This year, the education legislation being filed is unprecedented in its hostility toward public schools, despite a clear message from voters that they want public education to flourish.
Below is a sampling of the troublesome bills that are online thus far.They include proposals to:
- decrease funding to public schools and create a tax-paid system of private, for-profit, and virtual schools
- silence educators and deny school board members their right to contact legislators about legislation
- add layers of bureaucracy at the state level and reduce local control of public schools
- transfer authority to make decisions about our children’s education from professional educators to politicians
- increase testing and add administrative responsibilities and unfunded mandates at the local level
Hear Vicksburg mom Lauren Stubblefield express her frustration with legislators who forget they were elected to serve the people, not the other way around.
We expect these bills to be pushed through committee and to the floor for votes quickly. Please ask your legislators to vote for bills that support public schools and against bills that hurt our public schools.
Click here to find contact information for the legislators who represent your school district.
Here are some of the bills of concern and their authors:
HB 29 Frierson – Transfers authority from State Board of Education to legislative PEER committee; all education reports go to PEER; MAEP funds withheld from districts not meeting PEER’s requirements
HB 53 Frierson – Individual students’ test scores must be submitted to Office of State Auditor to determine sufficient academic progress
HB 1004 Frierson – Opens state statute on school accreditation & accountability standards for unidentified amendments
HB 33 Moore – Expands eligibility for special education voucher program
HB 49 Moore – Educators guilty of misdemeanor & fined up to $10,000 if contact legislators during school day, even on personal phone during break; school board members & superintendents guilty of misdemeanor and fined up to $10,000 if contact legislators at any time about legislation or policy of any kind
HB 76 Moore – Forces school board candidates to declare political party affiliation
HB 228 Moore – Puts A-rated districts in charge of operating adjacent districts rated D or F for two consecutive years
HB 361 Moore – 100% tax deduction for private school expenses, $5,000 cap (tuition, fees, uniforms, textbooks, supplies); 50% deduction for home school or public school expenses, $5,000 cap
HB 453 Moore – Increases required local contribution toward MAEP (reduces state funding)
HB 458 Moore – Opens entire MAEP statute for revisions
HB 459 Moore – Reduces annual increases in MAEP base student cost
HB 466 Moore – Changes definition of at-risk from poverty basis to test score basis (punishes districts doing a good job with low-income students)
HB 469 Moore – Removes requirement that the Legislature fully fund MAEP
HB 943 Moore, Arnold, Bomgar, Boyd, Busby, Byrd, Carpenter, Chism , Crawford, Criswell, Currie, DeLano, Denny, Dixon, Frierson, Formby , Mangold, McLeod, McNeal, Monsour, Mettetal, Oliver, Read – Broad voucher bill; tax-paid tuition to private schools, home schools, virtual schools & for-profits; no accountability
HB 990 Moore – Requires election of all school board members at the time of presidential election (this law used in other states by privatization organizations to successfully fund campaigns of pro-privatization candidates & win pro-privatization majorities on local school boards)
HB 1042 Moore – Statewide open enrollment in charters; ad valorem taxes follow student
HB 1080 Moore, Bomgar, Brown, Currie, Formby, C. Johnson, Touchstone – Provides tax credit scholarships (vouchers) for private schools or for-profit virtual schools
HB 958 Snowden – Educators subject to fine if contact legislators during school day, even on personal phone during break; school board members & superintendents subject to fine if contact legislators at any time about legislation or policy of any kind
HB 30 Formby – Reduces number of schools days from 180 to 170, mandates start date after Labor Day
HB 56 Formby – Mandates that home-schooled students be allowed to participate in public school extracurricular activities
HB 58 Formby – Mandates school start date no earlier than last Monday in August
HB 59 Formby – Prohibits schools from opening before Labor Day
HB 246 Arnold – Repeals current academic standards & replaces them with California’s 2010 math standards & Texas’s 2010 English Language Arts standards
HB 47 Currie, Campbell – Individual students’ test scores submitted to State Auditor to determine sufficient academic progress
HB 48 Young – Revokes all school districts’ home rule authority for 3 to 5 years pending state review of local governance
HB 148 Young – Mandates teacher & administrator classroom duties; imposes sanctions on teachers & administrators whose schools don’t meet growth objectives
HB 202 Young – Allows for-profit virtual schools statewide
HB 224 Shirley – Fines schools $1,500 for not reciting Pledge of Allegiance within first hour of school day
HB 450 Shirley – Restricts local school board authority related to ad valorem taxes
HB 209 Scott – Mandates daily homework for students K-12 & other requirements in schools rated C, D, or F
HB 973 Dixon – Requires state superintendent of education be appointed by governor
HB 1060 C. Johnson – Allows home-schooled students to participate in extracurricular activities in public schools
HB 1068 Henley – requires election of school board members at time of presidential election (this law used in other states by privatization organizations to successfully fund campaigns of pro-privatization candidates & win pro-privatization majorities on local school boards)
SB 2101 Fillingane – Requires election, rather than appointment, of state superintendent of education; limits pool of candidates to those residing in Mississippi for at least 15 years
SB 2140 Carmichael – Transfers Office of Educational Accountability from MDE to governor’s office; governor appoints executive director
SB 2161 Tollison – Charter schools may locate in C districts without local approval; statewide open enrollment in charters; ad valorem taxes follow student
SB 2279 Wiggins – Establishes commission to recommend changes to MAEP
SB 2431 Wiggins – Changes calculation of school district MAEP allocations to provide more funding to high performing districts; if schools are level funded, could transfer funds away from low-performing & into high-performing districts
SB 2385 Clarke – Broad voucher bill; tax-paid tuition to private schools, home schools, virtual schools, & for-profits; no accountability
SB 2406 Harkins, Clarke, Tindell, Tollison, Parker – Establishes commission to recommend changes to MAEP
We will keep you up to date as bills are posted online and as committee and floor votes are taken, and we will share information specific to your own legislators on their Education Report Facebook pages. Watch your email inbox for updates and ask your friends to join us!
