– A report released Wednesday by Progress Missouri claims support of the Show-Me Institute — usually described as a conservative think-tank funded by Rex Sinqufield — goes much beyond the politically active St. Louis billionaire.

In their report, the Missouri-based progressive advocacy group said the Show-Me Institute is part of a larger web of conservative agenda-setters based throughout the country bankrolled by the Koch brothers.

“The Show-Me Institute is often regarded as a Missouri-focused organization formed and funded to advance the extreme right-wing agenda of billionaire Rex Sinquefield,” the organization said in a release. “But Progress Missouri’s research shows that the organization is actually part of a much larger web of ‘belief tanks’ called the State Policy Network.”

The Show Me Institute, the report claims, is a Missouri affiliate of the State Policy Network, whose agenda often lines up with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, backing policies that would further prohibit public employee unions from using employee dues for political purposes, more privatization of public education, opposition to teacher tenure, and opposition to Medicaid expansion

Between 2008 and 2010, the report says, the Show-Me Institute received nearly $468,000 from the Donors Capital Fund – a large backer of the State Policy Network. The funds made up some seven percent of the institute’s income over the time period. In 2009, the institute was granted $10,000 for a health care project, which ended up mirroring similar proposals in eight other states, the report said.

Tracie Sharp, president of the State Policy Network, said in a statement that the purpose of the network is to provide “state-based, free-market think tanks with the academic and management resources required to run a non-profit institution,” and that “each of the 64 state-based think tanks,” including the Show-Me Institute, “is fiercely independent.”

“Every think tank, however, rallies around a common belief: the power of free markets and free people to create a healthy, prosperous society. They eschew a top-down DC-centric approach to running peoples’ lives,” she said. “There is no governing organization dictating what free market think tanks research or how they educate the public about good public policy. SPN exists to facilitate the free and open exchange of excellent policy ideas that help people live better, more prosperous lives.”

Progress Missouri, itself, is part of a national coalition of progressive advocacy groups. The group, which was launched in 2011, is part of the Progress Now organization, with similar groups in 21 states.