Your calls to legislators apparently are working so well that House leadership doesn’t dare count actual votes in committee.
House Education Chair Rob Roberson acknowledged in today’s committee meeting that representatives had received “millions of phone calls and texts” from constituents opposed to HB 1433 (public and private school choice), but he urged committee members to vote for it, despite the opposition from their communities. On a voice vote, the nays clearly outnumbered the yeas, but Chairman Roberson moved the bill forward anyway, sending it to the calendar for a floor vote. When the committee demanded a roll call vote, Chairman Roberson said, “We aren’t going to have a roll call vote today. I’m sorry.” Not allowing a roll call vote denies your legislators their right to have their votes counted in the committee process.
The bill now will go to the floor where actual votes will be counted and reported. Other harmful bills have passed the House Education Committee and also need your attention. We must ensure that representatives hear from constituents sufficiently to withstand the pressure they are getting from House leadership to pass these bad bills.
Please call your representative every day until the February 13 floor deadline with this message:
VOTE NO on HB 1078, HB 1431, HB 1432, HB 1433, HB 1435, 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 now on the calendar for floor votes:
- HB 1078 – loosens accountability on existing ESA vouchers and expands the program
- HB 1431 – creates a task force to develop recommendations for consolidating districts into one per county; of 15 task force members, includes only one public school representative
- 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 1435 – provides for public school choice, creating a significant administrative burden on school districts; provides no transportation for students, so very few would be able to participate, leaving hundreds of children in struggling schools with even fewer resources
- 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
Please start those calls tonight and keep it up every day. Add a reminder in your phone! Ask your friends and family to call, too. Together, we’ve got this!
