Moon rises over the afternoon sun-lit Missouri state capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The legislation increases the cap on tax credits for the private donations from $50 million to $75 million per year, to help pay for a possible influx of students.
To gain support from lawmakers focused on helping traditional public schools, senators included money to raise minimum teacher salaries to $40,000 a year and adjusted the state's formula for funding public schools, a change expected to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars more to public education over time.
Several House Democrats cautioned that the state might not have enough revenue in future years to provide the massive influx in funding to public schools that the bill commits to.
"While the voucher expansion is essentially guaranteed, the promises to public schools depend on additional funding the state isn’t expected to have and future lawmakers aren’t required to provide," House Democratic Minority Leader Crystal Quade said in a statement.
Another provision would allow charter schools in Boone County, where Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden lives. The bill also would require public votes to approve a school district’s switch to four-day school weeks and incentivize schools that maintain five-day weeks.
This issue supporters call "school choice" has divided lawmakers beyond typical Republican-Democrat lines in Missouri.
GOP legislators from rural districts have opposed allowing charter schools in their areas for years, fearing they could draw students away from traditional public schools seen as the backbone of their communities. Some Democrats, meanwhile, want students in underperforming urban schools to have more options.
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And some conservatives lobbied against more regulations for homeschoolers and private schools. One activist handed out "dog poop" brownies before the vote, suggesting that unwanted provisions could ruin what might otherwise be a nice treat.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/missouri-lawmakers-vote-expand-tax-credit-backed-private-school-scholarships