HB 1433 is dead! Many thanks to members of the House who stood up for our public schools and their constituents to defeat this harmful legislation that allowed public and private school choice/vouchers. And many thanks to the thousands of moms, dads, grandparents, educators, and concerned citizens who reached out to your legislators about your opposition to HB 1433.
Other bills of concern did pass the House and now will go to the Senate Education Committee for consideration (see descriptions below). We will need your help again to defeat these bills. We also need you to reach out to your representatives to ask for their support of SB 2598 (amendments to improve the law allowing retired teachers to return to the classroom and draw PERS benefits) and SB 2616 (adds grades 7 and 8 to the CTE component of the school funding formula).
Please ask your senator to OPPOSE HB 1078, HB 1431, HB 1432, HB 1435, and HB 1617.
Please ask your representative to SUPPORT SB 2598 and SB 2616.
Find contact information for legislators
Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770
Lt. Governor Hosemann: 601.359.3200
Speaker White: 601.359.3300
Descriptions of bills we oppose:
- HB 1078 – Removes accountability that was added to ESA vouchers in 2024 and expands the program to add children in foster care who do not have special needs, a move certain to lead to additional expansions.
- HB 1431 – Creates a task force to develop recommendations for consolidating districts into one per county; of 20 task force members, includes only one designated as a public school representative.
- HB 1432 – Allows charter schools in C districts, punishing districts that have worked hard to improve beyond D and F ratings. Allows multiple bodies to authorize new charters, letting charter applicants “shop” for an authorizer that will grant a charter. This reduces accountability and oversight of charter schools and is discouraged by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers due to the low-quality charters that have resulted from this practice in other states.
- HB 1435 – Allows public school choice, creating a significant administrative burden on school districts. Provides no transportation for students, so very few could participate, leaving hundreds of children in struggling schools with even fewer resources.
- HB 1617 – Allows homeschool students to participate in public school activities and athletics, incentivizes drop-outs, creates an unlevel playing field that favors homeschool over public school students, and inflicts an enormous administrative burden on public school administrators. For public school students to be eligible to participate in school activities, they must maintain a 2.0 GPA on rigorous state standards throughout the school year, but homeschoolers would be required only to show evidence that they were qualified for promotion to the current grade. While the bill requires participating homeschool students to take state tests, it does not require them to pass the tests.
HB 1630, the bill that amends the school funding law to omit pre-k students from the enrollment count, was amended to add a reverse repealer. This technical change will send the bill to conference and allow time for legislators to work out details that will rectify the pre-k/enrollment issue while keeping school districts whole.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your incredible diligence in support of our public schools! The relationships you’ve developed with your legislators are paying off for Mississippi children in big ways. Let’s do it again in the next round. Together, we’ve got this!
