Note: The House of Representatives passed the bill yesterday by a margin of two votes .
Last week, House Speaker Jason White unveiled HB2, the Mississippi Education Freedom Act - the most exciting and ambitious advancement for school choice in our state in years, perhaps ever!
This comprehensive bill delivers everything supporters of parental power have long hoped for, and it aligns perfectly with President Trump’s strong commitment to education freedom. This isn’t some minor adjustment or performative law – it’s the real thing for anyone who believes in putting parents in charge of their children’s education. Here’s what the bill does and why we at MCPP are so enthusiastic:*Magnolia Student Accounts: Families will be able to direct around $7,000 per child (drawn from the base amount in the new Mississippi Student Funding Formula already allocated to their child) into a Magnolia Student Account (an Education Savings Account). Parents can then use those funds for private school tuition, homeschooling, therapies, or other tailored educational needs. In the initial phase, up to 12,500 accounts will be available, with priority for low- and middle-income families, and a balanced split between current public school students and others. The program will expand each year until every family that wants one can have access. Homeschool families participating can also receive $1,000 annually to help cover costs.* Easier Public School Transfers: Currently it’s difficult to switch schools from one public school to another. HB2 makes it easier by ensuring you will no longer need the approval of the district you are leaving, just approval from the new school you want your child to attend. * Statewide Charter Schools: Mississippi has had charter schools for over a decade, but strict limits have made it nearly impossible to open them outside select low-performing districts. HB2 opens the door statewide, allowing charters to launch wherever there’s demand and need.* Literacy: Mississippi has become a national leader in raising reading standards through phonics-based early education. HB2 builds on this success by extending targeted literacy support into higher grades.* Smart District Consolidation: Consolidation of districts would always be a challenge, but the bill takes a practical, conservative approach: It consolidates specific districts (like Copiah County and Hazlehurst) as a model, providing a template for future efforts without mandating widespread closures.
HB2 is Speaker Jason White’s flagship reform for the 2026 session, fulfilling his promise that “all Mississippi families, regardless of income or zip code, have real choices and the freedom to pursue what works best for their children.” He deserves strong support for the most significant conservative education reform our state has seen in a generation. Dozens of Mississippi business leaders, along with former Governors Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant, have already voiced strong support. Team Trump is behind it too. In short: If you oppose this bill, it’s hard to credibly claim to be a conservative. That’s exactly why the progressive left is already fighting it tooth and nail – they fear real parent power and will twist the facts to stop these reforms. HB2 is now moving through the legislature, with real momentum in the House. Having had a massive conservative majority in Mississippi for years, here at last is the opportunity to implement a conservative reform in our state that will change our state for the better.
Real change is happening – and Mississippi is leading the way!
Douglas Carswell is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
This post is sponsored by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
25 comments:
Answer me this-
Could a sorry parent get the $7K, claim her child is being home-schooled, and do nothing to school that child?
You know there are always people looking to beat the system.
And Price Wallace couldn't be bothered to show up for the largest issue on this session's agenda. He claims he had equipment issues at his poultry farm. I know enough poultry farmers that he could have had his service man handle it or other farmers in the area so he could run up to Jackson to vote and come right back. Can they vote by proxy in an event like that? Either way, he is Chicken Manure and his constituents are PISSED!!!! Do your damn job you were elected to do.
Alabama, my former state of residence did this, with bipartisan support and so far, has seen great successes. Your post makes it much clearer what was passed, I see a lot of similarities in how AL structured theirs so that's a positive, time will tell how well it's implemented here.
Genuine question: Has school choice worked in any other state? Can you show me a 'success' where school choice made it better in scores?
Correction- if you support this bill you are ignoring the decline in academics that has taken place in nearly every state that has implemented school choice . This is proven by NAEP scores which are determined by the " National Assessment of Student Educational Progress " test. This test is the only test which is uniform across all states and gives a factual comparison of students across states. They all take the SAME test. Mississippi has shown continuous improvement over the last 10 years while the top 10 school choice states with the exception of one , have shown continuous decline. [ one state maintained status quo] If you support this bill you are supporting one of the most liberal bills in the history of Mississippi . A bill which proposes to use the money of ALL taxpayers to send to private schools which then can pick and choose the students they want to accept and send your child away if they do not " measure up ". A bill which gives your tax money to a school which then does not have to administer the same accountability tests which the state mandates that public school students take. This is as liberal as it gets.
All these conservatives promoting this will be the first ones to start private and charter schools to soak up the money.
Oh, cool. Homeschool teachers GONE GIT PAYD! That works for me, blow up the budget for education totally, so it collapses, entirely.
Do welfare next, just like this, too, so I get "free" steak and lobster, like "poor" people.
*sarcasm above for the dense people*
FYI, this is going the wrong way in my opinion. Close underperforming schools and make sure none of the teachers and administrators ever get near a Mississippi school system ever again. Rehabilitation of those school , by state officials, might work, but the data set is too small to be sure.
Remove problem students from the classroom and do NOT provide alternative schools for students that do not want an education.
Give public school teachers tax exempt status for all state taxes, in effect giving them a 8-10% raise across the board. Exclude administrators from this exemption.
