There’s a real chance we could see school choice in Mississippi. Thanks to our new school funding formula, each public school student in our state now has a personalized budget designed to meet their individual education needs. Why not let families take their personalized budget to a school of their choice?
That is precisely what families can now do in three of our neighboring states, Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama. So, why not Mississippi? One of the obstacles standing in the way of school choice in Mississippi has been the ridiculously misnamed “Parent’s” Campaign. For years, the “Parent’s” Campaign has lobbied lawmakers to prevent parent power. Nancy Loome, who runs the “Parent’s” Campaign, was at it again recently. In “The Lie of School Choice”, she recycled various tired myths and misinformation about what parent power really means. Myth One was the claim that school choice takes money away from public schools. It doesn’t. Now that every child in the public school system in our state has a dedicated budget, we are proposing that they be allowed to take their share of state funds to a public school of their choice. Any family that prefers not to take up their child’s place within the public school system, because they opt to go private or to home school instead, would receive a tax credit to off-set the fact they are currently paying for their child’s education twice. It is factually wrong to claim that any of this would divert public money away from public schools. Myth Two is that school choice means some hidden agenda to deny admissions. Under our proposals, each school district would have the power to define capacity. This is precisely in line with what Lieutenant Governor, Delbert Hosemann, has said publicly he would support. Schools must have strong safeguards that allow them to reject applications from those out of district with a history of disciplinary problems.
Myth Three is that school choice is somehow unfair because it doesn’t provide transportation costs. We don’t propose paying for transportation costs for a very good reason. The point of school choice is to raise standards in failing districts, not to facilitate the transfer of kids from failing districts into good performing districts. Myth Four is that school choice is all about benefiting private schools, rather than raising standards in public ones. Again, this is false. Private schools in our state are doing fine. Since 2021, the number of kids enrolled in private schools in our state rose from 49,000 to 56,000. It is public schools, where enrolment fell 12 percent over the past decade, where school choice in most needed. We want school choice in Mississippi not because we are against public schools, but because we support them and want them to thrive. Myth Five is the claim that “Mississippi’s public schools are delivering impressive results”. Some districts achieve good results. Most do not. One in four students in the public school system in our state routinely skips school. Four in ten fourth graders lack the basic reading standard required to read this sentence. Eight in ten eighth graders are not proficient in math. Mississippi’s accountability system may indeed only rate a handful of school districts as D or F. That says more about the inadequacies of the accountability system than it does about the quality of education. If public schools were doing so well, why are the number of kids enrolled in public schools in decline? If school choice is unnecessary because standards really are so excellent, as Nancy and co claim, why do they fear the consequences of giving parents more power? Finally forced to come out and say in public they’ve been whispering to lawmakers at the Capitol for years, the anti-school choice campaigners’ arguments don’t add up. Exposed to scrutiny, the anti-school choice lobby has all the credibility of the Flat Earth Society. Actual parents across Mississippi, as opposed to campaigners claiming to speak for parents, know this. At his excellent Policy Summit this week, House Speaker Jason White, shared with the 500+ attendees the results of his recent polling. Not only was there massive support for tax reform, but the slide on school choice showed overwhelming support for parent power. 73 percent of White voters and 65 percent of Black voters support allowing parents a more active role in choosing their children’s education. 84 percent of Republicans, 57 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Independents agreed. Here is an issue that Mississippi can unite behind. Time may be up for those that have spent the past decade quietly killing off anything that looks like parent power in various legislative committees. Actual parents aren’t on your side, and the anti-parent power lobby may be about to find that out. Douglas Carswell is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. MCPP sponsored this post.
15 comments:
If the State Approves & lets School Choice Run It's Course, you will see black parents & white parents Gravitate their kids to Racialy Segregated Schools...With teachers to Follow...You just wait & see...
translation: “give me my money; the rest of you can go to hell.”
If you really care about all Mississippians, change public education in Mississippi. If you don’t like the rules, change them. If you don’t like the bureaucracy, change it. If you don’t like MDE, replace it. Make public education in Mississippi a great experience for all. Either you believe in that, or the first statement is true.
@Kingfish - Could you stop taking this dude’s money posting this BS please?
