Steve Carroll, the district’s Jefferson City political consultant and lobbyist, told the St. Louis Public Schools Legislative and Advocacy Committee on April 4 that the final weeks of the 2025 Missouri legislative session will be decisive for multiple education bills, including proposals on open enrollment, voucher funding, testing and school safety.

Carroll said the House passed its FY26 budget at about $48 billion — roughly $2 billion less than the governor requested — and that negotiators are now working to reconcile House and Senate versions. “Yesterday, the House passed out their version of the FY26 state budget. It was a $48,000,000,000 budget, roughly $2,000,000,000 less than what the governor had requested,” Carroll said.

Why it matters: several bills under debate would change how state dollars and student placements are handled and could affect local revenue, transportation costs and legal exposure for districts. Committee members discussed strategy for a possible resolution opposing an open‑enrollment bill and heard updates on other bills the district is tracking.

Key items Carroll highlighted

- Voucher funding: Carroll said the House included $50 million of general revenue for a tuition tax‑credit voucher program — the first time, he said, general revenue is being proposed for that program — and that the Senate has signaled resistance. Carroll said the voucher tax‑credit program can reach a $75 million cap and that roughly $17 million has been used to date.

- Foundation formula and K–12 budget: Carroll said the House underfunded the state foundation formula by about $300 million by not increasing the state adequacy target this year, and that Senate leaders have said they want to fully fund the formula.

- Open enrollment: Carroll described multiple open‑enrollment measures. He said a particularly broad bill that would have allowed students to take state adequacy funding and require resident districts to pay transportation was killed in the Senate. The House version (House Bill 711) passed the House and, according to Carroll, includes a provision that would allow districts subject to a desegregation order to opt out; that exemption is located on page 18 of the bill.

- Testing and accreditation: Carroll said Senate Bill 360 would let districts choose a nationally accredited agency instead of relying on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) to determine accreditation status. He described the measure as an effort to give districts more flexibility and said it remains on the Senate calendar for debate.

- School safety and related bills: Carroll said an earlier, more prescriptive school safety bill (Senate Bill 42) was defeated and supplanted by Senate Bill 68, which he said is less prescriptive and requires school districts to work with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Carroll and committee members also described an omnibus school safety bill from the House (House Bill 416) that is subject to appropriation.

- Charter schools and certificate of need: Carroll said he supports Senate Bill 177, which would create a certificate‑of‑need process for new charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis and would allow the State Board of Education and local boards to weigh in on new charters.

- Retirement contributions and benefits: Carroll said the district supported House Bill 404, which would raise the district’s contribution rate to the retirement system from 12.5% to 14%. He said district representatives testified in Jefferson City in favor of that bill and that an omnibus retirement bill (House Bill 187) is also pending in the Senate.

- District line items and reading literacy: Carroll reported that for four years the district had secured a $2.5 million line item for a reading literacy program. He said the House budget omitted the line item but that Senate negotiators had restored $2.5 million in their version. Carroll said the district will need to meet with the governor’s office to try to prevent a possible line‑item veto. “We need to set up a meeting with the governor and/or his chief of staff…sometime in June, to make sure that we let him know that this money is important to the district,” Carroll said.

Committee and next steps

Committee members asked for clarifications about the legal status of the district’s desegregation order and discussed how the exemption in House Bill 711 would function if the bill becomes law. Carroll said the exemption would allow St. Louis Public Schools to opt out but noted the language will require the district to certify annually that open enrollment would conflict with the desegregation order.

Carroll urged parents and community members to contact state senators on issues now that most of the action has moved to the Senate. He recommended emailing or calling members of the Senate Education and appropriations committees and named several senators who sit on those committees.

Direct quotes in this article come from Steve Carroll and from committee chair Tony Cousins during the April 4 meeting. Carroll summarized the session this way: “It’s been a very busy session…Roughly over 2,800 bills have been filed. That’s not including the hundreds of amendments or substitute bills…Currently, we’re tracking over 300 education bills ourselves.”

What the committee requested

Members asked General Counsel Laura McLaughlin and staff to review the exemption language in House Bill 711 (page 18) to confirm it provides the protections the district requires. Several members also asked for data analysis showing how open enrollment could affect segregation and transportation costs in St. Louis, if the bill moves forward.

Context and limitations

Carroll and committee members described ongoing negotiations between the House and Senate; several items remain unresolved and could change in conference. Committee members repeatedly cautioned that the language of bills and budget line items could be amended before final votes. The committee did not cast any formal votes at the April 4 meeting; it received updates and discussed whether to pursue a separate board resolution.

Ending

Carroll told the committee he will continue weekly updates and encouraged the Parent Action Council and other parent groups to communicate with senators. The committee left the reading‑literacy allocation and several bills as active monitoring items pending final budget and bill text.