JEFFERSON CITY — A fight over K-12 education is in full swing in Jefferson City.
Some lawmakers want to expand the state’s private school voucher program, making the funds available to low- and middle-income families across the state. Others want to increase the state’s commitment to public school funding and teacher salaries.
On Thursday, the state Senate passed an expansive education bill that caters to both camps.
The Legislature also has an array of other education proposals to consider, from tracking school performance to changing accreditation procedures to public school open enrollment.
But another education proposal, despite backing by Republican Gov. Mike Parson and bipartisan support, faces strong headwinds.
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That proposal would fund pre-kindergarten education for low-income students attending public or charter schools — an idea sometimes referred to as “voluntary universal pre-K†because pre-K attendance would be optional and not mandatory. Pre-kindergarten education funding for low-income students would become part of state statute.
The bill sponsor, Rep. Brenda Shields, a St. Joseph Republican, has regularly framed state-funded pre-K as a long-term investment. When children start education early, it improves their economic outcomes and reduces their chances of landing in prison, Shields says.
But some Republicans, like Rep. Ben Baker, of Neosho, have pushed back against “cradle-to-grave†government schools.
The Legislature’s lower chamber last week passed the voluntary universal pre-K measure with a 102-43 vote. While 43 Republicans voted against the bill, 56 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted in support.
But prospects in the upper chamber appear dim.
Republican Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, the chamber’s most powerful member, was unenthusiastic when asked about it at a news conference on Thursday, the unofficial halfway mark of the state’s 2024 legislative session.
“I would assume that would be a pretty tough bill to get across the finish line in the back half of session,†he said.
Roadblocks could come in the form of the price tag to fund pre-K and the “philosophical issue†of whether government should be involved in education at that age.
“I personally have a fundamental problem with the expansion of universal pre-K,†said Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican.
Koenig is a major player in the expansion of the state’s private school voucher program and a member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, a hard-line faction of Republicans that have openly feuded with Republican leadership over the party’s priorities.
“If at all possible, the parent should be responsible for those children, and it shouldn’t necessarily be government responsible for that task,†he said.
This legislation is House Bill 1486