Annelise Hanshaw

After the state's education department oversaw a pilot program teaching science through agriculture, lawmakers saw an opportunity for more.

The Missouri State Board of Education appears to support legislation creating public-school open enrollment, but members are split on what the policy means. Open enrollment proposals have stalled in the Missouri legislature for the past five years.

The initiative petition would enshrine public education as "fundamental right" in the state constitution. But a ballot summary written by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is "insufficient and unfair," a Cole County judge ruled.

Less than 2% of MOScholars students are funded through donations this school year. The rest depends on general revenue from the state budget. But Missouri does not re-check eligibility for students, which is routine for other state-funded programs.

A Missouri educators group is seeking to stop the state from distributing more tax dollars to private schools, saying the $50 million appropriation of general revenue to the MOScholars program is illegal.

The now-void law, passed by Missouri lawmakers in 2022, expanded the state’s regulations on pornography to create the offense of providing explicit sexual material to a student. The state's library associations sued, arguing that it undermined the First Amendment rights of students.

Studies are showing that Missouri's laws targeting gay and transgender people have already pushed LGBTQ+ residents to move — taking their tax dollars, and even businesses, elsewhere. One analysis estimates that Missouri has lost between $362 million to $879 million in household income, and that's expected to increase.

Volunteers at protests across the state focused on collecting signatures for a 2026 ballot measure that would overturn Missouri's recent redistricting plan. The new map was drawn by Republican lawmakers to weaken Democratic voting power around Kansas City.

Since 2023, access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones has radically diminished in Missouri, thanks in part to national attention and political outcry.

In the first month of direct state aid for Missouri's K-12 scholarship program, 98% of funds went to religious institutions.