by Bryan Gentry
Gov. Nixon spoke at MCC-BT's Harley-Davidson training classroom Jan. 28 to announce his proposal to protect job training funding and higher education funding (Jordan Lee/The Current).
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon visited the Metropolitan Community College–Business and Technology campus on Jan. 28 to talk about school funding and the urgency of repairing Missouri’s economy.
“We’re holding tuition flat,” Nixon told the crowd of about 30 reporters and MCC students. “People used to graduate from school and they would go out by a car or by a house. Now, they are paying for the degree on their wall.”
Nixon laid out his proposals for making college affordable for students, and how he intends to create new jobs in Missouri.
While Nixon will propose that higher education funding not be cut, some state aid to students will be.
According to Business and Technology student Travis Wescot, the Missouri Labor Department provided funding for many students at Business and Technology, but the funding has run out.
“Without government funding, [tuition] is going to cost about $6,500, and with people without jobs, they won’t have the money to put themselves through it,” Wescot said. “I’m all about results. You can sit up there and say whatever you want, but until those jobs are created, it’s just a pipedream.”
Business and Technology student Barbra Handley had similar concerns.
“The funding is running out, there is nothing left,” Handley said.
Handley and Wescot are part of the last class going through the Business and Technology school on Missouri Labor Department funds, they said.
The worldwide recession has hit Missouri hard. In 2008, 26,000 jobs were lost. This put Missouri’s total unemployment rate at 7.3 percent, the highest it has been in 25 years, Nixon said.
“We’ve got 219,000 people unemployed in Missouri,” Nixon said. “I’m not going to be happy as governor when anyone who wants to work doesn’t have a job.”
Despite this grim news, the governor was optimistic about the state’s ability to create jobs.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to get people back to work. That’s why I’ve asked the legislators to put my Jobs Now Plan on my desk before they leave for spring break….I’m cautiously optimistic they’ll [move the economy forward].”
Nixon spoke directly to those in need, and he reassured them that government aid is on the way in the form of his Jobs Now Initiative.
“We share a value in Missouri that people who want to work hard, play by the rules, and improve themselves should have the opportunity to do so,” the governor said.
To pass both the higher education funding and the Jobs Now Initiative, the governor will need bipartisan support in the Missouri legislature.
“Everybody wants people employed, everybody wants people to have health care, [and] everybody wants people to have an education. Those are Missouri values. Those aren’t Democrat or Republican values,” Nixon said. “This isn’t about defining differences. The campaigns are over. This is about finding things we can agree on and move this state forward. Government is about bringing people together to make progress.”
