PRESS RELEASE: Heartland Institute Experts React to Missouri Education Savings Account Bill

Published April 28, 2017

The Missouri Senate passed SB 313, which will establish the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program. The measure will create a $25 million-a-year tax-credit scholarship program allowing donors to educational assistance organizations to claim their entire donation as a tax credit. The educational assistance organizations will use the funds to create personal education savings accounts for students with special needs, foster children, and children of active military personnel.

The following statements from education policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 847/445-7554.


“While we’re not quite to the end zone, this is still great news for Missouri families. The Show-Me State is a school choice desert, and if this bill passes it will be a great first step for Missouri. If the bill passes, and once the benefits of education savings accounts become visible and tangible, I hope future expansion of the program will not be long in coming. Allowing all Missouri children to receive ESAs should be the goal. When parents are given the opportunity to choose, every school must compete and improve, which gives more children the opportunity to attend a quality school.”

Tim Benson
Policy Analyst
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000


“The Missouri Senate has done a great service for Missouri children, and it would benefit the state, its families, and the rest of the nation if the House and governor were to follow suit by approving this legislation. Education savings accounts level the playing field, especially for families most in need, and Missouri has the opportunity to become a national educational leader by giving families an opportunity to choose the educational resources that best fit their needs.”

Teresa Mull
Managing Editor, School Reform News
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000


“I applaud the Missouri Senate for opening the door to a better education for students with special needs and education circumstances. This is a small yet significant step in the right direction for improving education for many Missouri children. The creation of these education opportunities will not come from state coffers, but from the generosity of corporations and individuals who care deeply for the education of Missouri children.”

Lennie Jarratt
Project Manager, Education
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000


“This school choice bill is a two-fer: it sets up education savings accounts for children and, at the same time, allows taxpayers a tax credit for donating to the program.”

Larry Sand
President, California Teachers Empowerment Network
Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000