Missouri, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.
State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.
Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.
Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining
Approximately 40 percent (259,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 44 percent (287,000) in 2017.1
Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High
Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.2
State General Fund Appropriations: Growing
In June 2025, Missouri’s governor completed signing the 20 bills that comprise the state’s fiscal 2026 budget. The budget calls for $51.82 billion in total spending after recommended vetoes, a 1.3 percent increase from fiscal 2025. Fiscal 2026 general revenue spending is estimated at $15.74 billion (a 4.4 percent increase), federal funds $24.55 billion (a 1.4 percent increase), and other funds $11.54 billion (a 3.0 percent decrease). When signing the appropriations bills, the governor issued 208 line-item vetoes, totaling nearly $300 million in general revenue, and 32 expenditure restrictions, totaling $211 million in general revenue. Net general fund revenue collections are projected at $13.56 billion, a 1.6 percent increase over the revised forecast for fiscal 2025.3
Largest Per Capita Revenue Sources (after federal transfers) (FY 2021):4
Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls. Missouri uses all major state and local taxes.
State Budget Rules:4
Missouri uses an annual budget. The legislature is not required to pass a balanced budget, nor is the governor required to sign one. The governor is responsible for withholding appropriated funds if revenues are inadequate to meet appropriation levels. Missouri further limits annual revenue growth with a budget rule based on personal income growth. This is a binding rule and requires a vote of the people to override it. If revenue from increased taxes or fees exceeds a certain threshold, a public vote is required before the increase in taxes or fees takes effect. There are exceptions and special procedures for emergencies.. The state also limits total authorized debt incurred by the state.
Missouri has the Early Childhood Development, Education, and Care Fund, which receives approximately $35 million annually from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This funding was used to fund the Missouri Preschool Program, but that program was eliminated and replaced with grants and formula funding to support Pre-K in public schools and child care facilities. The Fund is now used to support other child care and early education programs, including ECSE, home visiting, before- and after-school programs, and child care subsidies.5
Political Alignment: Aligned Republican
During the legislative session, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.6
Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:7 Six
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:8
Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:9
The state made significant investments in the child care subsidy program, totaling $107 million. In his State of the State address, the governor prioritized paying for subsidy prospectively and based on enrollment, beginning in July. The legislature voted in HB 2 to do this, along with increasing the child care subsidy to reflect the 2024 market rate survey.
In HB 5, the legislature approved $5 million dollars for a child care cost share program, in which the state, the employer, and the employee contribute to the cost of child care. The governor, however, vetoed half of the funding, leaving only $2.5 million appropriated.
This legislation also renews $900,000 for the development and implementation of community plans to improve access to quality childcare and early education.
SB 150 allows the Office of Childhood to offer a temporary license for child care facilities that are adding slots or are expanding to a second location. This license is only for licensed facilities in good standing that have already passed all other inspections and are waiting for the final inspection from the OOC for licensing. The temporary license is good for up to one year.
Executive Order 25-15 charges Missouri’s Office of Childhood (OOC) with updating child care licensing rules, improving the readability, eliminating duplicated, outdated, or unnecessarily burdensome regulations, and increase availability by reducing the regulatory requirements on child care licensing by at least 10 percent. It orders OOC to collect input from a diverse group of stakeholders across the state. HB 2 also includes $10 million in child care “innovation grants” for the expansion of existing child care facilities or the creation of new programs, and require a local community match.
In HB 11, the legislature allocated $200,000 for legal support for informal kinship caregivers in the Kansas City region and mid-Missouri. In 2024, the legislature allocated $55,000 to start a legal support pilot in a four-county region in and surrounding Kansas City. This program will continue and a second program will begin in a five-county region in mid-Missouri.
The legislature passed a health care bill that adds a third prenatal test for syphilis, hepatitis B & C, and HIV to the list of tests required during pregnancy. Currently, a test is provided in the first trimester and at delivery. This bill adds a third test at 28 weeks of gestation. There there has been a significant increase in babies born with congenital syphilis, with the number of cases in Missouri rising 593 percent between 2017 and 2022. The disease is reversible if detected early enough during pregnancy.
Our lead ally in Missouri, Kids Win Missouri, is a non-partisan, statewide coalition working to support child well-being. Through education, collaboration and advocacy, the organization advances policies and system changes on issues including early childhood development, education, health, child safety and family economic security.
Kids Win Missouri is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:
Preschool and Pre-K
K-3rd Grade
Child Care
Child Care Workforce
Infant & Child Health
Maternal Health
Early Intervention (Age 0-3)
Family Economic Security
Home Visiting
Financing
Missouri advocates learned from Alliance network peers in Ohio as they created the grassroots network that advances an early childhood agenda by placing those most directly impacted by state policy to the forefront of advocacy.
NOTES:
1 Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.
2 National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.
3 National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2026.
4 Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, April 2025.
5 Alliance for Early Success, State Examples of Dedicated Funding Streams, 2025
6 National Conference of State Legislatures, 2025 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, January 31, 2025.
7 Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, 2025.
8 Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.
9 Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2025.
