Senate set to approve Missouri governor’s shakeup of state education board

by Annelise Hanshaw, Missouri Independent
April 24, 2025

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s makeover of the State Board of Education is nearly complete, with the state Senate set to confirm the last of his four new appointments this week.

The turnover on the eight-member board also means its longtime leadership has been pushed aside. That includes Charlie Shields, the former Republican lawmaker who has served on the board since 2012 and was its most recent board president.

Shields told The Independent he was willing to continue serving but supports the governor’s appointments.

“We’re in a good position to move education forward,” he said.

The shakeup has created some friction in the confirmation process, with Ash Grove Republican state Sen. Mike Moon and Florissant Democratic Sen. Angela Mosley asking pointed questions of appointees during their Senate hearings.

That continued on Wednesday, when Moon was the lone “no” vote on the appointment of Thomas Prater, an eye surgeon from Springfield.

Moon said during the hearing he had received complaints from his district stemming back to Prater’s time serving on the Springfield Public Schools Board of Education.

“There are some people in Springfield who were concerned about things that have happened on the school board after I left,” Prater told The Independent. “So I didn’t have much control over it.”

On the board, Prater helped in the hiring process of former superintendent John Jungmann in 2014 shortly before his departure.

Jungmann faced criticism, as reported by the Springfield News-Leader in 2021, over his diversity and equity training that some labeled “critical race theory.” He was also under fire for his choices on safety measures during the pandemic.

Moon asked Prater how he supported a superintendent who was a proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and what that means today with a governor who has spoken against diversity programs.

Prater said Jungmann was “by far the most experienced and qualified candidate that we interviewed.”

“I don’t remember any kind of DEI discussions coming up in our interviews with him that would have given us the indication, one way or the other, where he stood,” Prater told Moon.

Mosley pushed back on the notion that DEI is harmful.

“You don’t feel that diversity is important,” she said, asking where Prater stood. “All the districts are pretty diverse, so you need to know how to effectively support each area of diversity.”

Prater said he was “right between” Mosley and Moon on the subject, giving an anecdote that he supported the hiring of a Black football coach over a similarly qualified white candidate.

The board is set up to not be dominated by a political party, with law stipulating there can be a maximum of four members of a party. Many appointees, on other state boards as well, take on the “independent” title to conform to this rule.

Prater is joining the board as an independent. His political contributions include donations to Democrats like state Rep. Betsy Fogle of Springfield and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore. But the majority of his donations benefit Republican candidates, with $21,000 given to Kehoe’s political action committee, American Dream PAC, and numerous donations given to former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt. 

Prater said he has been an independent for “as long as he can remember.”

Shields has repeatedly spoken about board matters with a bipartisan, or nonpartisan, perspective. He told The Independent that the board is intended to be this way.

Appointments are eight-year terms, setting members up to look at issues long-term. These two pieces are “important,” Shields said.

He feels confident that the appointees he knows, Prater and attorney Jon Otto, will take the “same view.”

“I know them to both be really thoughtful, high quality people,” he said. “I think they’ll make great board members.”

Prater was appointed by former Gov. Mike Parson a year ago, serving in an interim capacity while a filibuster blocked full confirmation. He has been sitting in the audience at state board meetings, he said.

Tawni Hunt Ferrarini was appointed at the same time last year by Parson, but Kehoe did not reappoint her to the board and instead chose Brooks Miller for the seat.

Miller, former president and CEO of Jordan Valley Community Health Center in Springfield, takes on the role after recently serving on Truman State University’s board.

He told committee members Wednesday that his experience in community health will help him look for needs inside Missouri’s schools.

“I think that (community health) really kind of goes hand-in-hand with serving children,” he said. “It’s hard to teach a child that has a toothache or other illness.”

Miller is identified as a Republican in his appointment. He donated to President Donald Trump’s campaign and U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison, but also gave $1,000 to Crystal Quade, who lost her bid as the Democratic nominee for governor in November. Quade is from Springfield, which Miller has strong ties to despite currently residing in Sunrise Beach.

Last week, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Otto and Mike Matousek.

Matousek, a Republican from Kansas City, recently served on the Platte County School Board and is the former legislative director for U.S. Rep. Sam Graves.

In his campaign for school board, Matousek opposed mask and vaccine mandates and carried conservative stances on hot-button issues into his time on the board. He was the only member to vote for the district to take up an official bathroom policy that would restrict transgender students’ access to restrooms that fit their gender identity.

Moon complimented Matousek’s willingness to stand alone on an issue.

“You’re not afraid to take those issues on, or at least ask the questions and let them be deliberated,” he said during the hearing.

Matousek has made contributions to several Republican candidates, including state Rep. Josh Hurbert, a Smithville resident who works for Christian private school advocacy and assistance organization Herzog Tomorrow Foundation. Hurlbert also donated to Matousek’s campaign for school board in 2022.

Matousek told The Independent that he was approached about joining the State Board of Education and thought it over before embracing the role.

“Public education is changing in Missouri, and I’d rather be at the table,” he said.

