House Bill 2, the massive voucher/school choice bill that would let state-funded schools pick and choose their students, barely passed the House this afternoon on a 61-59 vote following a 4-hour debate. Opposition to the bill was bipartisan. See your representative’s vote.
You can watch a recording of the full debate here.
Please share this vote report broadly. Save it in your files. As one of the most dangerous bills to come before the Legislature, one that has generated more constituent opposition and outreach to legislators than almost any other, your representative should be held accountable for this vote at the ballot box in the next election. Representatives who stood with their constituents and voted NO on this bill have earned your trust and support today. Those who voted for this measure have betrayed the trust of their communities and constituents.
The bill now will go to the Senate, where we hope Mississippians’ vehement opposition to this bill will be noted. Please call right away.
Ask senators to:
VOTE NO on HB 2, a broad school choice/voucher bill
Find contact information for senators who represent your school district
Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann: 601.359.3200
HB 2 turns over a large swath of our education system to the State Treasurer and includes:
- Vouchers for private and homeschools. Creates Magnolia Savings Accounts that fund private school students at the same base cost as public school students, including those already attending private school. States that private schools cannot be required to adjust admissions or academic standards, administer statewide assessments, or be subjected to the state accountability system. Phased in beginning with 12,500 vouchers in first year and growing annually. Homeschools would get $1,000 per family annually. Cost for Year 1 is estimated to be $87-million.
- Public school choice. Establishes public school choice, allowing students to attend school in districts in which they do not reside or pay local taxes; requires districts to publish capacity data, application timelines, and transfer selection criteria at least twice per year. Allows public schools to pick and choose out-of-district students, just as private schools do.
- Tim Tebow Act. Allows homeschool students to participate in public school activities and athletics without being subject to the same participation criteria as public school students. Creates unfair advantage for homeschool students competing for spots on public school teams.
- Charter school expansion. Allows an unlimited number of charter schools to open in any school district that has a school rated D or F without the consent of the local school board. (Notably, all but one of Mississippi’s existing charter schools are rated D or F.)
- More fiscal and academic scrutiny for public schools. Requires public schools to post monthly on a newly created public dashboard line-item expenditures and expanded academic accountability data. Adds significant new public reporting requirements to public schools while expressly prohibiting private voucher schools from being required to adhere to any of the same regulations (only one aggregate statewide voucher report will go to the State Treasurer). Notably, the state’s largest fraud scandal took place, in large part, in a private school participating in Mississippi’s special education voucher program.
Please be sure to thank these courageous House members who stood strong for their constituents and voted no on HB 2 in the face of intense pressure from politicians to do otherwise:
Jeramey Anderson
Otis Anthony
Willie Bailey
Earle Banks
Chris Bell
Richard Bennett
Lawrence Blackmon
Andy Boyd
Bo Brown
Cedric Burnett
Grace Butler-Washington
Billy Adam Calvert
Bryant Clark
Carolyn Crawford
Justin Crosby
Ronnie Crudup
Becky Currie
Oscar Denton
Gregory Elliott
Bob Evans
John Faulkner
Jill Ford
Stephanie Foster
Karl Gibbs
Justis Gibbs
Greg Haney
Jeffery Harness
John Hines
Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes
Gregory Holloway
Kenji Holloway
Jeffrey Hulum
Keith Jackson
Lataisha Jackson
Timaka James-Jones
Robert Johnson
Kabir Karriem
Timmy Ladner
Clay Mansell
Kent McCarty
Hester Jackson McCray
Missy McGee
Dana McLean
Carl Mickens
Fabian Nelson
Gene Newman
Solomon Osborne
Daryl Porter
Tracey Rosebud
Robert Sanders
Omeria Scott
Fred Shanks
Troy Smith
Zakiya Summers
Cheikh Taylor
Rickey Thompson
Lance Varner
Percy Watson
Otha Williams
School choice legislation, including this bill, is not written to benefit children. It is written to benefit private schools – which pick and choose the children they want to serve and reject all others. If educating children well were the primary goal of this bill, it would require that any school receiving state funding provide parents the information they need to know: an apples-to-apples look at how the quality of education in one school compares to the quality of education provided in another. Every single state-funded school should administer the same assessments – ones that measure whether or not children are being moved toward proficiency on state academic standards.
Please share the House vote, and be sure to thank the reps who voted NO. Then make those calls to senators and ask them to oppose HB 2. Ask others to call, as well. Together, we’ve got this!
