{"id":4231,"date":"2025-08-25T10:38:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T15:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/25\/cole-county-judge-denies-request-to-freeze-missouri-private-school-voucher-payments-2\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T10:38:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T15:38:52","slug":"cole-county-judge-denies-request-to-freeze-missouri-private-school-voucher-payments-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/25\/cole-county-judge-denies-request-to-freeze-missouri-private-school-voucher-payments-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole County judge denies request to freeze Missouri private-school voucher payments"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cole County Circuit Court Judge Brian Stumpe issues an influential ruling in a lawsuit challenging a $51 million appropriation to the MOScholars program Monday (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n

The Missouri State Treasurer\u2019s Office can continue to subsidize private-school scholarships from a $51 million allotment of state revenue while a lawsuit challenging the fund\u2019s constitutionality makes its way through the system, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Brian Stumpe ruled Monday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stumpe rejected <\/span>arguments by the Missouri branch of the National Education Association<\/span><\/a> that the flow of funds should be stopped in order to prevent unauthorized spending of state funds that can\u2019t be \u201cclawed back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But he didn\u2019t outright deny the teachers union\u2019s case, also turning down the state\u2019s motion to dismiss Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is in his final days in office before stepping into a federal position as co-deputy director of the FBI, labeled the ruling a \u201cvictory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cParents, not unions, not bureaucrats, know what\u2019s best for their kids,\u201d he said in a press release. \u201cThis case is about freedom and opportunity, and today\u2019s ruling is a huge step toward securing both.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the center of the case is the MOScholars program, which until the infusion of general revenue landed last month funded private-school scholarships through a tax credit program.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawsuit challenges the shift from a program dependent on donations\u00a0 \u2014 which taxpayers are able to receive back as a tax credit equal to 100% of their contribution \u2014 to a state-sponsored voucher program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both sides <\/span>met in circuit court last Thursday<\/span><\/a> for the first in-person hearing of what will likely be a months-long legal battle. MNEA\u2019s attorney Loretta Haggard argued that the appropriation lacks authority from state statute.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just turn on a hose of $51 million in general revenue and force it through the tax credit framework,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are gaps in that framework.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But the attorney general\u2019s office and <\/span>intervenors from Indiana-based advocacy group EdChoice<\/span><\/a> argued the legislature\u2019s authority in the budget process was sufficient.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust because (the budget bill) funds a program set up by other statutes does not make a new appropriation unlawful\u2014new funding is a common, necessary, and entirely unsurprising<\/span><\/p>\n

feature of general-revenue bills,\u201d Bailey\u2019s office wrote <\/span>in a filing submitted Aug. 15<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The digital case record does not include Stumpe\u2019s reasoning for the two denials Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

MNEA President Rebeka McIntosh shared her concerns about the unhampered flow of tax dollars to private schools in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians think they\u2019ve won, but Missouri NEA\u2019s 45,000 educators know better. We\u2019ll prove in court what rural Missouri already knows: when you kill the school, you kill the town,\u201d she said. \u201cThese vouchers violate our constitution and hurt our kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The case does not yet have a trial date.<\/span><\/p>\n

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