JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s new governor has a list of priorities that range from cutting taxes, expanding child care access, and increasing penalties for crime to changes to the education system. 

Gov. Mike Kehoe sat down with our Missouri Chief Capitol Bureau Reporter Emily Manley to go in-depth on his budget and legislative proposals. 

Something that caught the ear of many during Kehoe’s first State of the State Address was when he announced he was not fully funding the education foundation formula. Instead, he said it’s time to rewrite the blueprint that has been funding schools for two decades. 

“There is no governor that has put this much money into education as much as we have proposed,” Kehoe said. “There are 30,000 less students from when the formula was written 20 years ago.”

Kehoe said to fully fund the formula, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requested $500 million. Kehoe proposed to pay $200 million of it.

“I think it’s time for the formula to be written so it reflects our current system and it rewards high-performing schools and encourages schools that don’t have high performance to get a plan to get there,” Kehoe said.

During the time that the formula is being rewritten, he also wants lawmakers to responsibly work on cutting the state’s income tax. All of this while keeping $1.5 billion on the bottom line as a safety net. 

“This is a tougher budget year than compared to the last two or three years, and we know the next two years we can forecast out that it doesn’t look great,” Kehoe said. 

Democrats are warning the governor that the state can’t do both. 

“If we’re not fully funding our foundation formula, if we’re only offering an investment of 1.5% to our institutions of higher education, I think this body should pause any conversation related to the cutting of taxes,” Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, said.

“If you’ve seen, he’s already cutting the budget now and he wants to lower taxes and if you went to math class, you realize those things don’t go together,” Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-Affton. 

Kehoe said he also wants to earmark $40 million for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 in Kansas City to pay for transportation and public safety. 

“It’s like having six Super Bowls in 40 days,” Kehoe said. “The economic impact is $950 million to our state, and that won’t just be a Kansas City issue; that’s going to be a statewide issue.”

While on the other side of the state, he wants to put the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department under state control. 

“Chief Tracy and I have had that conversation, as well with Mayor Jones, that the real barometer, the real litmus test, should be can we get investment to come back into the area,” Kehoe said. “When that starts happening, then I’ll feel like crime is in a good spot.”

But some disagree, as officials announced earlier this month, crime is trending downward in the city. 

“I think the happy medium is this is one of the times where I’ll say we’re better off the way it is right now,” Rep. Marlon Anderson, D-St. Louis. 

When it comes to Amendment 3, the abortion initiative, he is recommending the state invest $4 million into pregnancy resource centers. He also said he will support legislation that pushes back against the referendum voters approved.