During the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee hearing last week, Mosley asked Matousek questions about his stance on open enrollment and charter schools, asking if he would support funding for public schools or lean on alternatives to neighborhood schools.

Matousek is generally supportive of open enrollment, if the state legislature chooses to pass it into law, but is concerned about provisions that would obligate school districts to transport students that enroll outside their home district. But those decisions are up to state lawmakers, he said.

Mosley’s questions were halted after Moon whispered to the legislative aide of the committee chair, who then asked her to reserve the rest of her questions for time outside of the hearing. Matousek was confirmed by the full Senate the next day. 

The Senate also confirmed Otto, who currently serves as general counsel for Evergy.

Otto is a noted advocate of charter schools. He helped found Académie Lafayette Charter Schools in Kansas City and has served on the board of the Missouri Charter Public School Association.

He told The Independent he didn’t have definitive plans for the board, saying he had to “get in and see what is working” first but noted potential for “a lot of new things.”

Otto has made a few contributions solely to Democratic candidates, like a $500 donation to U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids from Kansas.

Gabby Picard, a spokeswoman for Kehoe, said selections were made with the governor’s priorities in mind.

“Gov. Kehoe hopes that the board will continue to address and prioritize increased accountability in school performances and student outcomes, supporting opportunity across geographic and socioeconomic lines and supporting non-traditional school options like charter or virtual schools,” she said in a statement.

Prater and Miller’s appointments must receive final approval in the Senate before they can take office.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected].

Bill overturning protections for Section 8 renters a step away from Missouri governor’s desk

by Clara Bates, Missouri Independent
April 23, 2025

Local laws prohibiting landlords from discriminating against tenants who receive public assistance would be unenforceable under legislation approved by the Missouri Senate Tuesday night.

The bill takes aim at ordinances passed in several Missouri cities to protect tenants from discrimination based on the source of their income — especially tenants who use federal housing choice vouchers, known as Section 8 vouchers, to pay rent. It now returns to the House, which approved it earlier this year. 

If the House approves of the changes made in the Senate, the bill would go to the governor.

The bill was co-sponsored by state Reps. Chris Brown, a Republican from Kansas City, and Ben Keathley, a Republican from Chesterfield. In the Senate, it was carried by state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance. 

Schroer on Tuesday called the bill “a common sense piece of legislation that prioritizes property rights over radical government overreach.”

Brown in a March Senate committee hearing called it a “property rights bill.” 

“Basically what has happened is [cities] are forcing people to take Section 8 housing,” Brown said. “…I would submit this kind of amounts to an illegal appropriation of private property. But there’s a very practical reason why a landlord may not want to do Section 8 housing.”

Kansas City passed a source of income discrimination ban last year, though it was in large part paused by the courts in February. 

Columbia, St. Louis, Webster Groves and Clayton have similar protections on the books. The laws make it illegal for landlords to discriminate based solely on the fact of renters’ lawful sources of income, including Section 8, veterans’ benefits and Social Security.

State Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said Tuesday that the legislation would not only undo those local ordinances but exacerbate homelessness.

 “But really the fear for those who are the most vulnerable is that this would lead to further problems, expanding the homeless population,” she said

The bill to override these local policies passed the Senate after Democratic Sen. Patty Lewis of Kansas City successfully added an amendment to carve out the portions of Kansas City that are in Jackson and Clay counties. Democratic state Sen. Stephen Webber of Columbia also successfully added an amendment to allow those who receive veterans’ benefits to continue being protected from source-of-income based housing discrimination.

Proponents have characterized localities’ protections as overreach, forcing property owners’ hands. The bill has the support of landlords groups, apartment associations, the realtors’ association and the conservative think tank Show Me Institute.

During a hearing in January, Brown said proponents are “not unsympathetic to tenants that have some housing insecurities.

 “It’s not about the Section 8 tenant,” he said, “it’s about the program that we do not want to be forced into.” 

Not every property owner, he said, wants to undergo the bureaucratic hurdles to accept Section 8.

David Stokes, director of municipal policy at the Show Me Institute, said source of income discrimination bans are simply a “violation of the property rights of landlords.” 

Landlords, he said, shouldn’t be required to participate in a voluntary federal program.

“Just as the State of Missouri has long forbidden cities from imposing rent control,” he said, “this is just a very similar next step, and I think it will really benefit housing options and housing availability throughout Missouri.” 

In January’s hearing, Kansas City Councilman Johnathan Duncan emphasized that landlords under the ordinance can still screen tenants and deny individuals based on other reasons, just not for the sole basis of the source of their income. He said landlords could still deny applicants with violent criminal histories or low credit scores for instance. 

“I hope that representatives understand that we’re here to govern ourselves and definitely can pass our own laws,” Duncan said. “And I think it is an affront to the city of Kansas City and the other municipalities in the state of Missouri — that the state would know better than how we know and how to govern ourselves.” 

Opponents also said the bill could hurt affordable housing availability. The city of Kansas City has been opposed along with the anti-poverty nonprofit Empower Missouri and an association of public housing authorities in Missouri.

Mallory Rusch, executive director of Empower, said in the January hearing that the discrimination bans help vulnerable Missourians secure housing.

