Commentary by Governor Matt Blunt
 (Photo by Vince Rosati)
Change That is Working
In 2004 Missourians demanded change. Missourians wanted their state government to put Missouri families, Missouri values, and Missouri taxpayers first. Over the last three years my administration has delivered change that is enhancing prosperity and opportunity for all Missourians.
When I came into office our state was losing jobs at an alarming rate, and we embarked on a mission to bring quality, family supporting jobs back to our state. Since 2005 Missourians have created nearly 90,000 jobs. Missouri's economy is stronger and growing stronger still. Together we developed the Missouri Quality Jobs Act which has already helped create more than 22,000 new jobs that pay above the average county wage and provide health care benefits. The regulatory and lawsuit reforms we enacted are encouraging job growth.
We took a $1.1 billion state budget deficit and turned it into three consecutive budget surpluses. We turned a wrecked budget around by aggressively attacking waste and fraud in state government and without raising taxes on Missouri families; in fact we cut taxes three times.
In 2004 I promised Missouri teachers and students that I would not withhold vital education funding. Education is the most important, critical, and significant investment we can make in our future.
Over the last three years, we have increased elementary and secondary education funding by more than half a billion dollars. We have substantially increased funding for higher education and provided $335 million for state-of-the-art learning centers for Missouri students at our state's colleges and universities. We also more than doubled the funding for needs-based scholarships by increasing funding from $27.5million to $72.5 million.
Because we made education our highest priority, my budgets will deliver $1.2 billion new dollars to our universities, classrooms and students.
We also rescued the health care safety net for Missourians, by transforming the antiquated Medicaid program into Mo HealthNet, a new network of care which focuses on wellness and prevention, and for the first time guarantees access to primary and preventative care.
I have also announced a new health care initiative called Insure Missouri to help more Missourians join the ranks of the insured. Insure Missouri will help nearly 200,000 lower income, working Missourians purchase their own personal health insurance.
We have accomplished everything we set out to accomplish and more over the last three years. In my State of the State address, I discussed a number of new initiatives we can achieve this year. We must address the issue of illegal immigration in our state, continue our efforts to enhance health care for all Missourians and support a fourth major tax cut for our Military heroes by cutting taxes on the military benefits for our veterans.
By working together we will continue to grow Missouri's economy, support the educational needs of all Missouri and ensure access to quality health care for Missourians. With the help of your elected representatives in the General Assembly we will continue to move Missouri forward with expanded opportunity and prosperity for all. Go Back | 
