Mississippi Senate kills school choice bill

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Mississippi lawmakers killed a comprehensive school choice bill on Tuesday in a Senate Education Committee meeting that lasted less than two minutes.

The committee rejected House Bill 2, a more than 500-page measure that included multiple school choice provisions.

The House Education Committee advanced its own teacher pay raise plan, proposing a total increase of $5,000.

The full Senate has already approved a $2,000 raise, but the committee chairman said he would like to see a higher amount if the budget allows.

House Bill 2 narrowly passed through the full House by a vote of 61-59 on January 16.

It passed out of the House Education Committee by a narrow margin on January 14, with a final vote of 14-11.

House Speaker Jason White criticized the Senate committee’s decision in a statement.

“The self-proclaimed deliberative body did not deliberate,” White said. “To avoid conversation, debate, or thorough evaluation is a disservice to parents, students, and future generations of Mississippians.”

The bill, called the Education Freedom Act, would have also allowed public dollars to go to private schools and included the Tim Tebow Act, which would allow homeschool students to participate in public school extracurricular activities.

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