Testimony Before the Missouri Senate Education Committee in Support of SB 998

Tim Benson, Senior Policy Analyst

Heartland Impact

January 29, 2026

Chairman Brattin and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for holding this hearing on SB 998, which would remove the requirement that Missouri children who qualify must spend at least a semester in a Missouri public school before they are eligible for the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) Program.

My name is Tim Benson, and I am the senior policy analyst with Heartland Impact. Heartland Impact is the advocacy and outreach arm of The Heartland Institute. Both are independent, national, nonprofit organizations working to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Heartland specializes in providing state lawmakers the policy and advocacy resources to advance free-market policies towards broad-based economic prosperity.

Copious empirical research on school choice programs like the ESA Program makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances.[i] Specifically, these programs improve academic performance and attainment while delivering quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools.

Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices. Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats.[ii] There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.[iii]

Education choice programs like ESAs are not only good policy, they are also broadly popular. EdChoice’s Public Opinion Tracker, last updated on January 19, shows 65 percent of all Missouri adults and 74 percent of Missouri parents with school-aged children support ESA programs.[iv]

The Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program is a wonderful option that is already being utilized by more than 2,700 Missouri children. However, only 1 percent of Missouri students are eligible for the program, and it only provides families with 48 percent of the funding that would have gone to their child in one of the state’s public schools. The time to expand this program is now.

Further, this expansion of the ESA program is sorely needed in the Show Me State because the state’s public schools are habitually failing Missouri’s children. In 2024, only 36 percent[v] of Missouri’s public school fourth graders and 23 percent[vi] of eighth graders tested “proficient” in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Just 27 percent[vii] of fourth graders and 26 percent[viii] of eighth graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly seven out of 10 Missouri children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math by the time they enter high school.

Parents who are determined to make use of the ESA Program should not have to first send their child to a public school they don’t want their child attending in the first place before allowing them the opportunity to send their child to the school they want them to attend and which they think will best suit their unique education needs.

The goal of public education in Missouri today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances.

Simply put, states with robust and expansive school choice programs will be more attractive to families who can migrate to the state of their choosing. Neighboring Arkansas, Iowa, and Tennessee already have universal ESA programs on the books, while Oklahoma offers a near-universal program. How many families who are considering a move to Missouri will decide against moving to Missouri because it doesn’t offer their children the opportunity to attend the school that best suits their educational needs?

This committee should recognize this and approve this small expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program, allowing more current and future Missourians as many options as possible to give their children the education they need and deserve.

Thank you for your time.

Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377- 4000.

[i] EdChoice, The 123s of School Choice (2025 Edition), June 2025, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/123s-of-School-Choice-2025.pdf.

[ii] M. Danish Shakeel & Corey A. DeAngelis, “Can private schools improve school climate? Evidence from a nationally representative sample,” Journal of School Choice, Volume 12, pp. 426-445, August 8, 2018, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2018.1490383?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=wjsc20.

[iii] Corey A. DeAngelis & Angela K. Dills, The Effects of School Choice on Mental Health, SSRN, October 24, 2018, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3272550.

[iv] EdChoice, Public Opinion Tracker – Missouri, January 19, 2026, https://edchoice.mcdatahub.com/edchoice/pdfreports/state/Missouri.pdf.

[v] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Mathematics State Snapshot Report – Missouri – Grade 4,” accessed January 28, 2026, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024219MO4.pdf.

[vi] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Mathematics State Snapshot Report – Missouri – Grade 8,” accessed January 28, 2026, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024219MO8.pdf.

[vii] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Reading State Snapshot Report – Missouri – Grade 4,” accessed January 28, 2026, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220MO4.pdf.

[viii] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Reading State Snapshot Report – Missouri – Grade 8,” accessed January 28, 2026, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220MO8.pdf.