St. Charles County Families for Public Schools has enjoyed success during the last three April election cycles due mainly to excellent candidates and the contributions in time and money from hundreds of our neighbors who care deeply about our children, our schools and our community.

While the April 2026 elections continue to be vital, anyone who cares about public education has to be deeply alarmed at the attack on our local schools coming from our Missouri legislators and Governor. 

• Fifty million dollars has been appropriated to fund vouchers for private schools that don’t serve all students and don’t have the same accountability or oversight that public schools must maintain. And now the state treasurer wants an additional $50 million of public money to fund private schools.
• Our governor wants to eliminate Missouri’s 4.7% income tax.  Income tax is the primary source of general revenue in Missouri, a large portion of which funds public schools.
• The legislature eliminated the capitol gains tax in 2025, a tax cut for wealthier Missourians, adding to Missouri’s budget crisis that will negatively impact funding for education.
• The recently enacted freeze on property tax for taxpayers over 65 was estimated to cost state revenue $200 million.  It now looks like the impact in the first year will be closer to $500 million. This will severely impact our local schools.
• In 2025 our legislature enacted Senate Bill 3, which placed a property tax freeze on the ballot in April of 2026.  Our local school districts have calculated that if passed this would reduce revenue between $2 million and $4 million for local districts in the first year alone, with larger reductions in subsequent years.
• The dismantling of the U. S. Department of Education will result in far fewer resources available on which special needs families in our community depend.

We are unwilling to stand by and see our excellent local schools defunded.  All of this means fewer teachers, larger class sizes, lower salaries for teachers, fewer resources for students regardless of aptitude or ability, hollowing out of performing arts and sports programs, eroding property values in our neighborhoods, limited opportunity for our children, and a lowering of the quality of life to which we have become accustomed.   

This is not alarmist talk.  This is happening before our eyes. It is tough to overstate the damage this will do to our families.

A thriving community needs great public schools.  Please contact your state representative and state senator and the Governor of Missouri or sign up for the January 27 Lobby Day in Jefferson City and tell them to stop defunding of our local schools!