A bill that would make it easier for K-12 students to transfer to other public schools outside their home districts, one of the last “school choice” measures to remain alive this session, died in the House this week.
That came after Senate leaders said House legislation easing public-to-public transfers, or “portability,” did not have the votes to pass that chamber.
The House initially responded to the Senate with a list ditch attempt to keep the measure alive by inserting language from the legislation into an unrelated bill. But Rep. Jansen Owen, the bill’s sponsor, said he knew the move would be challenged with a parliamentary point of order. Owen said opposition to portability, which he called the most basic of school choice measures, was rooted in outdated arguments.
“The opposition, they were citing things like the change in school culture and property values, which sounds a lot like the 1960s segregationist movement,” Owen said. “The only thing we were doing here was telling the school district they can’t tell me ‘no’ when I want to send my kid to another public school district. But that’s too much for Nancy Loome.”
Nancy Loome, director of the public education advocacy group, The Parents Campaign, said the measure would have harmed public school students because transportation was not provided. Few children would have real “choice,” and many would be left in schools with further reduced resources, Loome argued.
Republican House Speaker Jason White has been angered by the Senate killing most of the House’s education agenda this session, and has criticized fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate.
“No need to send a milquetoast, very lame Senate Education agenda back to the House, it’s not even worthy of discussion,” White said in a social media post responding to a Magnolia Tribune report. “… We showed the Senate what Mississippi’s education future looks like with the House bills, and they wholeheartedly rejected them without so much as a whisper. Mississippians are beginning to take notice of the Lt. Governor and his Senate leaders doing the bidding of the status quo.”
Bills remain alive this session that would increase tax credits available to private schools through the Children’s Promise Act.
White vowed to try other measures again next year.
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