The Senate Education Committee will meet tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10 a.m. to hear from a panel of school superintendents about successes and challenges in their school districts, as well as from representatives of the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board, WestEd, Magnolia Speech School, Canopy Children’s Solutions, and the Southern Regional Education Board. This is a continuation of hearings the committee is holding to help Senate leaders develop their policy agenda for the coming legislative session. Earlier this month, the committee heard from the Mississippi Department of Education about the impressive strides being made in our public schools and its plans to continue and ramp up that progress.
Tomorrow’s hearing will be livestreamed, and you can watch it here. See agenda. You can view recordings of the previous meetings here and here. I’ll attend tomorrow’s hearing and will give you a report on what I learn.
We’ve seen in recent weeks that the voucher lobby has its own agenda, designed to serve the interests of a select few. As Mississippians learn more about school choice, their concerns are escalating. Parents, educators, and concerned citizens are making their voices heard in a variety of ways, including sharing information about the dangers of school choice on social media and in letters to the editor and opinion columns published in media outlets around the state. You can see some of those here. I encourage you to consider ways that you, too, can help spread the word. Your voice is important, and together, we’ve got this!
Nancy Loome
