Kudos to Mississippi senators who stood up for our public schools! With so little support for vouchers in the Senate, SB 2623 was never brought up for a vote by today’s deadline. The Senate has adjourned for the day, and SB 2623 is dead.
In more good news, SB 2400 was amended to stagger the terms of elected school board members. You can find a detailed update on bills we are following here.
Please thank your senator and ask for his or her help again. A voucher threat remains in HB 957, the bill that would change the way public schools are funded and dramatically reduce the funding required for our children’s schools.
Ask your senator to vote NO on HB 957!
Find contact information for legislators. Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770
Share the same message with Lt. Governor Reeves – Capitol: 601.359.3200
HB 957 would both starve public schools and facilitate vouchers in one fell swoop.
• It is estimated that HB 957 would shortchange school districts statewide by approximately $292-million in its first full year of implementation, 2025. See how much your school district stands to lose.
• Claims by state leaders that districts would see funding gains with HB 957 are based on a false comparison. They are comparing 2025 full funding of HB 957 to 2018 underfunding of current law.
• The funding in HB 957 is even less than what schools would receive if the Legislature continued underfunding school districts at the same rate that it has for the last six years.
• The “student-based formula” in HB 957 would make it easier to convert public school funding into vouchers for private school tuition. The per-student amount would simply follow the student out of public schools and into a private, for-profit, or cyber school – which have no obligation to provide a quality public education or to answer to taxpayers for how they spend our tax dollars.
Thank you for your terrific work on SB 2623! Let’s work with our senators again to protect public school funding and eliminate the voucher threat by defeating HB 957.
Don’t forget to wear #BlueForMSTeachers tomorrow and every Friday through the Legislative session. Our children are counting on us, and together, we’ve got this!
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