Our children need your help! An amended version of SB 2675 passed the Senate Education Committee today and will now go to the full Senate for a floor vote. This bill originally called for a sweeping expansion of vouchers, but instead, what passed committee today is a provision to keep the current ESA voucher program running into […]
RED ALERT: Voucher Extension Passes Senate Committee; Call Senators Read More »
The House and Senate have adjourned for the weekend and will return Monday afternoon. They have until Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. to pass the first round of bills out of committee. Any general bills not taken up by Tuesday will die without a vote. Please touch base with your legislators over the weekend and ask
Stand Up for PUBLIC Schools, Say NO to Vouchers! Read More »
New voucher threat in the House chamber this morning! Please call your representative right away. House Bill 1072 includes many of the same provisions as the terrible Senate voucher bill we told you about yesterday. One of the worst? It gives unaccountable private schools MORE money – not less – than public schools receive in MAEP per-student
RED ALERT: Call Representatives, Another Voucher Threat Read More »
Grab your cape! It’s time for our children’s heroes to take action. A number of privatization bills have been filed in each chamber, and among the worst is voucher expansion legislation, Senate Bill 2675, introduced by Senate Education Chair Gray Tollison. Here’s what SB 2675 would do: • open vouchers to ALL students, adding an estimated 4,700 new
Time to Call Legislators: Voucher Threat Read More »
Privatizers want us to believe that they need more of our tax dollars to clear the waiting list of parents who want tax-paid vouchers to pay private school tuition for their children. The fact is that the voucher program has had more than enough money to clear that list. Here’s how… FACT: Because the voucher program
Voucher Program has Enough Funds to Clear Waiting List Read More »
FACT: Since the special education voucher program began, the Legislature has underfunded special education in public schools by $101.7-million. (Sources: Mississippi Department of Education, The Parents’ Campaign Research and Education Fund) FACT: Special education in public schools is underfunded almost $30-million this school year alone. FACT: 67% of the voucher schools responding to the PEER investigation admitted that public
Facts: Mississippi ESA Voucher Program Read More »
Remember that special education voucher program that was supposed to help children with special needs? Well, here’s the truth about that hoax (and keep reading to see what Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is proposing now)… The voucher program rules stack the deck against children with special needs, giving all the power to private voucher schools to
Reeves Threatens Voucher Expansion Read More »
Mississippi’s PEER* Committee has issued a damning report of our state’s ESA voucher program, which uses public funds to pay private school tuition for children with special needs. Findings include: • Since the program’s implementation in 2015, 43% of funds appropriated have not been spent • Of 776 new vouchers assigned prior to December 2018, only 346 were
PEER Review of Vouchers: Fraud, Lack of Accountability, Unspent Funds Read More »
Privatizers are sending out mailers intended to trick public school supporters into backing vouchers. Their direct mail pieces claim that Education Savings Accounts (their fancy name for vouchers) “provide families freedom” and “provide teachers flexibility to foster and nurture students.” Both claims are patently false. ESAs are designed to benefit private schools, not students. Here are
The Voucher Hoax in Your Mailbox Read More »
More than a third of Mississippi’s voucher funds are not being used. A recent public records request revealed that more than a third of the funds that the Mississippi Legislature appropriated for private school vouchers last year was not spent. In fact, so few of the students who were assigned special needs vouchers were able
Mississippi Voucher Funds Go Unused Read More »
