A Cole County judge has approved revised ballot language for a proposed Missouri constitutional amendment dealing with public education following a court challenge over how the measure is described to voters.
According to court records, the judge ruled that updated wording for the ballot question is fair and can be used if the measure qualifies for the ballot.
The proposed amendment, called “the Missouri Right to Education Initiative,” would change the Missouri Constitution to describe education as a fundamental right and require the state to maintain high-quality public schools statewide.
The lawsuit challenged language originally written by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, arguing parts of the summary could mislead voters about what the proposal would actually do. The judge agreed earlier in the case and ordered changes to be made.
Hoskins' original language described the initiative as an attempt to dismantle the state’s private-school voucher program, but Spencer Toder, treasurer of the Missouri Right to Education Initiative, told the Missouri Independent that the initiative petition doesn’t touch the state’s private school scholarship program, MOScholars.
After reviewing multiple revisions of the ballot language, the court found the second revised version of the ballot summary meets state requirements and approved it in a final judgment issued Tuesday, according to court records.
The ballot summary is the language that appears on the ballot for voters:
"Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- Create a new fundamental right to an equitable and adequate public education that would be enforced through lawsuits filed in court;
- Mandate that the State of Missouri establish and maintain adequate, thorough, and uniform high quality free public schools, regardless of the cost, for all persons in the state twenty-one years old or younger; and
- Limit the State’s ability to fund educational choices other than free public schools?"
Missouri Right to Education has collected more than 25,000 signatures and is on track to meet the requirement of 176,000 signatures by the May 3 deadline, according to a Tuesday news release.
They must collect the required number of signatures for its initiative to appear on a statewide ballot.
