As the battle over the prospect of school choice continues in Mississippi, House Speaker Jason White is promising his chamber will take steps in 2025 to give parents more of a say as to where their children are educated.
Currently, the K-12 system in Mississippi is relatively straightforward. While neighboring states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama have geared toward allowing public waivers to go to private education or allowing students to move freely throughout their respective public school systems, Mississippi has remained steadfast in a more traditional model. Parents can either pay to send their children to private schools, with some schools offering limited financial aid, or they can enroll their children in their local public school districts at no cost. State law does allow public school students to transfer to a different district but with permission from both districts necessary, meaning the likelihood of a successful transfer is often slim.
While Speaker White, a Republican from West, is not trying to jump straight into a universal school choice program, where the system could pose a disorderly challenge according to critics, the chamber leader noted this week before a policy summit in Flowood that the House is already preparing to introduce a handful of choice-related legislation, something that could be compared a school choice pilot program.
“We’re trying to not come in and make this huge step. The things I’m talking about, I consider baby steps,” White said on MidDays with Gerard Gibert. “I say we put our money where our mouth is. It’s time to go hand in hand with that and give the people who send that money to Jackson some say in how education takes place.”
While no bill text will be available until January when lawmakers gavel in for a new session, White discussed three ideas he would like to see his colleagues consider: further portability for public school students looking to transfer to a different public school district, expansion of the state’s charter school system, and the creation of a program where students and their parents are eligible for an education savings account that would allow public dollars to be used for tuition at a private school.
As for the portability piece, White believes public school students should be able to freely transfer to a different district, if the parents and the receiving district agree, without the shackles of the current system where permission is needed from the district a student is trying to leave.
“We want a portability piece that simply allows public school students to attend any other public school that will accept them and their home district can’t hold them back or deny that transition,” he said. “I think school districts now look at kids like customers. They don’t release customers.”
As for the expansion of public charter schools, Mississippi only has 10 operating to date, though two more were approved by the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board last month. Current law limits where charter schools can open, not allowing one to be placed outside of a D or F-rated district’s area with a stringent application process attached.
“You’re going to see legislation in the House that opens that up to some extent while also streamlining that whole process as it relates to the authorizing process,” White said. “It’s almost like it’s designed to fail right off the bat. We’re looking for ways to say yes rather than ways to say no.”
And for the idea of public dollars going to pay for private education, White did not expound too much on what Mississippi’s system to allow this would look like. However, he did assert that it would be another chance, in addition to the portability piece, to allow those from low-income households to receive what parents deem the best education in their area.
“All boats start to rise a little bit when options become available to everybody, not just folks that either have the financial means or have the zip code that relates to a good district,” White said, noting the level of difficulty for a family having to move to get their child into a better district.
More than half of U.S. states allow some version of public money to be used for non-public education while only 10 states have adopted universal or near-universal school choice. In 2024, a bill was introduced in Mississippi to implement universal school choice but was amended to create a study committee on the matter before eventually dying.
Critics of school choice argue that the creation of a voucher program, or savings account full of public dollars, could blow a hole in the state’s general budget or fashion a prime opportunity for fraud. They also argue that school choice could be detrimental to the health of public school districts across the state. To the latter, White responded by pointing out that lawmakers are set to fund K-12 public schools at a historical rate for the second year in a row under a more pupil-based formula passed in 2024.
“I hear folks say, ‘Oh, y’all are just looking for a voucher for private schools.’ That’s not true. Most families prefer their local public school in their community and research bears that out,” he concluded, pointing to an estimated 10% take rate within Arizona’s public scholarship program. “I really don’t think this will destroy local public schools. And the great and good public schools that are doing a good job have nothing to worry about.”