By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe visited St. Joseph Christian School Monday morning, speaking to the school as a whole during an assembly, then talking with a class of seniors.
Kehoe says one of the reasons for his visit was to see the impact MOScholars is having on the community.
“This school has a significant amount of parents who are taking advantage of that. And I think that’s a good thing, that parents get to choose to have their child educated, in this case, in a Christian environment,” Kehoe tells reporters. “Great public schools in this area. I know them well and they are doing a great job. But parents having a choice and (students) being able to go to a school like this is really important. We wanted to come by and see what it was all about.”
MOScholars provides parents a tax break to offset the cost of tuition to private schools. It is primarily donation-based. This state legislature though allocated $50 million to the program in the state budget, prompting a legal challenge. The Missouri National Education Association has filed a lawsuit against the legislature’s decision, claiming the appropriation violates the state constitution.
The lawsuit goes before a Cole County circuit judge tomorrow, a bench trial expected to run a couple of days in Jefferson City.
Kehoe is confident the state can successfully defend the appropriation.
“I believe we have great footing. The folks that we surround ourselves with in the legal business assure us that we should come out good on that,” Kehoe says. “I’m sure hopeful that we come out on the right side on that, because we’d like to continue to fund the MOScholars program and promote education choice.”
Kehoe counters MOScholars isn’t about the schools, but about the parents.
“Well, I would argue that all the parents that would take advantage of the MOScholars program are taxpayers,” Kehoe says. “And so, I think that’s pretty simply the answer is that they’re all taxpayers and how their tax dollars get spent should be a little bit more up to them.”
Kehoe rejects notions that his visit to the school and support of tax dollars to MOScholars demonstrates a lack of support for public education.
“Public education got a record amount of funding in the budget last year. I don’t think there should be any question for that,” Kehoe responds. “I’ve been to the public schools here before, many years ago. Actually, when I was a state senator, I think with Sen. (Dan) Hegeman as I recall at the time. Been up to Savannah to the public school there, in Andrew County. I’m a supporter of all forms of education, whether that’s public or private. I think that parents, again, need to have the choice on what’s best for their student.”
Kehoe received a tour of the St. Joseph Christian School, including its new addition, prior to speaking with students.
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