Could school choice be a topic of the upcoming legislative session?

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) -A repeat of a decade-long controversy could be queued up for the next legislative session, and it centers around whether you should have more choices in where your child goes to school.

On the newly selected Speaker Jason White’s short list of education-related priorities?

“I’m willing to explore and talk about parental choice when it comes to having choices for their kids at the school that they live in. That school district is not providing for their needs, or it’s a failing school district. I want to give those parents some options.”

When you look at what’s already available in the state, open enrollment is an option where you can move to another school district other than where they live. But that’s a district-by-district decision. On the private choice side, there are also vouchers and scholarships to families whose children have specialized needs. They can use it at private schools. Empower Mississippi would like to see those choices expanded.

“A lot of regional momentum, a lot of national momentum behind this movement, we think now is absolutely the right time to move in this direction,” said Wil Ervin, Empower Mississippi Senior VP.

They’d like more open enrollment and use other states as a model of how to broaden the choices.

“I think what we would like to see is a universal ESA, similar to what you see in Arizona or Florida or more recently passed in Arkansas, where every student in the state is able to qualify,” added Ervin.

But groups like The Parents’ Campaign stand by their position that it shouldn’t be part of the educational priorities.

“The legislature’s primary job when it comes to public education or education in general, is funding,” described Nancy Loome, The Parents’ Campaign Executive Director. “They have the appropriation responsibility. And so they need to do their job and fully fund schools.”

And they argue that programs like vouchers shouldn’t be allowed.

“Our state constitution prohibits using state funding in that way,” added Loome. “It specifically says that state funding cannot go to schools that charge tuition and are not free.”

The legislative session begins January 2, and we’ll keep tabs on whether this school choice topic comes up.

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