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Ruh Roh, Shaggy. On Wednesday night, in an effort to make the case against school choice, the Mississippi Democratic Party accidentally made the perfect case for it on social media. Within an hour, with it finally dawning on them what they’d done, they deleted their post. The internet is forever, though.
Here’s how it started.
On Tuesday I wrote an op-ed addressing the anti-school choice mantra “no public money for private schools.” I called the slogan “objectively dumb” and pointed out that both Republicans and Democrats had used it.
The premise of Tuesday’s article was that many of the people who regurgitate the narrative simultaneously, and with whole heart, support “public money” for private schools when it comes to federal programs like Pell Grants, or in Mississippi, ESAs for students with special needs or dyslexia scholarships.
READ MORE: The “no public money to private schools” mantra of school choice opponents is objectively dumb
The article also noted how across government, private vendors are regularly relied on using taxpayer dollars to provide services to the public, and cited as an example SNAP (food stamp) benefit that are used by recipients at private grocers.
By Tuesday night, the Mississippi Democratic Party took aim at the opinion column in a social media thread “fact-checking” it. The exercise led with a false characterization that I had called “public school advocates” objectively dumb.
Only my article did no such thing, nor would I ever. I am the product of public schools with children in Mississippi public schools. I am an advocate for our schools, but also for families having options. The two concepts are not at odds.
The remainder of the MS Democratic Party’s “fact check” was as wrought with error as the opening salvo, down to quotes attributed to the column that simply did not appear anywhere in it.
The Party’s effort was quickly “ratio’d” — young people parlance for when a retort to a charge gains more support than the original charge.
Not content to sleep on it, on Wednesday night the Party’s social media account stirred back to life trying to explain how my comparison of school choice to Pell Grants and food stamps was inapt.
The post evinces a misunderstanding of how Pell Grants or K-12 school choice programs work. Maybe both.
Pell Grants are controlled by students — they direct where the money goes, but disbursed directly to colleges. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) used in K-12 school choice programs are nearly identical in form. Families control education dollars allotted to them, directing them to the school of their choice.
In other words, the post did not identify a distinction, but a marked similarity. They actually quite succinctly made my original point. And in praising the fact that Pell Grants and food stamps are “public funds that empower individuals,” the post unwittingly championed the very argument used by ardent school choice proponents.
National school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis was quick to pick up on the admission:
As responses poured in pointing out the self-own, the Party simply deleted the post. But not before quite a few people did screen grabs.
There was a time when support for expanding education options for families was bipartisan. President Barack Obama openly advocated for more school choice, for example.
However, in recent years, it increasingly is seen as a Republican issue, with President Trump making it a priority and Republican governors across the country pushing so-called universal school choice programs across the finish line. The President has begun issuing endorsements to state legislators based on their support of school choice.
Mississippians are surrounded on all sides by Republican-controlled state legislatures that have passed the programs. With the Mississippi Democratic Party’s recent activity against the proposal here, it looks like the 2026 fight may pit Trump-aligned Republicans against their Democratic counterparts.
But perhaps Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s social media flubs signal opportunity for proponents to make sure opponents of school choice actually understand how it works. They may actually support it without knowing it.
Russ Latino
