The Demand and Supply of Private School Choice in Missouri

Key Points

In this brief, we consider the demand and supply sides of private school choice in Missouri and how the opinions of voters, parents, and private school leaders diverge on the MOScholars Program. We find:

  • Fifty-three percent of voters and 67% of parents support the program.

  • Over half of voters and parents oppose the geographic eligibility restriction that limits participation to particular areas of the state.

  • Four out of 10 voters and five out of 10 parents support requiring participating schools to waive admissions requirements for scholarship students. Nine out of 10 geographically-eligible-intending schools do not intend to make changes to admissions practices.

  • Four out of 10 voters and parents support requiring participating schools to allow scholarship students to opt out of religious activities, while leaders of eligible-intending schools overwhelmingly oppose (86%) such a policy.

  • Support is strongest among voters and parents (73%) for requiring participating schools to administer the state’s standardized tests. Eight out of 10 eligible-intending schools are opposed to or undecided about using state tests.

 
 
 
 
SLU Poll, School ChoiceSLU PRiMESchool of Education at Saint Louis UniversityAmy Shelton, Meg GortonComment