JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — One phrase you’ll hear a lot in the next year is the Missouri Works Strategy. Governor Jay Nixon rolled out his plan tonight saying that strategy has seven steps including providing more auto supplier jobs and selling more Missouri-made goods overseas, but while the governor wants to jump start job creation in Missouri.
That doesn’t include government jobs.
“And with the balanced budget I present tonight, I`ll have reduced the government`s payroll by 4,100 positions. The state workforce is the smallest it`s been in 15 years. Those decisions were tough, but necessary,” Governor Nixon said in his State of the State address.
Despite facing a $500 million shortfall, the Governor says the budget for 2013 is balanced, and he says he was able to do so without increasing taxes. The Governor also says he’s able to present a balanced budget while providing record funding for public schools. Funding for state college scholarships like Bright Flight and A+ will continue, according to the Governor.
“This year, 12,500 Missouri students will take advantage of our A+ scholarships. Next year, we anticipate closer to 14,000 students will be A+ scholars. We will continue to expand access to A+ scholarships to students all across our state,” he says.
Finally in healthcare, the Governor asks for legislation to increase the number of people working with children with autism in the state and he promises continued full funding for Missouri RX.
In the Republican rebuttal, Representative Tim Jones says employers aren’t coming to Missouri. Instead they’re going to Kansas or Tennessee, and Jones says taxes were raised for farmers under the governor’s watch. Jones says Missouri deserves better than Governor Nixon.
