Lincoln University gets more federal land-grant match money under the state Senate's proposed Higher Education budget than under the House version.
However, State Technical College gets the same amount of state aid in either budget plan.
And there are significant differences between the chambers on distributing money to the foundation formula for Missouri's public elementary and secondary schools.
As with other bills, the differences between the House and Senate versions of the state's budget plan for the business year that begins July 1 must be worked out, and both chambers must agree on the same final version to send to the governor.
That work will occur in conference committee meetings on each of the 12 budget bills where there were differences.
Brown expects those meetings to begin this week.
The Missouri Constitution requires the work to be finished by 6 p.m. May 11.
Higher Education
Senate Appropriations Chairman Dan Brown said last week: "We did fully fund the $68 million that the governor cut out of higher ed.
"It's conference-able with the House, because we did it a little bit differently."
Under the Senate's version, which was passed last week, Lincoln University would receive a total of $20,670,193, including $4 million in state matching funds for LU's land-grant programs.
That's a $600,000 total increase over the House-passed version, which provided only $2.5 million for the land-grant match but also expected LU to get $900,000 more from the state Lottery Proceeds Fund than in the Senate version.
State Technical College, Linn, would get the same amount, $5,560,371, in either chamber's budget plan.
"As we go through the budget items and the differences between the two chambers," Brown said, "we'll try to land on a number that works for everyone and still balances the budget."
Elementary and Secondary Education
The Senate wishes to spend a little more money overall than the House, Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, said in a press conference Thursday.
However, not necessarily in education.
Fitzpatrick, the House Budget Committee chairman, said the biggest differences in the two chambers' numbers showed up in kindergarten through 12th-grade education funding, in the Missouri Foundation Formula.
"We recommended full funding for that," Fitzpatrick. "They recommended about $50.5 million less than that."
Brown told reporters at a separate news conference, "We did increase the foundation formula by $48 million - that's $50 million under the House number - but we put $25 million in transportation and some different line-items we put another $15-$20 million.
"So, we'll see - that will be an interesting conference."
The formula, passed in 2005, establishes a minimum that should be spent to educate the average student in an academic year. The formula is weighted to reflect some students need more help.
Fitzpatrick said, "It's not a secret that one of my job priorities is fully funding the formula and keeping our commitment on pre-K expansion."
The House Budget Committee's ranking minority member, Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, said it was a bipartisan effort to put $99 million more of revenue into the foundation formula.
"I can tell you we are going to do everything we can to hold that line," Kendrick said. "We're going to make sure that we get back to that $99 million mark."
Brown has said several times this year the state has hurt districts - especially rural ones - with its lack of support for school transportation programs.
And that's why the Senate's version of the education funding bill puts more money into transportation than into the basic formula, he said.
"The House is pretty head-strong on the formula funding," Brown noted, "and we'll see what the discussion comes out on the transportation funding."