On the first day of the 2026 session, the Mississippi Senate took a strong position against public school vouchers. “Vouchers are not on the table in the Senate,” Mississippi Today reported Education Committee Chairman Sen. Dennis DeBar, Jr., as saying. Later that day the full Senate easily passed two education bills locking in that position.
Will the Senate be able to stick to it? The next day two former governors, a possible future governor (Barbour, Bryant, and Duff), and 98 business leaders released a letter calling for passage of House Bill 2, the 553 page mega-bill that includes vouchers in the form of Education Savings Accounts. “We urge you to seize this historic opportunity and make this the year Mississippi puts families first by expanding school choice to every child in Mississippi,” said the letter. Two days later, sitting Gov. Tate Reeves urged passage of HB2 saying, “I will gladly sign it to keep Mississippi’s momentum booming.” That same day, the Magnolia Tribune reported, the “Trump White House” endorsed HB2. Actually, it was Trump’s Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. This heavy political pressure weighing down on the Senate follows incessant lobbying and intense campaigning by school voucher proponents, particularly Empower Mississippi and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
Then there is the name calling. Printable examples include: The Magnolia Tribune published an article entitled “The dumb leftist argument against school choice that won’t go away.” Right below the headline was a photo of Sen. DeBar. The juxtaposition was notable. “I do not believe you can call yourself a conservative and oppose (school choice) reforms,” former Mississippi GOP chairman Lucien Smith told the Tribune. DeBar is a conservative Republican from Leakesville serving his third Senate term. He has been selected nine times as a Business Champion by Mississippi’s conservative Business and Industry Political Education Committee. Last year, Douglas Carswell, head of the Center for Public Policy, lambasted Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann saying his position on vouchers, “aligns more with liberals than with conservative taxpayers.” Hmmm. Should the above disapprobation also apply to recalcitrant House members? This past Thursday 17 Republicans voted against HB2. Two others abstained letting it narrowly pass 61 to 59. A coalition of representatives with strong local schools and concerned private schools plus those worried about a lack of accountability in the bill joined Democrats in opposing the bill. This slim margin bodes favorably for the Senate. Interestingly, the Senate and House bills feature a number of common elements. Yet school vouchers will harshly divide the chambers unless the Senate succumbs to political pressure or the House agrees to compromise. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast" – I Corinthians 15:58. Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from Jackson.
12 comments:
This effort has little to do with kids' education. Much more about the huge pot of money the state government leadership sees and can use to ply favors for themselves and their well-connected friends and their businesses.
Sure would like to know who the "reversed" spots are in the current "special needs" program the legislature passed a few years ago; likely those reserved spots are benefitting the well connected.
Follow the money and the votes.
Public schools, just like roads, bridges, etc. should be performing at a high level; it not, fix it.
I should not have to pay for the privileged/well-connected to send their children and grandchildren to private schools at my expense, that's the parent's job. We know the private schools that exist today won't be throwing their doors wide open for all commers, they will continue to be very selective; I have no problem with that, those schools are private for a reason.
I am for completely defunding public schools considering the trillions they have wasted producing the woke idiots that “graduate”.
Vouchers should not be the only reason to oppose this social experiment.
Anybody favoring school choice should be able to provide factual data as to its success in states that have it already. Without that, the proponents' talk is nothing but hopes and wishes, hot air and smoke.
Confucius say: Never jump on bandwagon based on wagon-master's sales pitch or because you like sound of calliope. Wagon master gain profit from riders and same wagon master tune calliope.
Nice! You used two of the ultra-nut-conservative dog whistles in the same sentence. Congrats! PhD in Fox News!
It’s amazing to me how people, many of which call themselves conservatives, see the absolute crap that the public schools produce and refuse to acknowledge it much less demand change.
Moving the goal posts again? At first it was, "There's no problem here. It's simply giving a voice to parents in the education of their children". Next it suddenly became all about bullying. Now you say it's that the public schools produce 'Crap'.
Hell, be consistent. Quit moving the damned goal posts.
I guess the crap you are referring to is black students. We wouldn’t want educated black kids because they might decide to vote.
Those dollars won't grift themselves.
That's why vouchers!
Crawford didn't find a way to slam Trump this week? It must be getting frosty in hell.
The reps from strong school districts that voted for vouchers can count on a primary opponent. There are already talks of candidates with name recognition, stellar reps and, most importantly, funding.
Looking at you, Madison and Rankin Counties, Ocean Springs and Oxford.
This will cause an increase in private school tuition. Those parents who send their children to private schools will be able to pay the increased tuition, since it is offset by public money vouchers. Those who cannot afford the increased amount are left with the same choices, unless of course more private schools are started.
Here is where basic economic principles are relevant. The increase in demand (parents who now can afford the current tuition) will prompt a different supply. I sense it will be twofold: increased tuition and start-up private schools.
RMQ
The whole point of this article is ostensibly that you can be a conservative and oppose school choice. No where else in the country is more ink wasted over who can claim the noun “conservative” and who can’t.
Who gives a shit? Our “leaders” think Mississippians so obtuse that they will support the policies of whichever faction wins the war for control over the dictionary.
It never occurs to them that families may want greater control over who educates their children and could care less if that’s “conservative” or “liberal” - two obsolete terms by the way. It’s 2026, not 2006. Once again, Mississippi finds itself fighting a battle two decades too late.
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