Jackson Jambalaya

Ray Rogers doesn't deserve to call himself a Republican.

dead?
dead, dead?
or
dead, dead, dead.

Ray Rogers is not a Republican, he is a Pearl Pirate746 heyfho

Nothing is dead until the session is over. Expect to see another vote tomorrow.

I see it passed. I'm glad that Lt. Gov. Reeves was able to intercede. He must have broken-out the summer sausage to seal the deal this time.

Told ya.

Now, weak charter schools will get stripped out of HB 890 leaving only ultra-weak charter schools to (maybe) survive in HB 369.

Feeeel will get his trophy bill, Philip "Cap" Gunn will have succeeded in preventing real school competition (whatever his motivation), both of them will bow their chests having forced Tate to waste political capital, Nancy Loome will continue to believe she is relevant, an exhausted Forrest Thigpen gets to limp across the finish line and get his "Participant" ribbon (proud that he made it to the end and secretly glad that it's over), Milton Kuykendall and his cronies will continue to brag about having one of the best school districts in the dumbest state in America, the Black Caucus will console themselves with the misguided belief that they stopped Whitey (but won't be able to explain why that's a good thing), and Steve Holland will get to crow about House GOP failures again this year further reinforcing the (correct) stereotype of our Legislature as a bunch of "hissing possums."

Oh yeah, and thousands more of our kids will lose out on a chance to have a real education, not that it matters to any of the players above.

2:50, you are spot-on my friend, the bottom line, in a nutshell...

Proves that the education lobby is the most powerful state interest group. Even more powerful than the county courthouse crowd and the tobacco spitting townsmen of the municipal league.

The Governor must have his eye on the ball instead of of arm-wrestling the Insurance Commissioner or the President. In flush times the Governor had a few carrots to distribute, but now he only has his focus, his argument, and his political charm.

Gov. Hayseed is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jim Barksdale. A strong charter school bill was never going to happen. Forget how well they work in 40-something other states -- we need to start small with such an unproven concept.