“The House remains resolute in its pursuit of commonsense, conservative legislation which is why you will see Education Freedom as the top priority in the House for the 2026 Legislative Session,” Speaker Jason White said as he announced appointments to a new Education Freedom Select Committee.
The Speaker reiterated this assertion to the Stennis Capitol Press Forum at Hal and Mal’s. He added that he plans to pull school choice, school consolidation, allowing retired teachers to continue teaching, another teacher pay raise, and providing home schoolers access to public school sports into one “comprehensive” education package. It will be “bold and it’ll be uncomfortable” for many, White said, as reported by the Magnolia Tribune. School choice, of course, remains the sticky wicket as the legislature has struggled to authorize vouchers to help parents pay private school tuition. Voucher lobbyists, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy and Empower Mississippi, like to portray Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann as the prime obstacle to voucher legislation, but numerous members of the House and Senate have reservations about the initiative. A major concern is the legality of the voucher scheme. Section 208 of the state constitution prohibits appropriating public funds to any school “not conducted as a free school” as well as to sectarian schools. Section 66 also requires a two-thirds vote for any act “granting a donation or gratuity in favor of any person or object” and prohibits such for sectarian usage. A lower court has ruled vouchers to be unconstitutional, but the state supreme court has yet to decide the issue.
The voucher scheme seeks to circumvent the constitution’s intent and clear restrictions by appropriating funds for Education Savings Accounts parents can then tap for school tuition and expenses. As the speaker and others proclaim the popularity of the voucher scheme, one can only wonder why a more straightforward approach isn’t utilized – a constitutional amendment approved by the people. Other key issues with the voucher scheme are school accountability, transparency, and access. Many legislators want schools receiving public funds to be held to the same accountability, transparency, and open enrollment policies as public schools. Private schools do not universally want such. Then there is the issue of cost. In 2021, nearly 50,000 students attended private schools. If all obtained vouchers paying $6,799 (a 2022 Empower MS number) that would cost taxpayers about $335 million. Should the new program cause a surge in the number of private schools, costs would escalate. With Mississippi’s poor history of funding schools, public school proponents fear vouchers would divert money away from public schools. Easy to stumble on a sticky wicket. “Blessed is the man … in whose spirit is no guile” – Psalm 32:2. Crawford is the author of A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.
14 comments:
is that $6800/year or total voucher?
I have yet to understand why anybody supports school choice.
We've got radio talking-heads screaming about fear-mongering and unconvincing think-tank idiots suggesting it will raise us off the virtual bottom and none of them are able to sway a damned soul.
The only way to pass school choice is for the Governor, the Light Governor and Mr. Speakah to appoint a committee of five to make the decision. Like they did with our state flag.
Mississippi NAEP scores have caught and surpassed the most prominent school choice states. Why would we want to implement a model that has proven to decrease student achievement. Oh , I know, because everybody else is doing it...........
Why you reckon NAEP scores have improved? When you move the goal posts to the goal line, you can kick more field goals.
School choice? But why? Just look at the product manufactured by the crack experts hard at work in our education system.
I don't think that many Mississippi voters are pushing for school choice. Republicans nationwide have pushed it and since some neighboring states have it our R leaders think we "must" as well.
Most of the private schools in the state were founded to keep "those people" out. While the tune has changed somewhat few of them will be open to the idea of taking in unwashed masses from local public school districts. Bad actor private schools will pop up that will conveniently cost just what a voucher is worth that may or may not provide a better experience that public schools.
I hope all of you understand that private schools do not have to accept all applicants.
In some states, they do a lottery just for some public elementary schools that have a " focus" like teaching Spanish. The Devil is truly always in the " details" when it comes to politics.
3:37 Mississippi takes the same NAEP as the school choice states whom we have surpassed. Try having some knowledge of the subject matter before you post. Your statement makes ZERO sense, just like statements made by our exalted state leaders. Facts matter.
Facts matter.
You linked to nothing to buttress your "facts". Substantiation matters. Without you're only providing opinion.
11:30 It is definitely a fact. The scores are public as are the states known to have implemented school choice. Do some research before you post. You are a great example of someone who wants something to be true " just because you want it. " Now do your research and come back and apologize for wanting to support something that has been proven to definitively be harmful to public education and academic growth. Some
conservatives , like myself, do not blindly follow every narrative espoused by our state elected officials. SOME of us understand that the motives are not always as they publicly state....
Nobody blindly follows your narrative. You made the claim. You back it up. You provided no FACTS only OPINION. Substantiation matters.
You people expect those of us with walking around sense to believe suddenly Mississippi education improved and we rose 20 points on the national scene. Hogwarsh.
Waiting for somebody or a group of somebodies to give a substantial reason for school choice. "Because others are doing it" will not suffice.
Look at all of the low performing districts in this state. How many of them are within 25 miles of a school they can get to and want to attend with the necessary transportation to get there. I'll tell you which ones: Those that are close to a well performing school or a private school...think Madison, Clinton, Rankin, Tupelo, Desoto County, Gulf Coast. Then think attempts at invasion from schools like JPS, Canton Separate and other low performance school close to excellence....
I have yet to read from a parent any comment about wanting her child to have a chance to attend a better school. Where are these poor scholars who just want a chance to succeed? Why have we not heard from any of them?
If you want to see A-schools turn into C-schools, school choice is for you.
But Trump, Supertalk, Americans for Progress and that British guy, none having skin in the game, are all in. WHY?
Bill is a good man and a friend, but he's flat wrong about the constitutionality of school choice in Mississippi under Section 208. Here's a tweet I wrote on this topic in 2023:
Some questions have been raised recently (again) about whether private school choice programs like Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and vouchers are permissible under Mississippi’s Constitution, especially in relation to Section 208.
While I’m not a lawyer, I have worked on school choice issues in MS for nearly 18 years, so I’m very familiar with the case law. And the best constitutional lawyers in MS and nationally agree, private choice programs are permissible under Mississippi’s Constitution because—among other reasons—the Courts have distinguished between funding students and funding schools.
School choice is NOT about subsidizing private schools, it's about empowering students and their families to seek out the best education options for them, including among private schools.
If you’re interested in the case law, I encourage you to read the excellent amicus brief submitted by David Hodges of Institute for Justice and Aaron Rice of American Dream Legal in the case involving ARPA funds appropriated for private school infrastructure assistance. The program was found to be unconstitutional by the Hinds County Chancery Court in October 2022, and the case is currently on appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court. (Has since been thrown out on issues of standing.)
In the brief, Hodges and Rice make three points, which I’ll quote directly:
“First, the Mississippi Constitution permits the legislature to provide financial aid to students that they can then use for nonpublic goods and services, including tuition at nonpublic schools. Thus, even if Mississippi bars public funds from being appropriated directly to nonpublic schools, that bar does not encompass programs that provide aid to students who may use that aid to procure a nonpublic education.
Second, this Court’s recognition that the beneficiaries of such programs are students is consistent with rulings of numerous other high courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Third and finally, if this Court were to construe Section 208 to bar nonpublic students as a class from seeking or obtaining aid from the government, then it would run headfirst into the U.S. Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on parental rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Read the full brief here: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/6.-Proposed-Amicus-Brief.pdf
@ 4:38 - Why did waste all that time and keystrokes defending the legality of school choice while not one damned soul has claimed it's illegal?
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