PHILADELPHIA, Miss.–Education will likely be a main push in the next legislative session. Both Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Jason White focused on school choice in both their speeches and talking to reporters after their speeches at the Neshoba County Fair Thursday.
One possibility that was discussed is eliminating school districts through consolidation, a topic long discussed in the state legislature.
White said he believes Mississippi’s lawmakers will take advantage of a push in the federal government to provide money for scholarships to concentrate on school choice for kids who may be struggling within their districts.
“We’re gonna look at public to public transfer. We’re gonna look at public to private transfer, if that is what the parents desire,” he told the Magnolia Tribune.
White said that for some families picking up and moving because of their kids’ school situation is not an option. He said that the legislature may look at “stacking” scholarships with what becomes available from the federal government and a possible state-run program.
He said, as did Reeves, that he is incredibly proud of the progress made in Mississippi’s public schools and has no desire to tear that down, adding that the participation rate in states that have total school choice does not exceed 10 percent.
“We have historically funded public education in the last two years, fully-funded in ways that have only been talked about and never actually done in our state. So, I think we’ve got a little street cred when it comes to funding our schools and being champions of our public schools.”
Reeves added that he supports White’s notions about possible legislative action on school choice.
“We have 49 other states that are trying to catch us and in many ways they’re not only trying to catch us, they’re copying us,” he said.
Reeves credited programs passed in 2012 and 2013, like the “third grade gate” with Mississippi exceeding expectations.
