Wil Ervin, senior vice president of Empower Mississippi, says this month's deadline has come and gone, and a number of school choice bills have failed to advance.
HB 1078 would have removed recent changes to increase accountability of the ESA voucher program for special needs students. It also removed the current cap of 500 new enrollees each year and expanded the voucher program to kids in foster care who do not have special needs.
HB 1431 aimed to create a task force to study consolidation.
HB 1432 would have expanded opportunities for charter schools.
HB 1435 would have allowed public school students in any public school district to transfer to another public school district, and HB 1617, commonly referred to as the Tim Tebow Act, sought to allow homeschool students to participate in public school extracurricular activities.
"Certainly, that is something that we are very disappointed about, very frustrated with," Ervin confesses. "As we look around at neighboring states and see the rate at which most of those states have moved to empower parents with more school choice, Mississippi is lagging behind."
He remembers that The Magnolia State was once a leader in school choice.
"I believe there are now 15 states that have universal school choice, including every single one of our neighboring states," Ervin notes. "The bills that were being discussed this year were really just baby steps, incremental progress compared to what our neighboring states have done, and those bills couldn't even make it out of committee in the state Senate."
He notes Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann's (R) commitment to allowing public school students the ability to transfer to a different public school district and says polling overwhelmingly shows bipartisan support for school choice in the nation, especially in Mississippi.
He also commends House Speaker Jason White (R), who has also led the state House to pass multiple school choice bills over the objections of the entrenched education establishment that Ervin says really wants the state "in last place and trapped in the past."
Other bills remain alive, including HB 1902 and HB 1903 that increase tax credits for donations to private schools and reduce state revenues, but the loudest voices often win in politics, and Ervin says the people who have a self-interest in the status quo were much louder than the parents this time around.
His organization is encouraging more Mississippians to engage with their lawmakers this session and voice their support for school choice.
After hearing the constituents' "powerful" personal stories, Empower Mississippi hopes more lawmakers will ultimately side with parents, families, and students and empower parents with more freedom in their kids' education.
