Please keep calling your representatives, urging them to vote NO on harmful “school choice” bills.
There is some good news. Special thanks is due Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar and Senate Education Committee members for standing up for our public schools. Twice in two days they declined to move forward harmful “choice” bills. A number of House members also took brave stands today against “choice” and in support of their public schools. They, too, are due our sincere thanks.
The bad news is that several harmful bills passed the House anyway (see below). I know you are frustrated. I am, too. We will work to kill those House bills on the Senate side. The very worst bills remain on the House calendar awaiting votes. It is critical that your legislators hear from you repeatedly until the February 13 deadline.
Word at the Capitol is that a majority of legislators in each chamber opposes sending public money to private schools, but representatives are getting enormous and constant pressure from House leadership to vote yes. Your repeated calls urging them to stand strong for our public schools give them the backup they need to VOTE NO. Please call your representative daily, thank those who are standing with public schools, and urge all of them to VOTE NO on bills that harm our public schools, putting thousands of children at risk.
Call your representative every day until the February 13 floor deadline with this message:
VOTE NO on HB 1432, HB 1433, and HB 1617.
Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770
Find additional contact information for legislators
Speaker White: 601.359.3300
The Parents’ Campaign opposes these House bills still on the calendar for floor votes:
- HB 1432 – allows charter schools in C districts and loosens oversight and accountability of charter schools
- HB 1433 – creates private and public school choice, diverting public money to private schools and imposing significant administrative burdens on school districts
- HB 1617 – allows homeschool students to participate in public school activities and athletics, creating an unlevel playing field that favors homeschool over public school students and inflicting an enormous administrative burden on public school administrators
Earlier today, the full House passed these bills:
- HB 1078 – loosens accountability on existing ESA vouchers and expands the program (Official vote report not yet provided by the House)
- HB 1431 – creates a task force to develop recommendations for consolidating districts into one per county; of approximately 20 task force members, includes only one designated public school representative (Official vote report not yet provided by the House)
- HB 1435 – provides for public school choice, creating a significant administrative burden on school districts; provides no transportation for transferring students, so very few would be able to participate, leaving hundreds of children in struggling schools with even fewer resources See the vote
I am grateful to the representatives who voted NO on this bill. Please join me in thanking them.
If legislators are serious about helping children in underperforming schools, they will stop expanding choice and heaping bureaucratic burdens on public schools, and instead consider remedies that have been proven to improve schools for all children:
- State funding for public school facilities in communities with a weak ad valorem tax base
- Dedicated literacy and math coaches (not shared with another school)
- Significant salary supplements for teaching in a low-performing school (minimum of $10,000 salary supplement)
- High-quality after-school programs (tutoring, homework support, etc.)
The results of “choice” in other states have been abysmal. Research has told us for years that public schools outperform private voucher schools, and recent outcomes on national assessments confirm that. While Mississippi’s test scores have surged forward over the past decade, every single one of the states that EdChoice names a Top 10 State for School Choice has moved backward – most significantly so. See that comparison. Mississippi’s average score in Grade 4 reading rose by 10 points over the decade, and Florida, the number one state for “choice,” saw its 4th-grade reading score drop by nine points. School choice is a losing proposition.
Please call every day and ask legislators to protect our children from the “school choice” sham. Ask 3 friends to call every day, too. Our children are counting on us, and together, we’ve got this!
Nancy Loome, Executive Director
