Missouri ‘School Choice’ Bills to Watch in 2026

This article was originally published in Beacon: Missouri.

Elementary and secondary education is among the most popular subjects of legislation filed in the Missouri legislature this year. The Missouri House lists more than 150 bills in that category in 2026, while the smaller Missouri Senate lists nearly 75.

Among those bills, more than two dozen affect what proponents often call “school choice,” programs that make it easier for families to educate their children outside of the traditional public school system.

That includes making it easier for families to afford private school, letting students attend public school districts they don’t live in or expanding the availability of charter schools — which are funded by tax dollars and free to attend but not attached to the local public school district.

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Many proponents say those programs give families more options, make it easier for them to find the best fit and put pressure on traditional public schools to improve. Opponents say they make the education system less efficient and drain money from traditional public schools in favor of less regulated options.

In Missouri, positions on school choice have not always fallen along party lines, but Republicans have generally been more supportive. In recent years, the Republican-controlled legislature has created and then expanded a program that redirects tax dollars to private school scholarships and voted to allow charter schools in Boone County as well as St. Louis and Kansas City.

This year, some lawmakers want to see those programs grow. Others want to rein them in or give them more oversight.

Some of the proposals have started to make their way through the legislative process, but they all face a series of hurdles before they are potentially approved by both houses and reach the governor’s desk. They may be amended at several stages in the process.

Since Democrats are a minority in the legislature, their bills in particular need bipartisan support to succeed.

If you want to weigh in on which of these bills should advance or how they should change, contact your representatives or refer to this guide to navigating the Missouri General Assembly.

Here’s a look at key school choice legislation that has been proposed in Missouri.

Expanding private school scholarships

In 2022, Missouri launched a tax credit scholarship program for private schools, known as the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Program or MOScholars.

Instead of the state funding scholarships directly, it offers donors tax credits to contribute to state-approved organizations, which in turn distribute private school scholarships to students who met state eligibility requirements. Last year, the state also directly contributed millions of dollars to the program, helping it expand.

State Treasurer Vivek Malek said in a news release that the program awarded 6,418 scholarships, totaling more than $43 million, for the current school year.

So far, MOScholars has mainly been geared toward two groups: students with disabilities and students who meet income requirements and don’t already attend private school. Some lawmakers want to expand which students and schools qualify.

House Bill 1784, sponsored by Republican Rep. John Voss of Cape Girardeau, keeps the requirement that students must meet income or disability requirements. But it removes other restrictions, opening the program to existing private school students. A similar proposal is House Bill 1801 sponsored by Republican Rep. Mark Matthiesen of O’Fallon.

Senate Bill 998, sponsored by Republican Sen. Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, is similar. It includes some additional changes, such as forbidding rules and regulations for schools involved in the program beyond those included in state law.

House Bill 2697, sponsored by Rep. Michael Davis of Belton, goes even further in expanding eligibility. It only requires that participating students are lawfully present state residents.

Lawmakers from both parties have proposed adding early childhood students to the program. One such proposal is House Bill 2185 from Rep. Ian Mackey, a Democrat from St. Louis County.

Another is Senate Bill 1071, filed by Sen. David Gregory, a Republican from St. Louis County. Gregory’s bill also expands eligibility, similarly to Davis’, and restricts further regulations on participating schools, similarly to Hudson’s.

Regulating private school scholarships 

In contrast, some lawmakers want to add regulations or restrictions to the MOScholars program.

House Bill 2130, sponsored by Rep. Mark Boyko, a Democrat from Kirkwood, would require schools participating in the program to meet certain minimum standards. They include health and safety items, the length and start date of the school term, dyslexia screening, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and allowing military recruiters into the school.

Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Democrat from Springfield, is sponsoring House Bill 3022. It requires that schools participating in the program don’t discriminate on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression in their “creed, practices, admissions policy, or curriculum.”

House Bill 2900, sponsored by Rep. Melissa Douglas, a Democrat from Kansas City, is similar to Fogle’s legislation.

Current law says participating schools can’t discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin but won’t be required to change their “creed, practices, admissions policy, or curriculum.”

Beacon reporting has found that some schools that participate in the program do discriminate based on the religion and sexual orientation of students or their family members.

Rep. Stephanie Hein, a Democrat from Springfield, filed House Bill 2930 to require families who are eligible based on income to prove they still meet the requirements each year.

