JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Parson in his State of the State address Wednesday proposed spending hundreds of millions of dollars to boost child care services and teacher wages as the state battles the latest COVID-19 surge.
Parson asked the GOP-led Legislature for $722 million to prop up child care centers and close to $22 million for matching grants to raise teacher salaries to a minimum of $38,000 a year. He praised most Missouri schools for staying open throughout the pandemic and said teachers, such as his daughter, should be thanked and paid more.
“Missouri is currently ranked 50th in United States for starting teacher pay and half of our new teachers leave the profession by their fifth year,” he said. “This is unacceptable, and we must do better.”
House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade praised the Republican governor for proposing $400 million for high-speed internet and to boost spending on child care, mental health services and teacher wages, though she said a $38,000 minimum teacher salary is still not enough.
“We are going to be defending the governor’s budget in a lot of those places,” Quade said.
Parson delivered his speech in a nearly full House chamber, where Republicans sat without masks while many Democrats wore them.
