Speaker of the House Jason White addresses the media on Wednesday after Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann announced the Senate's new tax plan. He also discussed the expected death of a school choice bill in the House. Photo by Jeremy Pittari | Magnolia Tribune
- HB 1433 would have allowed children in low-income, low performing districts the option to transfer and attend a higher performing school. Consolidation is now on the table.
A bill that would have established a limited form of school choice in Mississippi is expected to die in the House of Representatives on Thursday despite it being a top priority for Speaker Jason White (R).
“After tomorrow, unless something completely out of my control happens, it appears it will stay on the calendar and it will die,” State Rep. Rob Roberson (R), chair of the House Education Committee, said of HB 1433 on Wednesday afternoon.
As previously reported, the bill would have allowed students attending a school within a district rated D or F within the past five years to use their per pupil student funding to offset the cost to transfer to another public school within 30 miles of their home. If no public school meets the bill’s criteria, the family could then choose to use the same funds at a private school of their choice.
Any local funding attached to the student would not have transferred. A proposed fund of $5 million was also attached to the program on a first come first serve system to assist with any funding gaps.
Lobbyists and teachers’ unions, namely The Parents Campaign and Mississippi Professional Educators, lined up against the legislation. They feared the legislation would open the door to universal school choice and the underfunding of public schools as funds would be allowed to go to private schools.
Speaker White said the bill was aimed at children who are living at 138 percent of the poverty level, giving those families a chance to improve the student’s educational outcomes and creating competition in the education space.
“It was not this huge universal leap. It was an attempt to help kids and parents trapped in failing school districts,” Speaker White said Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has expressed his desire to see school choice expanded across the nation, yet how that is to be implemented at the federal level has some in Mississippi wanting to pause the effort in state for now as policies and funding possibilities at unclear.
Rep. Roberson said that was one driving force in the decision to allow the bill to die.
However, Speaker White maintains that the legislation aligns with President Trump’s executive order promoting education freedom for parents seeking better education options for their children.
“School choice, whether anybody in this circle or this Capitol likes it, is coming,” White said. “You have a president who was elected with a national mandate who has made it one of his top priorities. You have a ruby red state in Mississippi who voted overwhelmingly for President Trump.”
Rep. Roberson said the bigger discussion will now turn to school consolidation.
“I’m sorry, we’re going to have to have that conversation,” Roberson said, dismissing the claims that he’s heard from some school districts that fear consolidation with lower funded districts.
The Education Committee Chair contends that districts with only 500 students are unable to support themselves, saying something has to be done.
“Y’all, the consolidation piece of this is going to be more brutal than what we just discussed with 1433, I can promise you that,” Roberson said.