Senate Bill 867, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Doug Beck from St. Louis County, would require more information on scholarship recipients to be posted online, including parents’ names, the amount of money their students received and the amount each school received.

Expanding charter schools

Currently, charter schools are only allowed within Kansas City Public Schools, St. Louis Public Schools and Boone County with some limited exceptions, such as in unaccredited districts.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Michael Davis, House Bill 2448, would also allow them in Cass County.

House Bill 2428, sponsored by Republican Rep. Ben Keathly of Chesterfield, would expand charter schools to counties with a charter form of government — which includes Jackson, Clay and several counties in the St. Louis area — and cities with more than 30,000 residents.

House Bill 2420, sponsored by Republican Rep. Cathy Jo Loy of Carthage, would expand charter schools statewide.

Both Keathly’s proposal and House Bill 2404, sponsored by Republican Rep. George Hruza of St. Louis County, would forbid local regulations that don’t allow charter schools to purchase property from the school district or local political subdivision. Keathly’s bill specifically applies to St. Louis, while Hruza’s is more broad.

Regulating charter schools

Other lawmakers want to further regulate or restrict charter schools.

Boyko filed House Bill 2129, similar to his legislation about the MOScholars program, which would require charter schools to follow certain regulations that traditional school districts have to follow. Those include having a minimum school term, observing Veterans Day and youth brain injury prevention.

Three Boone County Democrats filed bills that would reverse the decision to allow charter schools in Boone County. They include:

• House Bill 2500 from Rep. Kathy Steinhoff.
• House Bill 2573 from Rep. David Tyson Smith.
• Senate Bill 923 from Sen. Stephen Webber.

Senate Bill 1090, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, who represents part of the Kansas City area in Clay County, would add requirements for new charter schools to open. The State Board of Education would have to issue a certificate of need based on information from the local school board or city or county government.

The certificate of need application would say that there is enough consumer demand and availability of high-quality teachers for the charter school to operate without harming the local school district. It would also affirm that the charter school is likely to reduce inequality, improve achievement, create a more efficient education system and address family priorities.

Senate Bill 1097, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Karla May of St. Louis, would prohibit new charter schools in St. Louis. It wouldn’t affect existing charter schools.

Transferring to a different school district

Several lawmakers filed bills that would allow students to transfer outside of the school district in which they live.

House Bill 2604, filed by Republican Rep. Brad Pollitt of Sedalia, allows school districts to decide whether they would like to accept transfer students and how many spots they have open. Districts can also limit how many students leave to no more than 5% of their enrollment.

Transfer students can’t be selected based on academic or athletic ability or past discipline records unless they’ve been suspended multiple times or expelled.

Reasons families might want their students to transfer could include proximity to a parent’s workplace — allowing them to be more involved during the school day — special programs offered or a curriculum that better matches their beliefs, the bill says.

Senate Bill 971, filed by Republican Sen. Curtis Trent from southwest Missouri, is similar to

Senate Bill 906 filed by Gregory. Both proposals modify a section of existing state law that allows students to transfer from unaccredited districts.

Under both bills, students would be allowed to transfer from any district. Schools would report their capacity to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and DESE would assign students who wished to transfer to a nearby district or charter school with room for them.

Each district would have to provide transportation to at least one other school district or charter school, designated by DESE.

Education tax credits

Three proposals from Republicans would reimburse parents who educate their children outside of a public school system.

Parents could receive a refundable tax credit for things like tuition, fees, supplies and tutoring. The amount of the tax credit cannot exceed the state adequacy target — the amount the state determines is necessary to educate a public school student.

The proposals are:

• House Bill 2449, sponsored by Davis.
• Senate Bill 1341, sponsored by Republican Sen. Nick Schroer of St. Charles County.
• Senate Bill 1163, sponsored by Republican Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville.

Davis’ bill is worded differently than the other two and goes into more detail about what types of nonpublic schools are eligible, including home schools, private schools, private virtual schools and parish schools.

Giving parents control over state education spending for their children

Senate Bill 1314, sponsored by Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican who represents part of Jefferson County, would allow parents to direct the funding that would have gone to educate their child at a local public school to another school of their choice.

That could be a private school, charter school or virtual school. Parents could also choose to send their child to a traditional public school other than the one the school district assigns them.

The amount of funding available would either be the state adequacy target or tuition at the school that parents choose, whichever is less.

This article first appeared on Beacon: Missouri and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.