JEFFERSON CITY — Private religious schools across Missouri have received nearly all $9.3 million in state tax credits diverted through a new education voucher program.
Since launching in July, the MOScholars program has awarded more than 1,300 vouchers worth up to $6,375 for private school tuition and other eligible expenses.
Now state lawmakers like Rep. , R-Smithville, are looking to expand eligibility and funding for the program.
Hurlbert has first-hand experience with MOScholars as a scholarship coordinator for the Smithville-based , the largest beneficiary of the tax credits with nearly 600 vouchers awarded. Bills filed by the lawmaker would expand the program statewide and remove eligibility restrictions based on income and geography.
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Herzog is one of six religious groups certified by the state treasurer’s office to collect, manage and distribute the tax-credit donations to students.
Hurlbert declined an interview to discuss the proposed legislation that would benefit his employer, which must award scholarships worth at least 90% of its tax donations that reached close to $4 million this month.
A spokeswoman for the Herzog Foundation said Hurlbert “has been a champion for school choice for years,†and that the organization used about 4% of its donations for marketing and administrative costs.
State Rep. , D-Kansas City, credits her public school education in Smithville with her success and said she was concerned about the rollout of the MOScholars program and Hurlbert’s involvement.
“When I found out that the Herzog Foundation was opening up in the very community where I came from, it really shook me to my core,†she said. “I believe that their very purpose of existing in our state is to continue to persuade lawmakers to dismantle public schools as we know them today.â€
“We have a representative serving in the Missouri House who is not only working for them, but actively pushing legislation that benefits him,†Nurrenbern said.
The lawmaker isn’t the only Herzog leader with ties to MOScholars. John Elliott, a Herzog board member, is a co-founder and Education System in Kansas City, which received 29 vouchers last fall — sixth most of any school in the state.
The school with the most voucher students — 46 — is St. Joseph Christian School, whose longtime benefactor was the late businessman Stanley Herzog, the namesake of the foundation that seeks to “catalyze and accelerate the development of quality Christ-centered K-12 education so that families and culture flourish,†according to its website.
The group , which has ties to Herzog chairman Todd Graves, tweeted that because of MOScholars, “families all across the Show Me State have been able to escape failing government-run schools.â€
But most of the students receiving vouchers in Missouri this fall were already attending private schools or entering kindergarten and first grade, according to the Missouri treasurer’s office, which oversees MOScholars. Only 35% of the voucher recipients this fall attended public schools last year.
“It’s exclusively pitched and marketed as educational opportunity and freedom, but it’s just a tax break for people who are already using these programs,†said , a professor of education policy at Michigan State University. “Religious schools are getting government bailouts.â€
The MOScholars program allows residents and businesses to receive a credit of up to 50% of state tax liability for donating to the scholarship granting organizations. The funds are distributed to eligible families to use for tuition or other educational expenses, prioritizing low-income and special needs students. All but 10 of the 140 schools receiving voucher students this fall have religious affiliations, mostly Catholic and Christian along with four Jewish schools.
Several of the participating schools have policies that discriminate based on religion, sexual orientation or learning disabilities:
• Northland Christian requires students and parents “be an active member of a local Christian church as validated by a pastor at that church.â€
• in Springfield, which had the third-highest number of tax-credit scholarship students with 31, selects students for “philosophical compatibility†and academic performance. “Students with less than average academic ability may not be able to succeed in the robust curriculum,†reads the school handbook.
• At in Columbia, parents must provide “a home environment that reflects Biblical morality†including “the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.â€
Leaders of the MOScholars granting organizations met recently with incoming state treasurer, Republican Vivek Malek, to discuss the future of the program.
“It’s been such an exciting, breathtaking six months,†said Julie Soffner, executive director of the at the Archdiocese of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, which has awarded close to 200 scholarships.
The discussion centered around expanding the program statewide. Currently the scholarships can only go to students in charter counties or cities with more than 30,000 people, including ºüÀêÊÓƵ city and ºüÀêÊÓƵ, St. Charles and Jefferson counties.
“Expansion is the goal,†Soffner said. “Going into those more rural areas to capture a broader base of applicants would be a dream come true. Any other considerations for loosening up the criteria would be fantastic.â€
school in University City had 41 voucher students enrolled in the fall, the most in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region and second highest in the state. The students receiving vouchers make up about 20% of the school’s enrollment in kindergarten through eighth grade.
“The community that we’re in is very big on education, big believers in education and big believers in the tradition within the community,†said Hillel Anton, who directs the MOScholars program for , which has distributed 70 vouchers among four Jewish schools in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. “They know what the importance is for the future of any child.â€
The Missouri Constitution bars public funding for religious schools, setting up a potential legal challenge over the tax-credit vouchers. The Kentucky Supreme Court struck down a similar voucher law last month in that state in a ruling that stated tax credits amount to government spending on private education.
The new political action committee St. Charles County Families for Public Schools uses vouchers as a litmus test for candidates it will support, said co-founder Ted House.
“We oppose the diversion of public funds from public schools,†said House, a former Democratic state senator and circuit judge from St. Charles County. “It’s so important to have schools available to everybody, kids with special needs, people with all beliefs and creeds and religions. Public schools are what brings us together and to me, that’s where the state’s emphasis should be.â€
Josh Renaud of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Originally posted at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12.