Nixon's focus on education funding may spur tug-of-war with Legislature

School board members, public school administrators and teachers have been invited to hear the speech, which is likely to showcase Nixon's proposals to increase education funding.

The General Assembly will convene in a joint session at 7 p.m. in the House chamber. The speech will begin after Nixon is escorted to the dais by a group of representatives and senators. It will be streamed live through the state’s Web portal, www.MO.gov.

State revenue is on the upswing, and Nixon, a Democrat, is expected to call for the state to invest much of the money in public education.

He has already dribbled out parts of his budget, such as a proposed 5 percent increase in funding for higher education and the promise of a major increase in aid for K-12 public schools.

Nixon has said his goal is to fully fund the school aid formula by the time he leaves office in January 2017, a goal that could cost the state $600 million.

Republicans, who control both the House and Senate with sizable majorities, contend that the improving economy provides a chance to cut state income taxes.

Last year, legislators failed to override Nixon's veto of a tax cut. In Round Two, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing today on a bill that would cut taxes on businesses.

At a news conference before the hearing, Patrick Werner, Missouri state director for Americans for Prosperity, said his group is trying to encourage legislators to pursue “bigger and more meaningful” changes to taxes in Missouri.

In addition to the tug-of-war over tax cuts, Nixon and legislators are at odds over how much money will be available for the state to spend next year.

Nixon has been ballyhooing the economic recovery, noting that Missouri's unemployment rate has been below the national average for 51 consecutive months and Missouri's rate dropped to 6.1 percent in November 2013, down from 8.6 percent in January 2009.

Legislative budget leaders say Nixon is being overly optimistic about how much revenue the state will receive.

In negotiations that collapsed late last year, the governor wanted to project that revenue would grow during the 2015 fiscal year by around 5.9 percent, compared to legislators' projection of 4.2 percent growth, said House Budget Chairman Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood.

Stream said the House will stick with the lower projection and he will cut Nixon's budget to fit the more conservative forecast. That could mean at least $150 million will be cut from the governor's spending blueprint, he said.

"There's a lot of money we're going to have to take out," Stream said. "I'm a fiscal conservative. I don't like to spend more money than I think we're going to get, and sometimes we like to return money to the taxpayers, too."

The budget being debated will take effect July 1.

In addition to his budget priorities, Nixon is expected to elaborate on his call for tax credit reform, Medicaid expansion and stronger ethics rules for governmental officials.

Check back at stltoday.com for updates. The Twitter hashtag for the speech is MOSOTS.

Information on the governor's budget will be available on the Division of Budget and Planning's website after 7 p.m.