Missouri Senate Democrats ended their filibuster Tuesday of a bill that seeks to expand the state’s K-12 tax-credit scholarship program — agreeing to let the legislation come to a vote after Republicans added provisions boosting public school funding and teacher retention efforts.

receiving first-round approval by a 20-13 vote in the Senate Tuesday evening is the second version to come to the floor this week. The original 12-page bill ballooned to 76 pages before expanding to 153 pages Tuesday after negotiations.

“There are plenty of things (in the bill) that I dislike,” Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, told the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Andrew Koenig.

Koenig, a Republican from Manchester, acknowledged the compromise.

“That makes two of us,” he said.

“I know that there are things you wish you could change, and there are things that I wish I could change. At the end of the day, I think we’ve gotten to that right balance,” Arthur said.

Republican Sens. Justin Brown of Rolla, Mike Moon of Ash Grove and Elaine Gannon of DeSoto joined Democrats voting against the bill.

Gannon has spoken against the bill at the committee level and told The Independent that she fears tax-credit scholarships pull money from public schools.

“If you want choice, pay for it. If they’re not happy, there’s other options out there, like charter schools and private schools.” she said.

On the Senate floor Monday evening, she spoke about six counties who removed tax-credit scholarships from their local Republican Party platform.

“These six counties feel if they take public dollars, the government’s going to come in and regulate those parochial schools and private schools,” she said.

Currently only available in charter counties and cities with at least 30,000 residents, the legislation that won initial approval Tuesday would open the state’s K-12 tax-credit scholarship program, MOScholars, statewide.

It would also increase the salary one can make to qualify for the program as low-income from 200% of the amount used to determine reduced lunch to 300%. The income cap, for a family of four, would be $166,500, under this school year’s reduced lunch eligibility.

The bill would additionally increase the amount awarded to those with limited English proficiency, those who qualify for free or reduced lunch and students with individualized education plans.

MOScholars currently has a ceiling of $50 million in tax credits, which it has not reached in its first couple years of the program. The bill seeks to raise the cap to $75 million, with an adjustment tied to the “percent increase or decrease in the amount of state aid distributed to school districts.”

Koenig has launched a campaign for State Treasurer, the office that oversees the MOScholars program.

The bill also would permit charter schools to open in Boone County. Currently, charter schools are only allowed in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, who is in his last year in the Senate, spoke in favor of adding a charter in his home county.

“We’re just trying to give another option for Columbia,” Rowden, a Republican from Columbia, said on the Senate floor.

These provisions were in place as Senate Democrats led a filibuster lasting roughly four hours before the chamber adjourned at 8 p.m. Monday. After closed-door negotiations, Koenig’s bill was amended to impact 24 additional sections of state law.

The changes include incentives for school districts in charter counties or cities with 30,000 or more residents to have instruction five days a week, changes to the state formula that funds public schools and boosting the minimum teacher salary to $40,000.

The foundation formula, which currently has a multiplier of student attendance, would shift to enrollment in its place. A commissioned by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education last year.

“It is well understood that average daily attendance rates tend to be lower (relative to enrolled, eligible pupils) in districts that are higher in child poverty and in minority concentrations. As such, when state aid is calculated based on average daily attendance, that aid is systematically reduced in higher poverty, higher minority concentration districts,” Baker wrote.

A fiscal note has not been completed for the current version. Koenig said the changes to the state-aid formula, which would be ushered in 10% increments, would cost $70 million for each 10%.

Also added to the bill is the proposed creation of a literacy fund that could receive up to $5 million from the state’s general fund to provide grants for weekly reading programs.

Other additions include a proposal to permit school districts to pay teachers more who fill roles in “hard-to-staff” schools and areas, a boost to the career ladder program and additional pathways to teaching certifications.

One piece of the bill discussed Tuesday would allow people with bachelor’s degrees to complete an 18-hour teacher training program for credentials to teach in Missouri private schools.

Public schools could get more teachers into classrooms through a provision giving bachelor’s degree recipients “subject-area certifications” only for their areas of expertise. The bill also would strike an entrance exam to receive training in education.

Debate ended at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, with Senate leadership promising to send the bill to fiscal oversight in the morning. It needs to be approved by the Senate one more time before being sent to the House.

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: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on and .

Surrounded by “school choice” advocates in the Statehouse, Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, and Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, announced the $50 million “parental choice tax credit” program. 

It’s the latest Idaho proposal that seeks to open up public funds for private education. Den Hartog and Horman, who have been leading proponents of the “school choice” movement in Idaho, plan to introduce the bill during the , which starts Monday. 

“In a time of high inflation and economic uncertainty, the increased concern over the alignment of family values and education, this proposal is designed to support Idaho parents as they make decisions about their child’s education,” Den Hartog said.

