Governor Jay Nixon visited St Joseph’s Hosea Elementary School on Tuesday, taking the opportunity to visit with students, educators, school board members and reporters.
As he visited with two students who were “on task,” reading, Nixon took a turn as an educator, telling the youngster about onomatopoeia, the term for words that imitate or suggest the source of the sound they describe.
As examples, he didn’t use “bam,” or “kaboom,” opting instead for “swoosh” and “squish.” Later, while addressing the adults on hand, Governor Nixon might also have used “FUNding.”
When asked about his release of additional money for higher education on Monday, based on improved state revenues, Nixon said “it’s a lot easier to make the phone call indicating that we’re going to send money than it is to make the call saying we’re not.”
“We watch it carefully,” Nixon said. “I was very happy that the economy was ticking back up, and we were able to find those additional resources yesterday for higher education, and we look forward, as the economy keeps moving forward, to many more of those days.”
“Quite frankly, I think Missourians understand both ends of that, but we’ll continue to put dollars into education where we can.”
Governor Nixon took the opportunity to congratulate the St Joseph School District for its continued academic excellence. He pointed out that the St Joseph Public Schools have been accredited “with distinction” for five consecutive years by the State of Missouri.
Nixon took also drove home a point he made during his State of the State Address last week. He has proposed more than $150 million dollars in new funding for early childhood education, K-12 classrooms, and higher education. Nixon said “nothing we do will have a greater impact on our future than the commitment we make now to education.” He added that this commitment should start early.
“We’re putting that dollar investment where we think it can make a significant effect, right there at the beginning. That Missouri pre-school program is the place where we want to start putting those additional resources. With these additional resources, we hope to expand those types of opportunities for kids around the state.”