JEFFERSON CITY — The state treasurer is touting growth in the state’s fledgling private school voucher program, but he’s focusing on the number of recipients and not donors.
In a press release Thursday, Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek said that 1,487 vouchers — valued at $9.5 million — have been awarded by the MOScholars program this school year, surpassing last year’s total of 1,361.
Malek
But records provided to the Post-Dispatch by the treasurer’s office show only about 800 of the vouchers have been paid with state tax credits totaling $5.2 million. The remainder of the vouchers were prefunded by religious nonprofits certified by the state to collect, manage and distribute the tax credits to students.
Demand for the program is strong, but the fundraising mechanism is challenging, said Ray Bozarth, a spokesman for the treasurer. The bulk of the tax credits are expected to arrive in November and December, several months after school started.
“Treasurer Malek didn’t write the bill, but it’s his job to promote and to grow it,” Bozarth said.
Malek was appointed to treasurer in December 2022 by Gov. Mike Parson to replace Scott Fitzpatrick, then the newly elected auditor. Malek, who is running for treasurer in 2024, is “deeply passionate about education and school choice” and has “aggressively promoted MOScholars across the state,” according to the press release from his office.
The Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation of the Archdiocese of St. Louis is one of the groups that paid upfront for a portion of its MOScholars recipients. The foundation plans to get reimbursed through soliciting $3 million in tax credits by the end of December to fund a total of 435 scholarships, said Julie Soffner, its executive director.
The school voucher law was signed by Gov. Mike Parson in 2021 and launched in fall of 2022. The program offers up to $6,375 for tuition and other eligible expenses to low-income families and students with learning disabilities in larger cities and counties including St. Louis city and St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles counties. Residents and businesses can receive a credit of up to 50% of state tax liability for their donations to the program.
State Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters, sponsored the MOScholars legislation and said lawmakers might examine the timeframe for donations because of the gap between the start of school and the end of the year.
Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters
“But I think the good news is we’re on track to raise as much as we did last year for the program if not more,” he said. “December is our best month for raising donations.”
Christofanelli said he would like to see private school choice funded through the state budget in addition to relying on donated tax credits. Donations to MOScholars in 2023 are below 20% of the $27 million cap.
“I think a hybrid approach would provide us the most security,” Christofanelli said.
The Missouri Constitution bars public funding for religious schools, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 struck down a similar law in Maine that excluded most religious schools from that state’s voucher program.
Last year, nearly half of the $9.3 million in tax credits collected for MOScholars was raised by the Herzog Tomorrow Foundation in Smithville and distributed to 600 students. So far this year, the Christian educational foundation has raised $1.1 million and issued 178 vouchers.
Elizabeth Roberts, spokeswoman for Herzog, said the foundation is “on track for a strong year and will continue issuing scholarships through the end of the calendar year in accordance with state statute.”
The Bright Futures Fund of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has distributed the most vouchers this year by far with 734, mostly to Catholic school students in the region.
School choice lobbyists American Federation for Children have pushed for vouchers as a way to save Catholic schools that are struggling with low enrollment and debt. The group’s “Catholic Schools Project” aims to “influence legislative bodies across the country to keep Catholic schools open,” according to its website.
The top MOScholars school is Nativity of Mary in Independence, where 63 out of 159 students received vouchers worth a total of more than $400,000. The Catholic parish attached to the grade school is about $921,000 in debt, according to a recent church bulletin.
“We are not paying all of our bills every month,” wrote the Rev. Bryan Amthor in the bulletin. “While things may be tough, there is much hope … MOScholars is bringing new students and guaranteed funding into our school.”
The St. Louis-area school with the most voucher students is Torah Prep Jewish Day School in University City with 49.
Josh Renaud of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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