Bryan Troop

Education

Vouchers give our public taxpayer money to privately owned enterprises. Vouchers further reduce the funding to our already underfunded public schools and may cause them to have to close buildings, cut staff, and cut services. A voucher system requires an additional layer of government bureaucracy to ensure that the money is appropriately spent. The voucher system is primarily used in the metropolitan areas, and not in rural areas, because few private schools are located in rural areas. This creates an unequal system of education in our state that disadvantages rural students. Learn more

The Missouri state legislature has underfunded our public schools for several years. Our teacher salaries are in the bottom 10% in the USA. Even short term underfunding has consequences which can last for decades. Teachers choose to teach elsewhere, families with school age children choose not to move to Missouri, or some Missourians even move out of state because of inferior education. Learn more

Public education has been recognized since the founding of the USA as an infrastructure which is necessary to sustain a democracy. This essential infrastructure, like roads or police, is funded primarily by taxes. A solid educational foundation benefits students for their entire lives. But beyond benefiting individual students, the benefits of strong public schools extend to our communities, cities and towns. The students of today build the communities of tomorrow. It is essential for our society to maintain this indispensable infrastructure. Learn more

Environment / Energy

Data centers should be built at a safe distance from population centers. We need further study on how data centers affect nearby homes and how far away they should be built to ensure the health, comfort, and safety of neighboring communities. Data centers should not be allowed to negatively impact the local drinking water supply or drive up energy prices for regular consumers. Data center developers should also not expect subsidies from the surrounding population. Developers need to pay their own property taxes and should not get special discounts on water or energy. Learn more

Data centers are here to stay, and at least some data centers are needed to support 21st century industry and science. We need to find ways to responsibly host them. Missouri has the largest river system in North America, which makes our state particularly attractive to data center builders because of the water data centers consume. We can expect that communities in Missouri will continue to receive many proposals from data center developers. It is vitally important that we consider how to build data centers responsibly to minimize any negative impacts on surrounding communities. Developers, politicians, and community leaders need to be absolutely transparent with residents about data plans, locations, noise and light pollution impacts, and any resources data centers will be expected to require from the local community. Learn more

Healthcare

Our current system of Medicaid is run by each state for those unable to afford medical insurance. Each state makes their own budget. Every time a person moves from state to state, they must apply for a different Medicaid program. Almost every state Medicaid system is underfunded, and the One Big Beautiful Bill which will kick in (cynically in 2027, after the midterm elections) by cutting one trillion dollars from Medicaid. The health of Missourians will undoubtedly get worse. About half of Missouri children use Medicaid at some time in their lives. About 40% of pregnant women will need it. Medicaid is used slightly more often in rural Missouri than in metropolitan areas. The Medicaid program should be eliminated in favor of Medicare. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

Public money must be used judiciously. While a State Representative has limited power to address financial choices made by the federal government, I can promise to be thoughtful and responsible when it comes to voting on how the government of the State of Missouri spends your money. Learn more

When we cut taxes it should never benefit only the rich. Trickle-down economics has not worked long term anywhere it has been tried. It is regular working people, not billionaires, who need tax cuts to meet their personal budgets in the reality of rising inflation. We need responsible state tax policies that benefit a majority of the people. Learn more

Wages / Job Benefits

For too long, Missouri has lagged far behind most of the nation in wage requirements, and the effect on our economy shows in the number of young workers we see leaving our state for states with better pay. Minimum wages should be automatically raised in Missouri indexed to inflation. A minimum wage should also be a livable wage. Maternity and paternity leave should be required at every workplace. Learn more