JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House passed a nearly $25 billion budget Thursday that would fund modest increases for public education but not a Medicaid health care expansion for lower-income adults sought by Gov. Jay Nixon.

House approval of the 2014 budget plan sends it to the Republican-controlled Senate, where more changes are likely before an early May deadline to get it to the governor's desk.

Nixon, a Democrat, had recommended spending more than $900 million of federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage to an estimated 260,000 adults living either in poverty or slightly above it, as called for under President Barack Obama's health care law. But the Republican-led House refused to include the money in the budget, citing concerns about the future costs of a Medicaid expansion while pledging to keep working on an alternative.