Charter schools debate furious as ever
Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit July 11 seeking to close the existing charter schools and prevent any more from opening. On behalf of seven JPS parents, the suit argues that charter schools violate the state constitution by making school districts share property tax collections with schools they don’t supervise or control.
It says that as a result of a charter school law signed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in 2013, “traditional public schools will have fewer teachers, books and educational resources. These schools will no longer be able to provide Mississippi schoolchildren the education that they are constitutionally entitled to receive.”
The Mississippi NAACP issued a statement supporting the suit, and several groups countered by calling the litigation harmful.
“The landscape of public education has room for new ideas,” state NAACP President Derrick Johnson said. “However, innovation must not come at the expense of our state’s traditional public school system. We must endeavor to improve our public education system, not destroy it.”
Clarion Ledger
7/17/16
Magnolia Tribune
