MISSOURI- The state of Missouri is facing a major budget shortfall.

Revenues in the state are much lower than expected and that means that lawmakers will have to make some big cuts to balance the budget.

State revenue is expected to be down 6.4 percent  from the last fiscal year.

Governor Jay Nixon has already cut 600 million from the 23.7 million approved by lawmakers.

But there is still a 200 million dollar gap that has to be taken care of.

Missouri Representative Brian Munzlinger says that education is still a top priority for legislators.

But with such a big shortfall, he expects cuts in many different areas of state government.

Munzlinger says, "Looks like it's gonna be a 6% revenue shortfall  this year. It was 7% last year. That's 13% below what it was 2 years ago. You do have to cut a lot  of things and it gets pretty deep when you get a 13% cut over  what you're normally operating at."

Munzlinger says that lawmakers won't be able to get to work  until Governor Nixon lays out his budget during his State of the State address.