Missouri
Thousands of Missouri students have left public education. Here's why
Thousands of students in Missouri have left public school in the last four years, in line with a national trend of more families disengaging from public education.
An analysis by the Associated Press, Big Local News and Stanford University economist Thomas Dee found enrollment in Missouri’s public schools dropped by 2% from the 2019-2020 school year to the 2022-2023 school year — making up nearly 18,000 students.
Nationally, the AP’s study found private schooling grew nearly 8% and homeschooling grew by nearly 27% during the same time period among more than 30 states with credible private, public or homeschool enrollment data.
Collin Hitt, executive director of the PRiME Center, which studies education in Missouri, said it’s been an open question whether the state’s homeschooling jump was temporary.
“Given the fact that we’re seeing public K-12 enrollments stay relatively flat, it probably suggests this is something that’s going to continue for some time, which is a major development,” Hitt said.
Thousands of students across the country still haven’t returned to the classroom since the pandemic shut schools down for months. An estimated 230,000 students were considered “missing” in fall 2021, meaning demographic changes or increases in private school or homeschooling couldn’t account for their disappearance from public education.
Students have since slowly made their way back to varying forms of education or aged out of school, leaving only 50,000 kids unaccounted for.
Missouri doesn’t track private school data and doesn’t legally require parents to tell the state when they homeschool their child. However, most parents will notify their public school district if they switch to homeschooling.
Based on that limited data, Missouri has seen a 34% increase in homeschooling since 2019 — but that doesn’t include children who never attended public schools to begin with.
Education leaders anticipated a drop in enrollment across the country because of declining birth rates. U.S. birth rates have been on the downswing for more than a decade, hitting a record low in 2020.
The AP found there are 3,000 fewer school-aged children in Missouri compared to when the pandemic began.
Hitt said even if birth rates remain flat going forward, the declines between 2010 and 2020 have yet to age their way through the system, which will result in lower school enrollment.
However, he said birthrates can’t explain the steep drop in enrollment after the pandemic hit.
“What the pandemic did is it exposed more parents to homeschooling and virtual schooling,” Hitt said. “It also changed the work dynamic for tons of families, where tons of families are now working from home all or most of the time.”
That, combined with more private school vouchers and savings programs for families to spend on public school alternatives, Hitt said, has created the perfect conditions for a homeschooling boom.
Dannielle Joy Davis, known by many as Dr. Joy, runs a program for homeschooling families called “The Circle of Excellence” and is a professor of higher education at St. Louis University.
She began homeschooling her son before the pandemic, but said it was some families’ first exposure to homeschooling.
“Once students experienced that and enjoyed it, and once parents saw the joy of learning in their own households, as you imagine, some parents said, “‘This is nice — we should keep doing this,’” Davis said.
She said parents who choose to homeschool are drawn to the freedom to choose how to teach their children. For example, her son took a scuba class with a certified diver because he loves marine biology.
Davis said more families are turning to homeschooling for another reason.
Society and schools have seen dramatic changes in the last several years. Repeated mass shootings have heightened concerns around school safety. A white Minneapolis police officer’s 2020 murder of George Floyd kicked off international calls for justice and police reform. Republican state legislators in Missouri have targeted school curricula around history and race in recent years.
Davis said some parents see homeschooling as an opportunity to protect their children from bullying, sexism or racism at school — and even the stress of having to go through a metal detector to enter the building.
“A large part of the shift is out of love,” Davis said. “The parents’ love of the children to say, ‘Look, the system is not the ideal in terms of cultivating a safe, peaceful, loving environment for my kid and look, I get to do something about it.’”
Thinking “smaller and smarter”
Hitt said declining public school enrollment has some potential benefits, like smaller class sizes. He said that could also allow the state to give schools more money per pupil in the short term, since the state legislature is used to appropriating a certain amount for K-12 education.
“It’s possible that these enrollment declines will take some pressure off of the system and let them get down to a size that might actually work better for kids,” Hitt said.
But districts that see a significant decline in enrollment could have a substantial drop in state and federal resources, Hitt said, since those are typically determined on a per-pupil basis.
The steep enrollment drop following the pandemic has mostly leveled, but Hitt said schools will still have to cope with the fallout of declining birth rates for years to come.
“Going forward, I think 20 years from now, when we look back at who the most effective educational leaders were of this generation,” Hitt said. “It’s going to be the people who figured this out; how do we get smaller, and smarter and better all at once?”
