School choice has had mixed success in 2016 session

JACKSON -- School choice proponents had high hopes for the 2016 session of the Mississippi Legislature.

The pro school choice Empower Mississippi spent substantial resources last year to elect legislators, particularly House members, more friendly to their cause.

Early this session, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant extolled the virtues of school choice in both his second inaugural address and in his State of the State speech.

While some key pieces of school choice legislation remain alive, it is not to the extent that school choice proponents had hoped.

Grant Callen, president of Empower Mississippi, wrote in an email, "While we are disappointed that certain bills that would have provided parents with more options in the education of their child did not advance or were weakened, there are still a number of important school choice and education reform measures that will be discussed over the next two months."

Rep. Nick Bain, D-Corinth, cited the close vote this past November on the Initiative 42 education funding proposal for giving legislators pause before passing bills that some believe would harm public education.

"Even though Initiative 42 lost, the closeness of the vote showed people are concerned about public education," Bain said.

Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford, agreed.

"I think the House's actions or inactions on school choice and other modifications to the public schools have been a direct reaction to the voices and chorus of the public supporting public education," Hughes said."I was amazed to see how engaged they were in contacting legislators."

This past week, which was a deadline to pass bills out of the chamber where they were introduced, saw the demise of a proposal to allow students in low-performing schools to cross district lines to attend a better performing school.

House Education Chairman John Moore, R-Brandon, an outspoken proponent of school choice, did not even bring the proposal up for a vote in the House. Earlier in the session, Senate Education Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, opted not to bring a similar Senate bill up for consideration in his committee.

Perhaps, the crown jewel legislation of the 2016 session for school choice proponents, a bill to provide vouchers to allow students to attend private schools or use for home school tutoring, did not make it out of committee.

The Senate proposal was never seriously considered. The House bill, authored by Moore, passed the Education Committee. But the bill, which was double referred to the Appropriations Committee, died when Appropriations Chair-man Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, opted not to have a vote on the bill. Frierson, who also was a co-author of the bill, explained he could not get a majority of Republicans on his committee to vote for it.

In general, Republicans have been much more supportive of school choice proposals. The voucher bill was co-authored by Reps. Randy Boyd, R-Mantachie. Lester "Bubba" Carpenter, R-Burnsville, and William Tracy Arnold, R-Booneville, from Northeast Mississippi.

Even though he was a co-author and said he supported the concept of vouchers, Boyd said he could not support the legislation the way it was written. The proposal did not require any accountability measures for the private schools that received the vouchers.

Moore indicated that more school choice proposals will surface in the coming sessions.

"We will pass it piecemeal, one at a time," he said.

Of course, there are some key pieces of school choice legislation still alive -- namely proposals to expand the state's charter school law. Charter schools are public schools that do not have to adhere to all of the guidelines of traditional public schools.

The Senate version greatly enhances the law to allow students in any school to cross district lines to attend a charter school and removes the prohibition on charter schools locating in C-accredited districts without the approval of the local school boards. Under the Senate proposal, charter schools still could not locate in A and B districts without the approval of the local school board.

Perhaps a tell tale sign that a majority of the House is still reluctant to pass school choice legislation is the fact that the more expansive charter school bill that was passed out of the Eduction Committee was amended by the House leadership on the floor. The amendment limits the bill to allowing only students in D and F schools to cross district lines to attend charter schools. Local school board approval still would be required to locate charter schools in A, B and C level districts.

Clay Chandler, a spokesman for the governor, said, "Gov. Bryant is happy both the House and Senate have passed legislation that expands school choice. He does prefer the Senate bill because it provides a charter school option for every child, regardless of district rating. More options will mean better opportunities."

Still, it seems both the House and Senate proposals fall short of the rhetoric Bryant used in his inaugural address when he compared school choice to the effort in the 1960s to desegregate the state's public schools.

"We should heed the lessons of history and not stand in the schoolhouse doorway and resist school choice in the name of district integrity, or average daily attendance," the governor said.

Also alive is a proposal designed to make it easier for special education students to qualify for a voucher program approved last session, but that has received limited participation thus far.

Another proposal alive is a voucher scholarship program where a person could receive a tax credit for providing funds to a program to allow poor children to attend a private school.

This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 8:03 PM with the headline "School choice has had mixed success in 2016 session ."