Adds provisions including gifted education pupil count for purposes of funding schools through the foundation formula
HB 1748 revises Missouri school funding and scholarship-account statutes, with the central policy change being the addition of a “gifted education pupil count” to the state foundation formula. Beginning July 1, 2027, gifted students would be included in the weighted enrollment calculations used to determine a district’s state adequacy target and related funding measures, alongside existing weights for students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, students with disabilities, and limited English proficiency students. The bill also updates related definitions and cross-references in the school finance statutes to align with the new weighting structure.
A second major component of the bill rewrites provisions governing educational assistance organizations and scholarship accounts. It imposes detailed administrative, financial, auditing, testing, reporting, and transparency requirements on organizations that provide scholarship accounts to qualified students. The bill sets priority categories for scholarship distribution, including students with IEPs or dyslexia, low-income students, students in unaccredited or provisionally accredited districts, military dependents, and then other qualified students. It also establishes caps on administrative and marketing expenses, requires background checks and annual audits, and directs the state treasurer to publish extensive program data while protecting personally identifiable student information.
The bill would amend sections 135.714, 151.150, 163.011, and 166.131, RSMo, and reenact them with new language. Its most significant fiscal effect is to change how state aid is calculated for public schools by adding gifted students to the weighted enrollment formula, which could increase funding for districts with higher gifted student counts and alter the distribution of foundation formula aid. It also preserves and updates existing funding formulas for special education, free/reduced-price lunch, and English learner counts, while making conforming changes to related tax and county school fund provisions. In addition, it expands state oversight of scholarship-account organizations and increases reporting obligations for the state treasurer and participating organizations.
The bill appears generally supportive of school funding and student-choice accountability measures, with a policy emphasis on recognizing gifted students in the state aid formula and tightening oversight of scholarship programs. Because the bill’s last recorded action was a public hearing, there is no recorded vote history in the provided materials, and no committee transcript is available to show direct debate. The caption suggests the bill is framed as a targeted funding adjustment rather than a broad overhaul, which may make it more palatable to education stakeholders interested in formula refinements and program transparency.
The likely points of contention are the fiscal and policy implications of adding gifted education to the weighted formula, and the broader scholarship-account provisions. Supporters would likely argue that gifted students, like other weighted categories, should generate additional aid because they require specialized programming; opponents may question the cost, the formula’s complexity, or whether the change diverts resources from other needs. The scholarship-account provisions could also draw scrutiny from public-school advocates or privacy advocates because they expand private-school scholarship infrastructure, require extensive student data reporting, and create detailed state oversight rules. No specific stakeholder objections or recorded vote splits are available in the provided materials.