St. Louis could see major downtown renovation in the coming years helped by legislation signed into Missouri law by Gov. Mike Kehoe on Monday.
Kehoe signed a large economic development bill that includes incentivizing the conversion of vacant or underused properties into new housing.
For St. Louis, that could mean changes to the AT&T tower and Railway Exchange building.
Through the legislation, cities could apply for an area to become a Missouri innovation zone and be able to use incentives distributed by the state Department of Economic Development.
Cities must include proposed district boundaries, identify vacant and underutilized properties as well as provide projections of anticipated housing and employment growth in their application. Cities may only establish one of those districts.
Additionally, the legislation allows for up to $50 million annually in tax credits toward the conversion of buildings into residential spaces.
Sen. Steve Roberts, D-St. Louis, said the legislation will ultimately lead to more people living in downtown St. Louis.
“The passage of House Bill 3231 was critical in our efforts to continue revitalizing Missouri’s main streets, central business districts, and downtowns,” Kehoe said in a statement.
The governor signed seven other bills into law Monday, including a wide-reaching health care bill that contains several policies related to reproductive health.
The nearly 200-page bill allows for Missourians on private insurance to obtain 12 months’ worth of birth control pills at once.
It also expands Medicaid coverage to doula services. It would apply to more care before, during and after a pregnancy. The state health department must also create and operate a registry of available doula services.
Additionally, the bill requires insurance companies to cover blood pressure monitors for pregnant and postpartum mothers.
The bill also requires Missouri to track and report cases of Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome. Alpha-gal is a tick-borne disease that creates an allergy to mammalian products like meat.
Any identifiable information on the blood test could only be shared between patient and physician.
The legislation also:
- Allows patients to begin their care through telemedicine, as opposed to a physical examination whenever possible.
- Permits the sale of ivermectin, a drug that’s grown in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, over the counter. It also expands the types of vaccines pharmacists can administer.
- Prevents insurance companies from capping payment for anesthesia by imposing time limits.
- Permits schools and daycares to provide epinephrine either via injection or orally to treat allergic reactions.
Additionally, Kehoe signed a bill that provides rights to “a child born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion.”
The legislation is called the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Anyone who would kill or attempt to kill a fetus born alive after an abortion attempt could be prosecuted for first-degree murder under the bill.
Those against the bill say the focus on abortion causes consequences regarding maternal care in Missouri.
Fetal viability, or the point when a fetus would be able to survive outside the womb, is generally around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
According to KFF health research, abortions at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy are uncommon, representing 1% of all abortions in the country.
Kehoe said in a statement that he was proud to sign bills that will improve health care services across the state.
“I would like to thank the members of the House and Senate for their work to protect our most vulnerable, hold insurance companies accountable, and change the landscape of healthcare access and outcomes in communities across the state,” Kehoe said.
The Missouri Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 12, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Pick 3 numbers from July 12 drawing
Midday: 7-1-3
Midday Wild: 0
Evening: 9-6-1
Evening Wild: 3
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from July 12 drawing
Midday: 0-9-0-9
Midday Wild: 8
Evening: 2-9-7-1
Evening Wild: 4
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from July 12 drawing
Early Bird: 05
Morning: 04
Matinee: 05
Prime Time: 04
Night Owl: 09
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Show Me Cash numbers from July 12 drawing
05-16-21-27-39
Check Show Me Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Missouri Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Missouri Lottery’s regional offices, by appointment only.
To claim by mail, complete a Missouri Lottery winner claim form, sign your winning ticket, and include a copy of your government-issued photo ID along with a completed IRS Form W-9. Ensure your name, address, telephone number and signature are on the back of your ticket. Claims should be mailed to:
Ticket Redemption
Missouri Lottery
P.O. Box 7777
Jefferson City, MO 65102-7777
For in-person claims, visit the Missouri Lottery Headquarters in Jefferson City or one of the regional offices in Kansas City, Springfield or St. Louis. Be sure to call ahead to verify hours and check if an appointment is required.
For additional instructions or to download the claim form, visit the Missouri Lottery prize claim page.
When are the Missouri Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Pick 4: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Cash4Life: 8 p.m. daily.
- Cash Pop: 8 a.m. (Early Bird), 11 a.m. (Late Morning), 3 p.m. (Matinee), 7 p.m. (Prime Time) and 11 p.m. (Night Owl) daily.
- Show Me Cash: 8:59 p.m. daily.
- Lotto: 8:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
- Powerball Double Play: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Missouri editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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