A bit of healthy sparring occurred between two local legislative heavyweights from opposite parties and different districts at the closing of the County Medical Society forum Tuesday.
Republican Rep. Bob Dixon of the #140th and Democrat Sara Lampe of the #138th held a brief tit for tat over the issue of education spending.
An Ozarks Technical College official had asked what to expect for funding levels during the 2007 legislative session.
Rep. Dixon explained the financial stress on the elementary education budget stemmed from "withholds" by Governor Bob Holden's administration. On higher ed, Dixon said it was inappropriate to point fingers. "The cost the student pays continues to go up . . . Voters turned down tax increases," Dixon pointed out.
"But I'm pleased to see the efforts of my colleagues moving education to the place as the number one priority," Dixon said, noting that under Holden, the top priority seemed to be social services.
"We put $300 million dollars in over the last 2 years in new money," Dixon said, referring to elementary and high school spending. "We got a 2% increase in higher education and we'll continue to work to that end."
Rep. Lampe disputed Dixon's claim that schools are really seeing a tangible increase in funding.
"If everyone was paying their fair share, like big business, we wouldn't have to ask for a tax increase," Lampe replied.
She said the 2% higher education increase that Dixon speaks of is based on a 2002 operating budget. "So it's not really an increase," Lampe said.
She said although Republicans have been telling people about all the new money added, the education budget faces such a deficit, that "much more needs to be added to be where it needs to be."
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