“Discrimination bans like the one passed in Kansas City and other places in the state are really a key tool for local governments to prevent homelessness and ensure that those with the least among us can put a roof over their heads,” she said, “and we really believe that the state should not be preventing local governments from enacting these provisions when they know their communities best.” 

Gavriel Schreiber, general counsel to Kansas City’s mayor, testified in March that the bill “targets some of our most respected citizens, veterans, seniors,” because those individuals who get most of their income from benefits often don’t have their benefits counted toward their rent-to-income ratio mandated by landlords.

“The ordinance says at its base that if you have a lawful source of income, a landlord cannot refuse to rent to you simply because they don’t like where you get your lawful money from,” Schreiber said. 

Dozens of states and localities nationally have these protections, which cover around 60% of families with Section 8 vouchers, according to the federal government. 

Enforcement in states and cities where the protections have been passed has been somewhat mixed, but studies have found that overall the protections modestly improve outcomes for voucher holders.

This story was updated at 10:20 a.m. to include an amendment that carves out most of Kansas City from the legislation, except for the portions in Platte and Cass counties.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected].

Missouri governor’s plan for $50 million for private schools axed by Senate committee

by Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent
April 16, 2025

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to rapidly enlarge a scholarship program for private and religious schools with an infusion of state tax funds was cut out of the budget Wednesday as the Senate Appropriations Committee finished revising spending plans for the coming year.

The $50 million request for the MoScholars program, which is supposed to be funded from donations and tax credits, was approved in the Missouri House as part of its budget proposal. But state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stripped it out after boosting the foundation formula for public schools by $300 million the day before.

“I want to make sure that we’re fully funding our obligation to public schools before we start spending 10s of millions of general revenue dollars on private schools,” Hough told reporters after making the cut.

In his State of the State speech to lawmakers in January, Kehoe said he was not funding the foundation formula to the level directed by state law because it no longer fairly distributes the money. The extra money for the scholarship program, he said, would give parents more educational choices.

Public schools come first, Hough said Wednesday.

Kehoe “admitted we’re not funding K-12 to the level that it’s supposed to be funded.” Hough said. “And I think that’s an obligation that we have, especially when we have the money in the bank.”

Missouri has a healthy general revenue surplus, with $3.7 billion in the fund on March 31. There is another $1.5 billion that, like general revenue, is unrestricted. But revenue is declining in the current fiscal year and, while modest growth is projected for the future, the budget being prepared now will use at least $1.6 billion from the surplus.

The budget is based on a projection of $13.6 billion in general revenue. Kehoe proposed spending almost $16 billion, including construction and maintenance funding, and the House budget plan uses $15.2 billion.

The exact totals for the 13 budget bills funding state operations approved by the committee were not available Wednesday. But with the extra money for public schools, plus $107 million for child care subsidies and dozens of new earmarks, the total is sure to be substantially higher than the $47.9 billion from all funds approved in the House and could exceed the $50.1 billion total in Kehoe’s proposal.

Three more bills spending another $3.7 billion for construction and maintenance are awaiting a final House vote before the Senate committee can make its changes.

The greatest uncertainty for the upcoming year is whether substantial cuts will be made to federal spending. The largest single shared program is Medicaid, with Missouri paying 10- to 35% of the cost for each person enrolled and the federal treasury covering the rest.

The group made eligible by a 2020 constitutional amendment costs the state the least, only 10% of the expense. So far, Missouri has not spent any general revenue on the expanded group, using other sources of money, including federal aid banked during the COVID pandemic.

If Missouri were required to pay 20% of the cost, it would have to find $300 million to keep it in place for the 350,000 enrollees.

Hough has been warning that federal cuts could upset Missouri’s budget. But on Wednesday, he said the committee can only write a budget based on what is currently in place.

“To the extent that we can, we plan for this kind of stuff,” Hough said. “But how do you plan for a Medicaid reimbursement on an expanded population that goes down by, say, say, 20% and costs us $600 million?”

The $50 million cut to the scholarship line was the largest cut of the day but not the only one. The Senate committee took out $10 million the House included to hire an architect to prepare plans for expanding the Capitol. Another set of cuts targeted some of the earmarked items approved in the House.

And cuts were used to express lingering resentment for the factionalism that fractured Republicans in the state Senate for four years. State Sen. Mike Cierpiot of Lee’s Summit cut 25 employees and $684,000 from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ budget, noting that the positions had been open for a long time and the office seems to function acceptably without them.

Hoskins was a member of the Freedom Caucus, which repeatedly tied the Senate up in filibusters to push its brand of Republicanism. And as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he argued often against retaining employee authorizations that departments were unable to fill within six to 12 months.

Hoskins, inaugurated in January, is authorized to employ 267 full time staff. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, his predecessor, Jay Ashcroft, used 205 of that amount.

Hoskins said he needs to study each position in his to determine if it is needed if the cut is made. 

“I will comply with whatever they do,” he said.

Hough said he had no objections to cutting the unfilled positions. 

“Sen. Hoskins, when he was on this committee with us,” Hough said, “was always kind of a hawk on that stuff.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected].