From left, Rep. Rob Roberson and Rep. Kent McCarty present HB 1453, which would replace the current MAEP funding formula with the INSPIRE Act, to the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. (Photo by Jeremy Pittari | Magnolia Tribune)
- State Rep. Rob Roberson’s “Mississippi Quality Desert Educational Enrollment and Transfer Scholarship (QDESA) Act” is one of the bills being opposed by the Parents Campaign.
As promised before the session kicked off for 2025, State Representative Rob Roberson (R) has introduced a bill in the Mississippi House that aims to provide some level of school choice for parents of children attending low performing schools.
HB 1433, title the “Mississippi Quality Desert Educational Enrollment and Transfer Scholarship (QDESA) Act, ” would allow parents of children attending schools that were rated a D or F within the last five years to apply to have their child attend another, higher rated, public school. There is also an option to allow that child to transfer to an accredited “nonpublic school.”
Prior to the start of the session, Rep. Roberson said he planned to introduce a bill to that effect, but initially said there were no plans to offer school choice to parents who intend to send their child to a nonpublic school. However, this bill currently offers that option.
READ MORE: Lawmakers eye easing school transfers, district consolidation during 2025 session
The legislation states that the student can submit an application to a higher performing school and that the state funding that would have been sent to the original school district will instead be used to reimburse the higher performing school district for the cost of educating that transfer student. If the student transfers to an accredited nonpublic school, the QDESA funds would be paid as a reimbursement for certain education expenses on a monthly basis.
Transportation for the transfer student could be provided by the accepting school district but is not required under the current version of the bill.
The bill also outlines the amount of funding that will be transferred.
“To provide that funding for transferred students shall be equivalent to the full base per-pupil state funding as determined under Mississippi student funding formula;” the bill reads. As of the 2024 school year, the base student cost is $6,695.
Receiving school districts will be able to accept transfer applications as capacity allows, the bill states. Those applications are to be submitted during each school’s annual enrollment period.
The Parents Campaign, a, education lobbying group that is often at odds with Republican lawmakers, has named the measure to their list of “troublesome bills” this session. They have urged their followers to contact House leadership in hopes of killing the bill.
Other education bills the Parents Campaign is opposing this session include the “Tim Tebow Act” which would allow homeschoolers to participate in public school extracurricular activities and a bill removing provisions passed in the 2024 session that tightened up the ESA voucher statute and allowing an unnamed nonprofit to receive state funds to administer the program.
As of Thursday, Roberson’s QDESA legislation has not been passed out of the House Education Committee, which Roberson chairs.
