Jefferson City, Mo. – An additional $1 million could be headed for Missouri Southern if Gov. Jay Nixon has his way.

Under Nixon’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, Southern would receive an increase of $1,095,796 in state appropriations as part of the Caring For Missourians Initiative. The increase would bring Southern’s state appropriations from $25,597,158 in FY 09 to $26,692,955 in 2010.

The budget proposal came as part of Nixon’s State of the State Address Tuesday evening (Jan. 27) in Jefferson City.

The initiative is designed to address a shortage of health professionals across the state by increasing the number of graduates in health fields at Missouri’s higher education institutions. According to the Department of Higher Education, 106 of Missouri’s 114 counties are “dental shortage areas” and 25 are considered “Geographic Health Professional Shortage Areas” by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The Department of Higher Ed also said the current funding to higher education institutions wasn’t sufficient for them to keep pace with an increase in demand for health care workers.

In Nixon’s proposal, appropriations for four-year institutions would increase by more than $15 million, from $807 million to $825 million. Missouri Western, Truman State, Northwest Missouri and Central Missouri would also see appropriation increases for FY 2010.

“Right now, we have far too many jobs in health care that we can’t fill right here in Missouri because we can’t find people with the right skills,” Nixon said. “We need nurses, pharmacy workers and rural health care workers. Filling those positions is critical to both our economy and our health care system. That’s why I’ve called for the creation and funding of the Caring for Missourians program, an initiative that will coordinate efforts between our two and four-year institutions to train our next generation of health care workers.”

Nixon also addressed the FY 2009 budget shortfall and expected economic problems for 2010, saying he would eliminate or cut 50 programs and eliminate more than 1,300 positions. Nixon said the measures would save close to $200 million.

“After just two weeks in office, we are proposing the smallest state bureaucracy that Missouri has seen in a decade,” Nixon said. “The reduction I am proposing today represents the largest single reduction in the state’s bureaucracy in modern history.”

For more details on Nixon’s proposed FY 2010 budget and response from area legislatures, visit The Chart Online tomorrow.