Senate Panel to Consider Missouri Budget Plan

The Senate Appropriations Committee is to begin hearings Monday on a roughly $26 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts in July.

As passed last month by the House, the budget includes a two-tiered funding plan for public school districts and higher education institutions.

Schools, for example, would get a minimum increase of $122 million over their current $3 billion of basic aid. But if revenues come in stronger than lawmakers expect, schools could get the full $278 million increase originally sought by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Senators typically change the House budget plan. Negotiators from the two chambers then work out their differences to produce a final budget by early May.