Today, Sen. Hob Bryan held the charter school bill (SB 2161) on a motion to reconsider, giving senators another opportunity to vote on it, probably tomorrow. Please give your senator a call!
As this bill stands now, even some districts currently rated A and B could be cannibalized by charter schools seeking high-performing students. How? Educators predict that changes in state tests and the accountability rating system will lower ratings for many districts. Read more about these changes.
By allowing charter schools to recruit students from C districts, SB 2161 is harmful to all students. It threatens to weaken good schools by siphoning away state and local funding. It also lessens the chance that students in under-performing schools will have a spot in a strong charter school by forcing them to compete for those seats with students from schools that are performing well.
Please remind your senator that removing C districts from SB 2161 will strengthen the bill and keep charter schools focused on their original purpose of serving students in under-performing districts.
Ask your senator to:
1) vote to reconsider SB 2161 (charter bill)
2) vote to invite conference so that C districts can be removed from the bill
Find contact information for all senators who represent your school district.
Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770
Share the same message with Lt. Governor Reeves. Capitol: 601.359.3200
The Parents’ Campaign does not oppose students in chronically under-performing districts (those rated D and F) crossing district lines to attend charters. Nearly all school districts rated D are adjacent to or in close proximity to other D-rated districts, providing them plenty of children to recruit to charter schools. (There are no districts rated F.)
Rest assured that allowing students in C districts to cross those lines is not about helping students in under-performing schools. It is about allowing charter schools to locate on the borders of C districts and recruit their students from better-performing schools – defeating the purpose of adding more schools, and creating a less efficient system of education – with no real benefit to students or taxpayers.
Please make those calls and ask others to call, too!
