General Assembly Plans for the New Year

"Our number one responsibility as a legislature is to pass a budget. It's also to ensure that schools have adequate funding, so that they can perform the duties that they're required to perform," states Flanigan.

He says managing the state's $24 billion budget must be done conservatively.

"If we're gonna spend a dollar, we're gonna have to have a dollar in the bank to spend, and that separates us from almost every other state in the union," he says.

Flanigan says prioritizing education and paying off debt are top priorities.

"You take care of counties and cities, and you make sure schools have money to operate, both k-12 education and higher education."

Bill White represents Jasper and Newton counties. His goal is to see a reform in education funding.

"If dollars and cents were our answer, we would have an incredible education system with incredible scores. Some of the other things we're looking for in our schools is funding based on performance," states White.

Both men say education and health care will be key issues.

"The governor's indictated of he wants to go forward with the healthcare exchange and go forward with it. There's an awful lot of sentiment within the house that we don't do it. I'm on that side right now. I think there's good reason for not creating healthcare exchange and forcing the feds to do it on their own," White says.

Republicans control the Missouri House this session by a count of 109 to 53.