Nearly All State Funding For Missouri School Vouchers Used For Religious Schools – The 74

uaetodaynews.com — Nearly All State Funding for Missouri School Vouchers Used for Religious Schools – The 74

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Author: Annelise Hanshaw
Published on: 2025-10-18 20:30:00
Source: www.the74million.org

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Sign up for The 74 Newslettern n n n nState funding of private-school vouchers is primarily being used for students attending religious institutions, with nearly 98% of funding going toward Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Islamic schools.nnnnThis year, state lawmakers passed a budget that included a request from Gov. Mike Kehoe to supply the state-run K-12 scholarship program, MOScholars, with $50 million of general revenue. Previously, the impact to the state’s bottom line was indirect, with 100% tax-deductible donations fueling the program.nnnnDonations are still part of MOScholars’ funding, but the state appropriation has more than doubled the number of scholarships available.nnnnnnnnDuring the 2024-25 school year, MOScholars awarded $15.2 million in scholarships.nnnnIn August alone, the State Treasurer’s Office received invoices for scholarships totaling $15.6 million, according to documents obtained by The Independent under Missouri’s open records laws.nnnnThe invoice process is unique to the direct state funding of the program. The nonprofits that administer scholarships, called educational assistance organizations, were the sole keepers of scholarship funds. But now, the State Treasurer’s Office holds scholarship money derived from general revenue in an account previously only used for program marketing and administration.nnnnThe invoices contained data on which schools MOScholars students are attending and the scholarship amount.nnnnOf the 2,329 scholarships awarded in August, only 59 went to students in nonreligious schools.nnnnThis number did not surprise Democratic lawmakers, who for years have warned that state revenue was going to be siphoned into religious schools.nnnn“We are simply subsidizing, with tax dollars, parents who would already choose to send their kids to a private school,” state Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, told The Independent. “And now we are using public dollars to pay for schools that are not transparent whatsoever in choosing who to educate and who not.”nnnnSome schools have been criticized for admission requirements that push a moral standard.nnnnChristian Fellowship School in Columbia, which received scholarships for 63 MOScholars students in August, requires “at least one parent of enrolled students professes faith in Christ and agrees with the admission policies and the philosophy and doctrinal statements of the school,” according to its handbook. nnnnThese statements include disapproval of homosexuality.nnnn“The school reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission of an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student,” the handbook continues.nnnnWith around 430 K-12 students enrolled at Christian Fellowship School, according to National Center for Educational Statistics survey dataMOScholars makes up a sizable portion of its funding. But it is not the only school with a large number of scholarship recipients.nnnnTorah Prep School in St. Louis had 229 K-12 students during the 2023-24 school year. And in August, 197 MOScholars students received funding to attend the school. Torah Prep did not respond to a request for comment.nnnnThe high number of students attending religious schools with MOScholars funding is somewhat incidental, somewhat by design.nnnnThe MOScholars program allows its six educational assistance organizations to choose what scholarships they are willing to support. nnnnReligious organizations stepped into the role to help connect congregants with affiliated schools. Only two of the six educational assistance organizations partner with schools unaffiliated with religion.nnnnThe Catholic dioceses of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Springfield-Cape Girardeau run the educational assistance organization Bright Futures Fund, which administered nearly half of the scholarships awarded in August.nnnnThe educational assistance organization Agudath Israel of Missouri focuses on Jewish education, partnering with four Jewish day schools.nnnnThe organization’s director Hillel Anton told The Independent that students are attracted to the program for more than just religious reasons.nnnn“(Parents’) first and foremost concern is where their child is going to be able to be in the best learning environment,” Anton said. “And you may have a faith-based school that is fantastic and is able to provide that.”nnnnThe demand for the program has long exceeded funding availability. Going into August, organizations had waitlists of students eligible for a scholarship but without funding secured.nnnnAgudath Israel of Missouri couldn’t guarantee scholarships for all of the returning students, Anton said, until the state funding was official.nnnn“Because a lot of the funding is done towards the end of the year… we had everyone on a wait list,” he said. “Because we didn’t know necessarily how much funding we were going to have, we weren’t awarding anyone (the funding).”nnnnBecause the program was previously powered by 100% tax-deductible donations, the majority of funds poured in around December. But families need the money months sooner, with tuition due at the start of the school year.nnnnSome educational assistance organizations prefunded scholarships, dipping into their savings to front expenses in the fall. Others had schools that would accept students and wait for payment.nnnnThe funding from the state, though, has resolved the backlog and allowed organizations to give scholarships to everyone on their wait list.nnnn“Everyone who qualified for a scholarship this year received one,” Ashlie Hand, Bright Futures Fund’s director of communications, told The Independent.nnnnBright Futures Fund nearly doubled the number of students it serves, from 1,050 to 1,909.nnnnAgudath Israel of Missouri is growing, too. The new funding helped the organization expand from 175 scholarships last year to 277 this year.nnnnSome expect the state funding to continue next year to support this year’s windfall of scholarships. State Treasurer Vivek Malek told The Independent in May that if donations fall short, he will request state funds to support the new students through graduation.nnnMissouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: (email protected).n n n n Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newslettern n n !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;n t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,n document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);n fbq(‘init’, ‘626037510879173’); // 626037510879173n fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);n rnDisclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification. rnWe do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.rnrnAuthor: Annelise HanshawrnPublished on: 2025-10-18 20:30:00rnSource: www.the74million.orgrnn”,”publisher”:{“@id”:”#Publisher”,”@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”uaetodaynews”,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/images-e1759081190269.png”},”sameAs”:[“https://www.facebook.com/uaetodaynewscom”,”https://www.pinterest.com/uaetodaynews/”,”https://www.instagram.com/uaetoday_news_com/”]},”sourceOrganization”:{“@id”:”#Publisher”},”copyrightHolder”:{“@id”:”#Publisher”},”mainEntityOfPage”:{“@type”:”WebPage”,”@id”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/nearly-all-state-funding-for-missouri-school-vouchers-used-for-religious-schools-the-74/”,”breadcrumb”:{“@id”:”#Breadcrumb”}},”author”:{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”uaetodaynews”,”url”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/author/arabsongmedia-net/”},”image”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://i0.wp.com/uaetodaynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Missouri-state-funding-825×495.jpg?fit=825%2C495&ssl=1″,”width”:1200,”height”:495}}

Disclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification.
We do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.

Author: uaetodaynews
Published on: 2025-10-18 16:37:00
Source: uaetodaynews.com

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