{"id":10177,"date":"2026-05-15T14:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/?p=10177"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T20:15:31","slug":"archbishops-call-helps-sink-oversight-changes-to-missouri-private-school-voucher-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2026\/05\/15\/archbishops-call-helps-sink-oversight-changes-to-missouri-private-school-voucher-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop\u2019s call helps sink oversight changes to Missouri private school voucher program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Archdiocese of St. Louis called House Fiscal Review chairman Jim Murphy, a Republican from St. Louis County, Friday morning in a request to kill an education bill that would change oversight of MOScholars. In March, Rozanski spoke in a press conference in favor of Murphy’s legislation seeking to end the death penalty (Steph Quinn\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A plan to move oversight of Missouri\u2019s private school voucher program out of the State Treasurer\u2019s Office fizzled on the last day of legislative session Friday after the chairman of the House Fiscal Review Committee refused to bring it up for a vote following a call from St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski.<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposal <\/span>to switch control of MOScholars<\/span><\/a> to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, included in a wide-ranging education bill, cleared the Missouri Senate Thursday. It needed to pass fiscal review for the House to take it up and send it to the governor before the legislature adjourned for the year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But state Rep. Jim Murphy, a Republican from St. Louis County, refused to bring up the legislation in Friday\u2019s fiscal review hearing after speaking to Rozanski Friday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

In March, <\/span>Rozanski traveled to the State Capitol to back Murphy\u2019s bill<\/span><\/a> that sought to end the death penalty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Murphy told The Independent that the archbishop\u2019s call only solidified his view of the legislation, which he labeled \u201cnot fiscally sound in any way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of St. Louis did not return a request for comment. The archdiocese runs one of seven organizations that accept donations and administer scholarships as part of the MOScholars program.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, speaks about the use of state revenue for private school vouchers during a press conference April 23 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, said the archbishop\u2019s interference and the lobbying surrounding the program \u201cmakes my stomach turn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure why the archbishop is calling education policy for the state of Missouri,\u201d he told The Independent.<\/span><\/p>\n

The legislation was the result of talks with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who shared concerns about how the treasurer\u2019s office was handling the MOScholars program, Beck said. Among those in support of stripping oversight of the program from State Treasurer Vivek Malek was Senate Appropriations Chairman Rusty Black, a Chillicothe Republican.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ire at how the treasurer has run the program has percolated for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, The Independent reported that the treasurer\u2019s office inadvertently <\/span>leaked the names, parent email addresses, scholarship amounts and schools of MOScholars participants<\/span><\/a>. And last summer, a report from the State Auditor\u2019s Office revealed that the treasurer had neglected the requirement to conduct annual audits of the program and lacked procedures to \u201cadequately review or monitor annual reports\u201d from the organizations that administer the scholarships.<\/span><\/p>\n

Negotiations to give the program better oversight had gone on \u201cfor a while,\u201d Beck said, adding that \u201cthese things don\u2019t happen overnight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though it may have taken time to develop the legislation, its undoing came in a matter of hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the House Fiscal Review Committee met Friday morning, many anticipated that it would take up the MOScholars legislation, including Malek, who attended the hearing with two staffers.\u00a0<\/span>But the<\/span> bill wasn\u2019t quite ready for the committee because the fiscal note had an error. A House staff member told Malek that the legislation would be discussed when the committee reconvened during the House\u2019s next recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when the opportunity came later in the afternoon, Murphy refused to call it up for a vote on two bills, including the education legislation. When state Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Springfield Democrat on the committee, asked him about the omission, he told her: \u201cThose two are not moving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With a 6 p.m. deadline Friday for all legislation to pass, Murphy\u2019s refusal would leave no path forward for the legislation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Murphy told The Independent that the archbishop\u2019s call was one of 13 he fielded about the education bill prior to Friday morning\u2019s hearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI asked for a special dispensation from the archbishop if I kill the bill,\u201d he said with a laugh and a sign of the cross. In Catholic tradition, a dispensation is a special permission from the church to break a rule or tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 90-page bill included other education proposals, like a <\/span>provision requiring schools to screen students for gifted education<\/span><\/a> and legislation creating an <\/span>optional agriculture education program<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malek declined The Independent\u2019s request for comment immediately prior to Friday morning\u2019s hearing, saying he wasn\u2019t going to answer questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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