Faced with internecine Republican opposition to “school-choice,” or spending tax dollars earmarked for public education on private schools, House Speaker Jason White broke out the biggest gun in Mississippi GOP politics: He invoked President Donald J. Trump.
“The @WhiteHouse is watching Mississippi and Education Freedom is gaining momentum!” White posted Monday on the social media site X. “HB 2 promotes the Make America Great Again Platform and @POTUS’s Executive Order to return power over education to families, instead of bureaucracies …”
White had retweeted a post from Trump Education Secretary Linda McMahon, endorsing the House’s proposed HB 2 as “ambitious school choice expansion” and adding, “Well done, @JasonWhiteMS.”
A key question that remains unanswered, though, is how far the Trump White House is willing to go to see a robust school-choice policy become reality in the Magnolia State, which remains a holdout in the Deep South.
A White House official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation told Mississippi Today that the Trump administration is “very closely monitoring” the school choice debate in the Legislature and wants strong school choice legislation to pass.
U.S. Department of Education officials traveled to Mississippi last year to visit with White’s staff and Gov. Tate Reeves’ office to discuss policy specifics.
Now, many took White’s trumpeting Trump’s support for his plan as a shot over the bow of his Republican Senate leadership colleagues, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. Senate leaders have vowed they will not consider any House proposal that includes vouchers or accounts for parents to spend public money on private schooling.
White and other proponents of expanded school choice and spending public money on private schooling appear to be trying to cast the issue as a referendum on Trump. And among the MSGOP, when Trump says jump, the answer appears to be, “How high?”
But with a House committee vote on White’s school-choice proposal happening as early as Wednesday, it would appear that his invocation of Trump was as much an effort to whip votes from his own still-reluctant or opposed House members as it was to try to sway the Senate. Some heavy-duty House whipping of Republican votes on school choice has been going on even before the Legislature gaveled in for the new session last week. Reluctance and opposition remain among some House Republicans.
Senate leaders, including Hosemann, appeared nonplussed by White’s warning that Trump is watching or by McMahon’s endorsement. When asked about McMahon’s backing of House Bill 2 on Supertalk radio this week, Hosemann replied that he’s surprised she’s read it all, a dig at the 553-page omnibus House education proposal that includes school choice vouchers.
Trump has endorsed school choice and included federal tax credits for donations to fund private school scholarships in his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.” He’s called school choice “the civil rights issue of our time.”
But how involved would Trump and his administration get in Mississippi’s legislative wrangling over school choice? Might he come down for a visit to whip up votes? Might he or Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller start calling Mississippi GOP lawmakers and threaten to primary them next year, as the Capitol rumor mill was suggesting this week?
Trump appears to have many bigger fish to fry at the moment. He famously doesn’t like to lose battles, especially when he parachutes in on the state or local levels. Senate leaders have deemed spending tax dollars on private schools a non-starter. Local governments, including in some red areas, have adopted resolutions against school choice expansion, and local superintendents across the state are lobbying their lawmakers against it.
As politically stout as Trump is in the Magnolia State, some Republican lawmakers would likely still be hesitant to follow him against the wishes of their school leaders back home.
Several lawmakers who are, at best, hesitant to vote for a school choice bill told Mississippi Today they have not been on the receiving end of any lobbying efforts by the White House.
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