan to undermine their position until closure or merger is necessary?
Show Me Institute: Be Careful With Property Tax Caps
It’s interesting to see the Show Me Institute offer a nuanced view of property taxes. The free-market institute is almost always in favor of tax relief. Read their blog post here.
· Property tax relief has become a rallying cry for state policymakers across the country… But while these measures may look attractive on the campaign trail, they are already putting real strain on local governments that depend on property taxes to fund schools, public safety, and other essential services…
· Missouri depends on property taxes to fund local services efficiently, and ill-designed state interventions can do more harm than good… [Show Me Institute analyst Dave] Stokes has warned that limiting property tax growth without careful policy design reduces the property tax base, shifting the burden to other, more distortionary taxes. He argues that property taxes—particularly on land and real estate—are among the least harmful taxes to economic growth compared with income or sales taxes.
MACCCA Wants Senate Hearing
Press release: Today Chad Puckett, President of the Missouri Association of Christian Child Care Agencies, or MACCCA, lauded the recent hearing on HB 2241 sponsored by Representative Jamie Gragg a Republican from Ozark, Missouri, and called for Senator Jill Carter, Republican representing Jasper and Newton Counties, to hear the bill in the Missouri State Senate.
HB 2241 would build on Missouri statute 210. HB 2241 adds another layer of protection by instituting a board in the Department of Social Services and a registration process via a qualifying organization for faith based Christian group homes to help with the foster care crisis. As a result of the hearing, language changes are being added to the bill to make clear that all of the 210 statute that pertains to Christian group homes is included and the Director of the Department of Social Services is being added to the board.
Fiscal Notes Fixes
There’s been vocal criticism in both chambers and from both parties about the quality of fiscal notes attached to bills. The most visible failure was the recent capital gains tax cut which apparently missed the mark by hundreds of millions of dollars.
With the tightening budget, an accurate estimate of the cost of legislation is critically important. Here are three ways to improve the situation…
· Fewer bills. Fewer bills would mean fewer fiscal notes and a reduced workload should increase the quality. Fewer bills can be achieved by limiting the number of bills that can be filed by legislators. Or they can be reduced by encouraging co-sponsors, and having legislators consolidate their similar bills into a single bill.
· More money. Beefing up the staff would accomplish the same result. More folks working on the same number of bills.
· More time. Adding a procedural time buffer, say, between perfection and a fiscal oversight hearing so that a bill can have a fiscal note that reflects changes made during the perfection process.
House 108: Calfo-Costlow Rematch
With the rematch/grudge match brewing, Rep. Mike Costlow plans to ignore Max Calfo’s “antics.”
However, there are a few caveats to this plan…
· First, Costlow has an ongoing suit against Calfo for filing a frivolous complaint with the Secretary of State.
· And Costlow warns, “Unlike [the last race] the police have been notified and if he pulls the same stunts as last year....like stalking my family....he will likely land himself in jail.”
Stop The Ban Preps Campaign
Stop the Ban is hiring its campaign staff. See the Stop the Ban website here.
$5K+ Contributions
McGee For Jackson County - $35,000 from Jamesia Donato (Kansas City, KS).
Missourians for a Responsible Budget - $150,000 from MCR PAC.
Lobbyist Registrations
Ryan Rowden added Piper Sandler.
Mark Bruns added OG Hospitality Group.
Catalyst added FileVine; and deleted Trust & Will.
Holly Rehder deleted Empower Pharmacy.
Nexus Group deleted Metropolitan Park and Recreation Dist DBA Great Rivers Greenway, Home Run Financing, United Way of Greater St. Louis, and Hims & Hers Health, Inc.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays to Jake Vogel, Lori Rook, Luke Reed, and Nathan Beard.