Mississippi Charter School Law Turns Ten

National School Choice Week to be celebrated on Wednesday at the Mississippi State Capitol.

This Wednesday, Empower Mississippi is back at the Capitol to celebrate National School Choice Week with nearly a thousand students, parents, and teachers from across the state. This annual event—with the unmistakable yellow scarves—has become a grand tradition to ensure lawmakers hear directly from families who support education options.

In an age where divisions are everywhere, this positive and uplifting event brings together traditional public school, magnet, charter, private, and homeschool students in a beautiful celebration of the diversity of education options available to Mississippi families.

As I talk with parents around the state, whether they are Democrat or Republican, black or white, wealthy or struggling, what parents want is remarkably consistent: a safe, happy school, where children find joy in learning and are prepared to take on the world. For some families, that vision is the very definition of their neighborhood public school. For others, a microschool or magnet school hits the mark. The answer for each family is unique, and I could not begin to tell you what setting is best for every child in Mississippi, so let’s ensure we have a panoply of options and let parents match their kids with the best setting.

This year we’re celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the Mississippi Charter Schools Act of 2013. This historic legislation was both the fruition of nearly a decade of advocacy and the launch point for a charter sector that has blossomed to eight operating charter schools around the state and two more that have been approved that will launch soon. While I’m underwhelmed—and at times, intensely frustrated—about the pace of progress, for the more than 3,000 students in these eight wonderful schools, the charter movement has been lifechanging.

So, what makes a charter school unique? By definition, a charter school is a tuition-free school of choice that is publicly funded but independently run. In Mississippi, charters are run by non-profits and effectively limited to districts rated “D” or “F” under the state’s accountability model.

While I support allowing charters to be created in any district where parents are clamoring for options, this approach ensures that charters are focused on the communities that need them most. Charters, unlike magnet schools, are open to any student in the district, as long as the charter school has capacity. If more students apply than there are available seats—a situation that occurs often—the school conducts a lottery to draw names for the seats. Charters are authorized and held accountable, not to the local district or the Department of Education, but to the Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board.

In the years leading up to the eventual passage of the act in 2013, I can vividly remember sitting in the gallery of the Mississippi House of Representatives and listening to one fear-based speech after the next about how charters were going to pop up on every corner and take over the state. Opponents were so concerned about rapid growth of charters that they fought to include a provision limiting the number of charters that could be approved to 15 new charters per year. This cap is laughable today since we’ve never had more than two charters approved in any year, and often no charters approved at all.

Today, the sector seems poised for tremendous growth over the next few years. Embark, a new school incubator that Empower Mississippi launched in 2021, is laser focused on finding, guiding, and investing in new school founders. Their mission is to come alongside those who want to open great schools—especially charters—and help them develop their idea, coach them through the rigorous application process, provide a salary so they can give their start-up the attention it requires, and stay engaged with them until their school opens its doors.

Additionally, and equally encouraging, our friends at Mississippi First recently launched a search for a key leadership position that will build and relaunch the Mississippi Charter Schools Association. Mississippi has never had this level of support for would-be charter founders. And, perhaps most importantly, the authorizer board demonstrated during the 2022 cycle that there is strong appetite among some of the board members to begin authorizing more schools.

So, come join us at the State Capitol on Wednesday for what is shaping up to be a wonderful celebration of all that’s possible when we focus on what’s best for children.