Key Comparisons of Opinions on MOScholars Program Regulations
Photo by Mary Taylor
By: Meg Gorton and Amy J. Shelton
This week PRiME released a policy brief examining the demand and supply of private school choice in Missouri by considering the opinions of voters, parents, and private school leaders on the MOScholar’s Program, a program that allows Missouri K-12 students—within certain geographically-eligible areas—to apply for private school scholarships of up to $6,375. Importantly, the program gives priority access to students from low-income families and students with disabilities. We find all three groups support the MOScholars program but oppose the geographic eligibility restriction. However, we find opinions diverge between these three groups of respondents when it comes to hypothetical program regulations.
This blog emphasizes key differences between the opinions of voters, parents, and private school leaders on hypothetical MOScholars Program regulations in the areas of admissions requirements, cost of tuition, participation in religious activities, and state standardized testing. We find:
Thirty-seven percent of voters and half of surveyed parents support requiring participating schools to waive admissions requirements for scholarship students, while 88% of schools have no intent to waive any admissions requirements. Additionally, only 7% of geographically-eligible schools intending to participate in the program (“eligible-intending” schools) would admit a student with a “severe” disability. Thirty-five percent admit students with “mild” disabilities, and 58% admit students with “mild to moderate” disabilities.
Six out of ten voters and parents support requiring participating schools to accept MOScholars scholarships to cover the full cost of tuition. The maximum scholarship amount covers the average tuition for elementary students at eligible-intending schools, though it covers only two-thirds of middle school tuition and less than half of high school tuition. On the supply side, 67% of schools expressed a willingness to consider accepting a scholarship to cover the full cost.
Four out of ten voters and parents support allowing scholarship students to opt out of religious activities at participating schools. Eighty-six percent of eligible-intending schools opposed such a policy, and no schools indicated intent to institute this practice.
Nearly three-quarters of voters and parents support requiring participating schools to administer the state’s standardized tests to satisfy the program’s testing requirement. Only two out of 10 schools expressed willingness to do this, with 43% opposed and 38% unsure.
Conclusion
We find diverging preferences from voters, parents, and private school leaders on how the MOScholars program should operate. Voters and parents support administering state standardized tests, waiving admissions requirements, and allowing scholarship recipients to opt out of religious activities, while private school leaders express opposition to these suggested policies. Voters and parents also support private schools accepting MOScholars scholarships to cover the full cost of tuition, but only two-thirds of schools indicated some willingness to do this. One-third of schools would only admit a student with a disability if the disability was considered mild. With the intent of the MOScholars program being to support private school access for students with the highest financial need and students with disabilities, it will be important for the state to monitor the extent to which the program meets this goal.
Read our policy brief to learn more about the demand and supply sides of private school choice in Missouri.
