Public Mississippi tax dollars could soon fund tuition for more students attending private schools through school vouchers as part of a massive education package the Mississippi House narrowly passed on Thursday afternoon.
The 61-59 vote came after the House spent four hours debating and discussing House Bill 2, which has over a dozen education-related provisions. These include school vouchers, charter school reform, extracurricular participation for homeschooled students, expanded literacy and math requirements, an assistant teacher pay raise and adjustments to the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System.
The signature provision under H.B. 2 is its school voucher proposal, in which the state will create 12,500 Magnolia Student Accounts. Half of those slots would go to students who attended public school the previous school year, and the other half would go to any student in the state who would be in grades K-12 for the upcoming school year.
The State would deposit the student base cost amount for the year into the Magnolia Student Account for the participating student. The Transfer Student Fund would be capped at $5 million. The bill also increases the number of accounts over time, with 20,000 total accounts available after four years and adding up to 2,500 more accounts every year thereafter based on demand.
Students whose families make up to 300% of the average median household income would have the first chance at obtaining Magnolia Student Accounts in the 2027 to 2028 school year, H.B. 2 says.
“The picture that opponents have painted is one of private school versus public school. But let me be clear: This is not a war between public and private education. They should be complementing each other,” Mississippi House Rep. Celeste Hurst, R-Sandhill, said when introducing the bill in the House chamber on Thursday. She noted that she had seven kids who all received their education at public schools.
Several Democrats asked one of the bill’s cosponsors, House Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, and House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, questions about legislation. Many of them shared concerns over public tax dollars going to private schools that are not held to the same accountability standards as public schools.
Not all Republicans voted in favor of the legislation. Republicans who voted no on the bill included Reps. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, R-Picayune; Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven; Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg; and House Education Committee Vice Chairman Kent McCarty, R-Hattiesburg.
The bill’s total cost to the state would be $162 million, House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Rob Roberson, a white Republican from Starkville, said.
“How can we justify that amount of money with our crumbling infrastructure, our rural hospitals not being funded—and we just cut the state income tax last session—how can we justify that amount of money going to this new program?” Mississippi House Rep. Kabir Karriem, a Black Democrat from Columbus, asked during the bill’s debate.
“Because I think our kids are worth it,” the chairman replied.
“You say our kids are worth it, but we don’t teach them our history, we’re not providing the health care that they need in the state when they need to go to the hospital, we have food deserts throughout the state,” Karriem said. “Do they only matter in this particular instance, or do they matter when we come into this chamber for legislation?”
“They matter all the time, gentlemen, and I will suggest to you that under the system that we currently have, that exists,” Roberson responded.
The bill proposes allowing charter schools into school districts that have at least one D or F-rated school under the legislation. Current statutes only allow charter schools to open up in districts that have a D or F rating for the entire district. All but one of Mississippi’s currently existing charter schools have a D or F rating.
The State will expand literacy requirements, including fundamentals of reading and phonics, into the 8th grade while adding similar requirements for math, H.B. 2 says. Current law has literacy education emphasized up until the 8th grade. H.B. 2 does not add any extra State tests. The Mississippi Department of Education made these specific recommendations to the Legislature, the bill’s cosponsor, House Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, said on the House floor on Thursday.
House Speaker Jason White was the other cosponsor of the legislation.
Homeschooled students may also soon be able to participate in extracurricular activities at their local public school district under the bill after gaining the school’s approval, paying any fees and signing liability waivers, H.B. 2 says.
Under the legislation, two of the state’s community colleges or universities may soon be able to house a specialized high school on their campuses to train 9th through 12th grade students in subjects related to aeronautics, geospatial studies, engineering, nursing and technical skills.
Assistant teachers’ base salaries would increase to $20,000 if H.B. 2 becomes law. Retired teachers would be able to return to the classroom to teach while gaining salaries and keeping retirement benefits under the legislation.
Reps. Clay Deweese, R-Oxford, and Price Wallace, R-Mendenhall, did not vote. After the House chamber recessed for the day, Roberson and Rep. Karl Oliver, R-Winona, entered a motion to reconsider the legislation.
The fate of H.B. 2 in the Senate is unknown. The body passed three education bills last week, which include a teacher pay raise, bringing retirees to the classroom and school district transfers.