
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has given initial approval to a state budget plan that boosts funding for public schools, cuts it for colleges and prohibits it for other things including abortions and drunken driving checkpoints.
The House endorsed the $27.8 billion operating budget for next year after a daylong debate. A second round of votes is needed to send it to the Senate.
The House plan would provide K-12 schools with more money than recommended by Gov. Eric Greitens. It softens his proposed cuts to higher education, though most institutions would still get a 6.6 percent reduction. The University of Missouri would be cut by 9 percent.
The budget bars money from going to DWI checkpoints, toll roads, Medicaid expansion and in-state tuition rates for students living illegally in the U.S. since childhood.