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Legislative vote history on school choice by rural district representatives in Missouri (2024)
| Impact of school choice |
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| on rural school districts |
| • Portal page • States with universal school choice • Analysis of legislative representation • Polling • Studies and reports • State-specific case studies • Arguments • Policy and reform proposals |
| Click here to visit Ballotpedia's comprehensive portal on the impact of universal school choice on rural school districts.
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Out of 197 total state legislative districts in Missouri, there were 91 (46%) that contained rural school districts as of April 2025. Ballotpedia analyzed private school choice legislation vote histories in both chambers across partisan affiliation and according to rural school district representation.
- Republicans - 111 total state House seats
- 68 representing rural districts
- 43 without any rural districts
- Democrats - 52 total state House seats
- 1 representing rural districts
- 51 without any rural districts
Historical data for a vote on private school choice policy (2024)
- Republicans - 24 total state Senate seats
- 21 representing rural districts
- 3 without any rural districts
- Democrats - 10 total state Senate seats
- 1 representing rural districts
- 9 without any rural districts
Historical data for a vote on private school choice policy (2024)
- Vote history analysis overview
- State House vote analysis
- State Senate vote analysis
- List of legislators representing rural school districts
Analysis background and methodology
Eighteen (18) states had universal private school choice programs as of June 2025. Universal school choice programs provide public funds for alternatives to public schools, such as private schools and homeschooling, and are designed for all students to qualify.[1][2][3]
- 15 of the 18 states were Republican trifectas, and 9 Republican trifectas did not have universal school choice.
- All 15 Democratic trifectas did not have universal school choice.
- Three states with universal school choice policies are divided governments, and nine divided government states do not have universal school choice.
As of June 2025, 12 Republican trifecta states had enacted universal school choice programs since 2021. In 2025, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, Wyoming, and New Hampshire passed universal private school choice legislation.
Arguments surrounding private school choice legislation may incorporate claims about the impact of private school choice on rural school districts.
Ballotpedia aggregated and analyzed legislative vote data on private school choice in Republican trifecta states that, as of January 2025, had not enacted universal private school choice policies. This project analyzes vote history across party affiliation and between legislators representing at least one rural school district and those without any rural school districts in their districts. It also shows how many legislative districts there are in each state containing at least one rural school district and lists out the legislators representing those districts.
Click here to see the vote history analyses for the other states.
The analysis is based on the vote history data for full chamber floor votes on a selection of recent bills or amendments containing provisions substantively expanding or restricting private school choice programs including Education Savings Accounts (ESA), voucher programs, and education tax credit programs.
For the analysis, Ballotpedia classified as rural any school district within an area designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as rural, which means any area not within a densely developed area with at least 2,000 housing units or a population of 5,000 or more. This analysis does not reflect any particular legislator's position on any policy or legislation. It does not evaluate reasons or motives for legislative votes.
Analysis of vote history on school choice policies
Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) signed SB 727 into law on May 7, 2024, following its passage in both chambers. The bill increased the maximum amount of tax credits that may be allocated to the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program, an ESA that allows parents to receive funding for private school tuition or other education expenses. SB 727 also expanded access to the program, allowed Boone County to open charter schools, and raised the minimum teacher pay.
Of the 102 House Republicans who voted on the final bill, 79 voted in favor. For the 49 House Democrats who voted on the final bill, 3 voted in favor. Of the 20 Senate Republicans who voted on the final bill, 19 voted in favor. None of the ten Senate Democrats voted in favor. The charts below show how legislators from rural or urban/suburban areas voted by partisan affiliation within each chamber.
Missouri State Senate Democrat school choice voting analysis
100% of Democrats in the Missouri Senate voted to oppose changes to the maximum amount of tax credits that may be allocated in any year for the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program, including both the rural and urban/suburban district members.
State House of Representatives vote analysis
The map below shows how representatives from each Missouri House district voted on SB 727, which changed the maximum amount of tax credits that may be allocated in any year for the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program. "Yes" votes were in support of the ESA program and coded "support" to private school choice, and "No" votes were opposed to the ESA program and coded "opposed. Hover over the legislative districts to display the legislator's name, party affiliation, vote tallied on SB 727, vote coding, and whether the legislator's district contained at least one rural school district.
State Senate vote analysis
The map below shows how representatives from each Missouri Senate district voted on SB 727, which changed the maximum amount of tax credits that may be allocated in any year for the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program. "Yes" votes were in support of the ESA program and coded "support" to private school choice, and "No" votes were opposed to the ESA program and coded "opposed. Hover over the legislative districts to display the legislator's name, party affiliation, vote tallied on SB 727, vote coding, and whether the legislator's district contained at least one rural school district.
Missouri legislators representing rural school districts
The tables below list all the members of the Missouri House of Representatives and the Missouri State Senate who represented as of April 2025 a legislative district that contained at least one rural school district as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The tables include the legislators' names with a link to their Ballotpedia profiles, their district numbers, their party affiliations, and the years they were first elected. The linked Ballotpedia profiles include contact information such as their websites, facebook pages, and other social accounts.
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ A District Court judge ruled on April 18, 2025, that Utah's universal school choice program, Utah Fits All, violated the Utah Constitution. The program will continue to run until the Utah Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality.
- ↑ A judge in Franklin County, Ohio, ruled that Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship, a universal school choice voucher program, violated the Ohio Constitution by funding private schools at the expense of public schools. The case is expected to be appealed in Ohio's Tenth District Court of Appeals.
- ↑ A Laramie County District Court judge instituted a preliminary injunction on Wyoming's universal Steamboat Legacy private school choice program, preventing payouts to families during litigation over the legality of the program. The program was enacted by the state legislature in March 2025 and set to begin on July 1, 2025, but was delayed on June 27, 2025, then temporarily blocked on July 15.
