March 27, 2024

How would you feel if you asked your bank for change for a $100 bill and you were given ten $1 bills.

Now multiply that by 2.5 million and that’s how liberty-loving Missourians should feel about what the state Senate Republicans did to you with Senate Bill 727 (Koenig), the omnibus education bill.

Actually, it’s worse than that.

It’s more like the ten dollars you got was also counterfeit.

And it may actually be more like 8 million times as bad – no one seems to know what SB 727 will actually cost.

Put more succinctly, Senate Republicans traded somewhere between $250 and $800 million in increased K through 12 education expense for a paltry $25 million increase in subsidies for private schools and a new corrupted version of home-schools.

SB 727 reads like the dream list of Democrat ideas for state controlled education, both public and private.

 

Counterfeit “school choice”

Making matters worse, the subsidies are counterfeit “school choice” because strings are attached to those subsidies in the form of government oversight of what can actually no longer be considered “private schools.”

To put that in even clearer perspective, consider the fact that if you were to subsidize each “school choice” student the $6000 it would take to make private school an option for many families, that $25 million would only help 4166 students. And 4166 is less than ½ of one percent of the 870,000 K-12 students in the state.

That’s right, Senate Republicans traded one of the largest spending increases in Missouri history, and a tremendous increase in the power of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for a sack of wooden nickles.

 

It gets worse.

It’s possible that even private school children who don’t accept the state heroin (aka “vouchers,” “ESAs,” “subsidies”) will also end up under DESE oversight if they attend a private school that accepts subsidized students.

And more than likely, the unsubsidized kids will be paying more for their education because, as is always the case, the subsidies will drive up the price for everyone. Isn’t that what happened with college tuition as the result of higher ed subsidies through the student loan program?

And didn’t the cost of housing skyrocket with home-buyer subsidies from Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac and low interest loans?

And SB 727 is unconstitutional.

And to top it all off…

This scheme is unconstitutional because it uses tax credits. Yes, senators who supported SB 727 violated their oath of office to “support” the Missouri Constitution.

SB 727 violates:

• Article III, Section 36 of the Missouri Constitution, because it has the effect of “divert[ing]” money from the treasury independent of the appropriation process.
  

• Article III, Section 38(a) of the Missouri Constitution, which states that “The general assembly shall have no power to grant public money or property, or lend or authorize the lending of public credit, to any private person, association or corporation…”
  

• Article III, Section 39(5) of the Missouri Constitution because it has the effect of “releas[ing] or extinguish[ing]... without consideration... the indebtedness, liability or obligation of... [a] corporation or individual”.
  

• Article III, Sections 21 and 23 because the purpose of the bill was changed through amendments, and the final title violates the clear title requirement.

 

The PRINCIPLED solution to the failing government schools...

But, but…. Something has to be done about the terrible government schools!

Yes, but let’s do it the right way.

• For the kids stuck in the failing government schools, give back control of local schools to the people who care most about those kids – their parents. Trust them.

  Wrest back the local control that was stolen by the 1992 Senate Bill 380 – the so-called “Outstanding Schools Act.”
  
  Relegate DESE to its original role, not the central planning behemoth it has become.
  

• Allow “portability” by preventing someone’s resident school district from locking them into that district. Parents should have the option of moving their children, along with the per-pupil state funding, to any other government school that will accept them. The receiving school should have complete discretion whether to accept or reject out-of-district students. Parents are responsible for transportation.

• And if you want to give home school and private school families some relief, let them keep what is theirs to start with. Any family with school age children who are not using the government schools should not have to pay school taxes.

 

Only ONE Republican senator was principled enough to vote no...

Only ONE Senate Republican was principled enough to vote against what I think is a socialist SB 727 – you guessed it, Senator Mike Moon.

Here’s how they voted, let them know what you think: https://www.libertytools.org/BillTracking/bill-action-list.php?bill_id=533&Bill_Action_id=537&Bill_Action_id=537

In liberty,

- Ron

ps The sponsor of SB 727, Senator Andrew Koenig especially needs to hear from you:

Andrew.Koenig@senate.mo.gov

(573) 751-2853