I know we’re just starting December and a whirlwind holiday season, but our legislative team has been busy preparing Missouri State University’s priorities for the 2025 legislative session.  The state of Missouri legislature begins its 2025 session on Jan. 8, just two days after we return from our holiday break.

Legislative priorities – fair funding for the university and a MoExcels project

Missouri State has two priorities, both related to our operating budget.

We’d like to increase Missouri State’s operating appropriation. Missouri’s Coordinating Board for Higher Education has recommended a core increase of 3% for all Missouri public universities for fiscal year 2026.

This increase will essentially allow the university to address basic inflationary costs, but it’s not enough to cover inflationary cost and our MOSERS contributions for the upcoming fiscal year.  We expect MOSERS will request additional funds to cover mandatory cost increases associated with our retirement plan. This will require an additional 1.7% increase in core funding for a total of 4.7%.

Additionally, Missouri State consistently receives less funding on a per-student basis than other universities in the state. We’ll be advocating for fair funding on a per-student basis to position the university better to develop programs that are currently out of reach.

We’re also prioritizing one-time MoExcels funding to address workforce needs. Our fiscal year 2026 MoExcels proposal for $3.5 million in funding will help the university to meet workforce needs for data science professionals. This will allow us to increase the number of students graduating from those programs by 40% between fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2028.

We have a strong team who’ll be working to make these priorities a reality.

The holidays are here!

Yesterday, you should have received your invitation from me to the President’s Holiday Open House, which will take place from 3-5 p.m. Dec. 9 in the PSU Grand Ballroom. I look forward to seeing you there! Teri Trickey and Chartwells always put out a fabulous spread. I hope you’ll also take a moment to stop by Starbucks for your complimentary cup of coffee over the coming week, if you haven’t already.

And, since you likely have your calendar open, don’t forget our Staff Awards Luncheon is scheduled for 11 a.m. Jan. 8.

Enjoy this first week of December. I hope to see you next Monday!

Thanks for checking in. It’s a great day to be a Bear!

Biff