NAFTA was great on paper. The theory was supportive that it would be beneficial to all countries and would "rise the tide" as they say. One problem. Theories are fine if all assumptions hold true. If one assumption fails, you can abandon the theory. That is the reality of NAFTA. The theory did not hold true and the lesser countries benefited and the stronger country (USA) was damaged. This idea of school choice is a similar theory. You can make every argument on paper that it is beneficial. But you better make sure all of the assumptions hold true (which is impossible to do).
Government schools, with a few exceptions, don't impress me these days.
Fact is that the most racially segregated schools are not in Mississippi but in New York and California. And, what is wrong with being among your own race? It's just the hypocrisy of folks bleating racism when public schools are not providing an education in anything other than degeneracy and thug culture. It's like sending your innocent kid to Satan's Daycare/Prison 101. DeFund Public School Teacher's Unions and this path to a downfall.
As it is, the public schools that serve poor areas are underfunded. The notion of "separate but equal never existed". What we are talking about is that children whose parents might want to chose the "best school" but will not have transportation to get them to the best school. Other states have consolidation so that infrastructure and equipment and maintenance as well as supplies are "equal".
In "surrounding states", they took actions to mitigate that problem and their "worst schools" were never as neglected as ours or as financially starved as ours.
As it is, our politicians have made it easier for gangs and drug cartels to come in and offer their kind of opportunities in poverty stricken neighborhoods.
If only our legislature would actually study what has worked well else where and just copied that instead of winging it. We used to have enough competent people in both parties in our legislature to get it right some of the time at least!
Unionized teachers and administrators have a vested interest in preserving the unacceptable status quo. Consolidation poses the question of whether kids riding buses for hours is acceptable, and whether the end result is better after that cost savings. I'll never again send a kid to public school after the outrages of the last few years. The efforts of Randi Weingarten Et Al to socially engineer a new generation of loud, ignorant, perpetual victims out to cheat, lie, and to bully normal kids is a tragedy for our nation. The Leftist Way. DeFund Public Schools. They serve to indoctrinate not educate. At best, they are just warehouses for normal kids to be victimized in.
"In "surrounding states", they took actions to mitigate that problem and their "worst schools" were never as neglected as ours or as financially starved as ours."
Can you link to proof of this statement?
October 4, 2024 at 11:31 AM
You'd have a point if Alternative School was still an option for the class disruptors.
Blah Blah Louiana can’t fund next years budget much less school choice.https://spn.org/articles/louisiana-passes-universal-school-choice/#:~:text=Louisiana%20is%20now%20the%2011,district%2C%20can%20access%20the%20program.
@1:56pm
I concur. Why should students devoted to learning be forced to have their education crippled by delinquent, disruptive dummies with unsupportive parents? Listen to the slang pidgin English spoken by JPS students around Jackson. In the 30 years I've been here, JPS English speaking skill has not improved, so I doubt reading, writing and math have either.
It doesn't help to have a feckless mayor that is too incompetent to perform simple city tasks like paying bills and maintaining infrastructure and city real estate.
Is this MCPP ONLY agenda they are pushin? It’s all they talk about. So they got 70% polling yet they can’t get the votes in the legislature? 55k kids are in private schools. That’s a choice. I don’t see a private school movement to back this plan…why not? Maybe they don’t want govt funds mixed with their private funds? And 70% polling is like 40% democrats like it and 30% republicans like it…kinda like the marijuana. Madison don’t want it. Rankin, Desoto. They all love their public schools. The other problem is AFP, EmpowerMS and MCPP are hated groups in the Republican caucus. Just pointing out the problem getting this passed.
Your post warrants the 'Fart in a Whirlwind' contest winner for the week. There are no 'Teacher's Unions' in this state.
Until you can convince Madison mommas that their dollars would be better spent at MRA than Madison Central this is pointless. Why pay for something when the free version is superior by every measurement? When the private schools not named Prep or St. Andrew’s can crank out the same ratio of National Merit Finalists or 30+ Act club members as Madison Central (or hell even NWR or Brandon or Germantown) then this little exercise might be worth looking into. Until then, maybe all of these mid private schools with inflated GPAs will stop trying to cash grab public funds.
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