Access to quality school options in Missouri is not only the equalizer to poverty. The Missouri Constitution mandates it. Show me a region of Missouri plagued with drug abuse, violence, and economic despair, and I’ll show you a failed public education system. 

Some Missouri RINOs give lip service to enacting comprehensive School Choice options every legislative session of the Missouri General Assembly. For obvious reasons, Missouri teacher's unions are absolutely opposed to parents being able to choose the school option that best fits their children to protect a few subpar educators who should not be responsible for educating our future leaders of Missouri.

I am a proud product of the public school system and credit my school district for preparing me for my postsecondary education and future accomplishments. My public school coaches, counselors, teachers, and principals had a transformative effect on my success as a Father, businessman, and community activist. However, my personal experiences are shared by only a few students who attend public schools in the Kansas City and St. Louis regions.

For years, I have fought to establish School Choice laws in Missouri, while my opponents for Missouri Lt. Governor have failed to provide leadership to protect our Missouri school children from incompetent and worthless school education systems. 

Out of pure frustration with generational failures from a few school districts in the St. Louis region and inaction by elected officials on both sides of the aisle, I drafted and submitted a Missouri initiative petition that would codify parent and student education rights in our Missouri Constitution. 

My Missouri initiative petition on School Choice is also a direct response to the St. Louis region facing the closure of over 30 Catholic schools operating in the St. Louis region, schools with a reputation for graduating high school students who attend colleges and universities.

A summary of my School Choice initiative petition certified by the Missouri Secretary of State to collect voter signatures provides:

• Parents of Missouri School Choice transfer students may transfer to public, charter, or private schools selected by their parents, which includes religious schools. 

• No Missouri public school district will be required to accept the transfer of Missouri School Choice students. Acceptance of Missouri School Choice program students shall be at the sole discretion of Missouri local school boards. 

• Federal, state, and local funds that equate to the yearly per pupil cost for a public school student within the district shall be transferred to the Missouri public, charter, or private school that accepts Missouri School Choice transfer students. 

• No Missouri public, charter, or private school may charge any tuition or other fee above the student tax dollars provided to transfer school from the Missouri School Choice program. 

• Parents of Missouri School Choice transfer students must provide transportation to and from the transfer school. 

• Missouri School Choice transfer students must maintain satisfactory attendance and school discipline records. 

• No Missouri student may be forced to attend any school outside their home district.

• The implementation cost of Paul Berry III’s School Choice Constitutional Initiative Petition is less than $900,000, and the annual cost is less than $500,000 per year. The education budget in Missouri exceeds 8.5 billion dollars per year.