Missouri Treasurer’s Office Exposed Student Voucher Data for Nearly a Year
Student names, parent emails and funding amounts from Missouri’s private school voucher program were publicly accessible for months despite state law prohibiting such disclosures.
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI — The Missouri State Treasurer’s Office inadvertently exposed personal information of students enrolled in the state’s private school voucher program on its public website for nearly a year, while denying state lawmakers’ requests for the same data.
The exposed records included students’ names, parents’ email addresses, scholarship funding amounts, and the names of schools they attend through the MOScholars program. The data covered the first three years of the voucher program and remained accessible on the website from at least May 2025 until The Missouri Independent notified the treasurer’s office last week.
Data Protection Concerns
State Treasurer Vivek Malek’s office removed the records after being contacted by the news outlet. The office confirmed that a spreadsheet on its website “could be manipulated” to reveal what it described as “directory information.”
“(Organizations facilitating MOScholars scholarships) and families can be confident that the office takes data protection seriously as part of its ongoing efforts to responsibly administer a growing statewide program and will continue to ensure that all sensitive data remains adequately protected,” the office said in an emailed statement.
The treasurer’s office maintained the exposed data was “not generally considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed,” according to their statement to The Independent.
Legal Requirements Violated
The disclosure appears to violate state law governing the MOScholars program. Missouri statutes require annual public reporting on certain aspects of the voucher program but explicitly state that “no personally identifiable information of any student” may be posted on the treasurer’s website.
The records were contained in a file posted on the treasurer’s website that included embedded data making the student information accessible to anyone who knew how to manipulate the spreadsheet.
Political Implications
The data breach raises new questions about how Malek’s office manages MOScholars, a politically divisive program that now receives $50 million in state funding. The exposure occurred even as the treasurer’s office repeatedly denied lawmakers’ requests for similar information about program participants.
State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, called the incident a “massive oversight.” However, Brattin stopped short of directly blaming Malek for the security lapse.
The MOScholars program provides state-funded scholarships for students to attend private schools, making it one of Missouri’s most controversial education initiatives. The program has faced scrutiny from legislators seeking transparency about how public funds are being distributed and which families benefit from the vouchers.