The proposal has two parts. First, private school families of any income could claim $5,000 tax credits for expenses “related to the nonpublic academic instruction,” Den Hartog said. That includes tuition, fees, transportation, tutoring, test-taking and exam preparation, among other things.

Qualifying students would be school-aged and enrolled in a non-public school, which could include religious schools and home schools. The tax credits would be first come, first served with a $40 million cap. 

A second bucket of state funds — $10 million — would be set aside for a “kickstart” program benefitting low-income students. Rather than claiming private school expenses on their taxes, families who qualify for the federal earned income tax credit could collect up to $5,000 in grants for one year. After a year, those families would be rolled into the tax credit program. 

In recent years, similar legislation has failed in the face of widespread anxiety about expending public funds on private schools. Opponents of similar mechanisms — often called “vouchers” — worry about a lack of accountability for private school expenses and fear that limited public school funds would be siphoned. 

Public school leaders have bitterly fought proposals to fund private education at the state level. Quinn Perry, policy and government affairs director for the Idaho School Boards Association, told Idaho Education News this week that private school voucher programs in other states have been “budget busters.”

Arizona’s expanding school voucher program is expected to $900 million this school year. Initial estimates in the Grand Canyon State pegged the cost at $65 million.

The Arizona Mirror last week that the state faces a $400 million deficit, because of the rising cost of private school vouchers and decreasing state revenue due to a new flat income tax — which Idaho also enacted, in 2022.

Den Hartog and Horman brushed aside those concerns Friday. They touted the proposed spending caps and the fact that the State Tax Commission would oversee the tax credits and grants, creating an “accountability measure” backed by the threat of perjury for lying on one’s taxes. 

Horman, a former public school board trustee who co-chairs the Legislature’s powerful budget committee, said the program would be “complementary” to Idaho’s public school system. She said she wouldn’t support a policy that harms public education. 

“I am not a fan of budget-busting bills,” Horman said. 

Den Hartog and Horman also acknowledged that those caps could increase in future years, if demand calls for it. 

House Assistant Minority Leader Lauren Necochea slammed the proposal in a conversation with reporters Friday. The Boise Democrat said funneling the money through the Tax Commission is likely a strategy to sidestep the House Education Committee, which blocked similar legislation last year. 

“Whether it’s the state Tax Commission cutting the check or another agency, the result is the same: dollars are being siphoned out of the fund that we use for public schools and will go towards private, religious and, potentially, for-profit institutions with zero accountability,” Necochea said.

National groups that advocate for “school choice” in recent years have spent heavily lobbying Idaho lawmakers to pass a private school voucher policy. But Friday’s news conference demonstrated homegrown support, as well. Dozens of children and parents held signs reading “support the parental choice tax credit program.”

Robbe Hart, a single father from Emmett, said he commutes more than 60 miles, round-trip, for his sons to attend Greenleaf Friends Academy. The travel is “extremely expensive,” Hart said, but his sons have “thrived” at the Christian school.

“If this bill passed, it would help thousands of other people that are going through the same thing that I go through,” he said.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tens of thousands of Oklahoma families applied for private school tax credits within minutes of the program’s launch, potentially consuming the entire $150 million budget after an hour and a half.

The state received more than 30,000 submissions for the new parental choice tax credits within the first 90 minutes of the application window on Wednesday, according to a news release from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

“It is amazing to see the demand for this program, and I hope the legislature will consider ways to allow more families to apply for this tax credit in the future,” Stitt said in a statement Thursday night.

About in Oklahoma. More than 150 private schools had registered with the program by Wednesday afternoon so their students could be eligible to apply.

The refundable tax credits offer $5,000 to $7,500 per student to offset the cost of private school tuition and other educational expenses. The amount a family could receive depends on household earnings, and though there’s no maximum income limit, lower-earning families get a larger tax credit.

Little, if any, of the program’s $150 million budget would be left over if all 30,000 applicants qualify for even the lowest tax credit amount possible.

The total budget will rise to $200 million in 2025 and $250 million in 2026.

Families with a household income of $150,000 or less have priority consideration if they apply before Feb. 5. Outside of the priority group, the tax credits are available on a first-come-first-served basis, incentivizing applicants to submit their forms as quickly as possible.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission declined to provide Oklahoma Voice with any metrics this week on the total number of applications received and how many submissions came from the priority group.

The Tax Commission will use its internal records to check applicants’ household income. The agency contracted with a company, Merit International, to assist with verifying school enrollment documents, expense records and vendor applications while also managing the program’s online platform.

Stitt, a self-made millionaire, initially said his family would apply for the tax credits but . Critics of the program, especially Democrats in the state legislature, said Stitt’s comments illustrated their original fears that the tax credits would help only wealthy families whose children already attend private schools.

The governor called the program a “step towards true education freedom.”

“School choice should be for everyone, not just the rich,” he said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on and .