Governor’s Column - December 8, 2006
by Governor Matt Blunt
Supporting Our Children’s Education
When I was a candidate for governor, I pledged to Missourians that I would make education our state's highest priority. We are filling that commitment.
Over the past two years we have increased funding for elementary and secondary education by nearly a third of a billion dollars. We created a new formula to provide state funds to our public schools that puts students and their needs first. We also secured a significant $20 million increase in state support this year for Missouri's two and four year higher education institutions.
Our children are eager to learn at an early age, and often parents are children's first teachers. The years before formal education begin offer parents the opportunity to shape their child's education and learning. The Parents as Teachers program fosters that opportunity. I am pleased we have been able to provide the program a two million dollar increase in funding since 2005. We have a strong tradition of early childhood education in Missouri. Increasing funding to programs like Parents as Teachers allows more Missouri families to see the benefits of early learning and teaching opportunities.
We are taking proactive steps to ensure that all Missourians understand the importance of Math, Engineering, Technology and Science (METS) education to our students' future and their ability to compete in the global economy. In April I convened a summit that brought key stakeholders together to identify solutions to current challenges in METS and to design strategies to improve student learning and create a lifelong interest in areas fast becoming the cornerstone of our future economy. The most significant and promising recommendation identified after the summit is to establish a METS Coalition, a non-profit organization to help move forward and lead our state's efforts to improve METS learning for our children. We must continue to build on the success of the METS coalition and their recommendations by looking for strategic ways to promote METS learning and enhance student achievement.
The Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative offers countless benefits to our children, higher education institutions and state, while positioning Missouri as a leader in the studies of plant and health science. This initiative will provide more than $335 million for capital improvement projects and $15 million for the Missouri Technology Corporation to assist with the commercialization of new technologies. In addition to the $350 million contributed by MOHELA, the state will provide $25 million in increased funding for student scholarships, and support a new higher education healthcare partnership by providing $60 million in increased funding to Federally Qualified Health Centers.
I commend the vast majority of those members of the General Assembly who share my commitment to ensuring our children receive a world-class education.