Anyhoo, we have a teacher shortage BECAUSE of government regulation in public schools, inability for teachers to discipline students, and many parents who are horrible people.
The proposed legislation is sure to be more of the same regulatory stupidity with minimal oversight, in my opinion. The underperforming schools will continue to underperform until the earth is salted beneath them.
All of you people who are against this bill (and who knows if the bill is worth a damn or not) seem to think that the public school system in Mississippi is a model of efficiency and have offered absolutely no solution to the dismal performance of more than one school district in this state. If this bill allows just one student in the the underperforming districts to get an education, then until the state "leadership" grows a pair and corrects the problems of the underperforming districts, this is a good bill.
Well said, 11:32! And I assume that if a private school is taking government money, then the government can stick its filthy nose (once Democrats are reinstalled as our rulers) into private schools' business.
And let's not forget the example of HUD subsidies. At first, landlords could choose not to take HUD vouchers. Then, in some places, it became MANDATORY.
"School Choice" is a TROJAN HORSE, designed to ruin private schools, and to destroy Flight Destination Exurbs with good public schools.
And you can bet your booties, that any Republican politician who supports "School Choice", is just another Astroturf-munchin' RINO.
This is a voucher scam that siphons desperately needed public dollars into largely unaccountable private schools, cherry picking families who already have five star athletic or financial options while starving rural districts and JPS thus accelerating their risk of collapse.
Real conservatives should oppose it. The razor-thin 61–59 House vote with notable Republican cowards DeWeese and Wallace need to be called out for not voting.
Looks like it reflects a clear concern that destroying all of these damn community schools will damage small towns and their economies. These schools have fallen to even worsened segregation and will further decline and produce low academic results all while the superintendent gets paid $100,000 - $200,000 but teachers get about $140 month raise after tax.
This will be a colossal disaster.
This will improve nothing, erode any good outcomes both good public schools and private schools are currently having, and the students will be just as dumb, with inflated GPAs and pathetic ACT scores as always.
In addition, let’s add the upcoming fraud that will come from this and you can start to understand why taxpayers are fed up with the inept and weak leadership in Mississippi. No thanks to the RINOs that simply want to pat themselves back like they actually have accomplished anything, like Harkins, who I believe voted for this.
This is the same story of the changing of the state flag, that was against voter wishes.
Keep lowering the standards Mississippians! You are doing great!
What is going to be done to address the absolute lack of discipline in the schools and teachers’ hands being tied by activist administration? Not to even get started on administration that actively lobbies the teachers to take certain political stances and creates a hostile work environment to those that dare speak out.
12:29- You summed it up perfectly.
I'd really like to see data on what what has worked/ not worked in other states who have had school choice for a few years. There seems to be concern about deficits in the funds after a few years. What causes that and why? What did xxx state do to correct, or have they?
The first comment is exactly right. This bill imposes no controls, no oversight. This is just a thinly disguised handout of taxpayer money to private schools. If private schools in Mississippi were truly interested in quality education they'd stop giving athletic scholarships to kids who couldn't otherwise afford the school.
Until about three years ago I never heard any politician or leader in Mississippi, including super Republican Haley, mention school choice being so imperative. I do not believe anyone in this state wrote the 500 page bill that passed yesterday but no one seems to want to answer who did.
Personally I'm not supportive of a plan that gives public tax money to private schools. I have paid school taxes on my home and car tag for many years despite having no children to even use the system. Using the logic about money following the child, why are childless people such as myself required to pay a tax for a service I have never and will never use?
Mississippi students have choices: their parents can send them to private school or homeschool them if the public school isn't to their liking.
I don’t understand any of this except that it just politics as usual. If you want your kid to go to private school and that is a luxury you can afford go for it. If you live in a dumpster fire school district move. If you like the dumpster fire school district send your kids to the circus or pay for private school. Those are all school choices. I have choices for my kids. Move, pay for private school, send them to the public school or homeschool.
"Alabama, my former state of residence did this, with bipartisan support and so far, has seen great successes. Your post makes it much clearer what was passed, I see a lot of similarities in how AL structured theirs so that's a positive, time will tell how well it's implemented here."
If you actually talk to people who live there, this doesn't line up. The think tanks will tell you this. But not the parents and teachers.
" In short: If you oppose this bill, it’s hard to credibly claim to be a conservative."
This is a garbage, pandering statement meant to instigate the ignorant into blindly supporting this bill. I don't foresee "school choice" as being beneficial to our state but I'm not as involved or educated on all the impacts it will have to make a jackass statement such as the one Carswell made. I definitely lean right but this kind of s**t pisses me off.
I have two questions. First, can someone point me to anything that addresses the constitutionality of using public funds on private schools?
Second, if a private school now charges $15,000 annually, will not its tuition creep upward (if not leap upward) when those parents all have an additional $7,000 available? This seems inflationary. Am I wrong?
RMQ
@11:25 -- I work in Alabama now and I think the jury is still out on their success. I imagine it is too early to tell at this point.
I do not know a single teacher that is for this bill. These politicians better listen to them!!!
Had to pass the senate. Not gonna happen
I was disappointed in the way the state went about changing the state flag. The voters didn’t want that, it was forced upon the voters by the very people elected to represent the voters. Plus, I thought America was supposed to come together and sing after the flag was replaced.
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