The omnibus education package authored by Mississippi’s Republican House Speaker Jason White has advanced in the state capitol.
On Wednesday, the chamber’s Education Committee voted 14-11 to pass an amended version of House Bill 2, coined the “Mississippi Education Freedom Act.” The legislation, which has been praised federally by the Trump administration and on the state level by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, entails a multitude of education reforms, including school choice provisions.
“HB 2 has taken its first major step in the legislative process by passing out of the House Education Committee! I am proud of our committee members who voted in favor of giving Mississippi families real education options,” White wrote on social media after the committee vote. “The Mississippi Education Freedom Act will next head to the House floor, where we will debate prioritizing a child’s education needs. Mississippi is one step closer to joining 17 other states that promote parent power and bolster future generations.”
The wide-net legislation would create what White calls Magnolia Student Accounts, or access to stipends of up to or around $7,000 that can be used on private-school tuition. The phase-in program would begin in the 2027-28 school year and have 12,500 scholarships in year one, with low and middle-income students prioritized. 20,000 scholarships would be available in the program’s fourth year. The State Treasurer’s Office would be responsible for administering the accounts, and the Mississippi High School Activities Association would be in charge of determining the eligibility of student-athlete transfers.
Other measures included in the 553-page bill include making portability, or the ability of students to transfer from one public school to another, more viable with receiving districts having lone veto power, and allowing charter schools to open in any district. Currently, Mississippi only allows charter schools to open without local school board approval in D- or F-graded districts.
It also allows home-schooled students to participate in public-school extracurriculars such as clubs and athletics; expands targeted literacy and math initiatives; allows school boards to designate periods of time for student-led, voluntary prayer; establishes a pilot program to expand Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs through grant assistance; and consolidates the Copiah County and Hazlehurst school districts.
Another provision of the bill, one believed to help with the recruitment and retention of educators amid a growing shortage, includes allowing retired teachers to return to the classroom without jeopardizing pension benefits. Assistant teachers would also get a pay bump, with their salaries increasing from $17,000 to $20,000. A separate bill to raise the salaries for full-time educators is expected to be drafted in the House.
HB 2 was amended, however, to remove any language related to the public school funding formula and how pre-kindergarten programs would be subsidized. Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, said the tweaks to the bill were made after he and his colleagues received pushback about funding. That topic, per Owen, will be addressed in a separate piece of legislation.
The narrow passage of the bill in the Education Committee signals that the legislation was not universally supported. Rep. Cheikh Taylor, D-Starkville, who also serves as the chair of the Mississippi Democratic Party, expressed concerns that, if enacted into law, HB 2 would be a slippery slope, leading to an influx of charter schools being established without any proper oversight to ensure that they are operating efficiently.
“We talk about how public education is the gateway for every family to have success, but we also know that we have underfunded public education since we’ve been in this dome. Only two-and-a-half times have we actually fully funded some versions of public education,” Taylor said. “This is a gateway, in my opinion, that we see that there’s going to be an advancement of tons of charter schools coming forward with zero accountability.”
Other concerns have stemmed from the constitutionality of public money going to private education and how portability could affect public school districts, among other holdups. House Education Chair Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, on the other hand, assured his colleagues that the motive of the bill is pure.
“Anytime the education [committee] comes out with a bill of any real substance, we typically have a situation where Chicken Little runs out and says, ‘The sky is falling,'” Roberson said. “Well, I’m here to tell you that the sky is not falling.”
HB 2 is expected to go to a floor vote as early as Thursday morning. If the bill is passed as is, it is not likely to make much headway in the Senate.