Tears, Trump and student transfers: House barely passes school-choice bill. Will it survive? ...Middle East

The Mississippi House narrowly passed a major public-education overhaul Thursday after four hours of debate that centered on school choice — but also invoked President Trump, rifles and shotguns, the Psalm of David, pimps and meth addicts and even sexual innuendo.

The bill, authored by Republican Speaker Jason White, passed 61-59. Seventeen Republicans broke with White and voted no, and two Republicans did not vote.

The razor-thin margin is likely not the homerun that White wanted to see in his chamber, after his months-long campaign to expand school choice in Mississippi. The slim passage puts the bill’s future in doubt, with the Republican Senate leadership vowing to kill it, or at least the parts that would spend tax dollars on private schooling.

School choice refers to a collection of policies that give parents more power over their children’s education. But opponents argue that in doing so, public money is siphoned away from the public education system into private schools or the highest-performing public schools.  

White has been at the center of efforts to broaden school choice policies in Mississippi, one of the few states in the Southeast without an expansive program. The drive has, in large part, come from national conservative groups and the Trump administration.

Rep. Jeffrey Harness, Democrat from Fayette, acknowledged that pressure during the floor debate. 

“I know y’all have to do everything that Donald Trump tells you to do,” he said. “I mean, if he tells you to jump off a cliff, you’re gonna jump off a cliff.”

The crux of the divide in the House is ideological, representatives made clear on Thursday.

Democrats, led in dissent by House party leader Robert Johnson III from Natchez, said they believe the state’s public-education system should be rewarded for its recent success and that school choice would harm public schools, which must accept all students. In contrast, House Republicans said that parents, not the government, deserve the ultimate say over where and how their children are educated. Republican Rep. Celeste Hurst of Sandhill, in an unconventional opening, introduced the bill — estimated to cost the state $162 million overall and headlined by an education savings account program that would send public dollars to families to pay for private school tuition — by acknowledging its 446-page length.

“The opponents have called it gargantuan,” she said. “I have even heard the word ‘girth’ tossed around. And I get it, it’s really hard to embrace something that you can’t quite get your arms around … what’s also big is the issue we’re trying to address.” Others during the hourslong debate snickered as they used girth and similar innuendo.

And before the debate unfolded in earnest, Republican Rep. Jansen Owen of Poplarville, one of the authors and White’s right-hand man in the school choice push, was brought to tears.

“Supporting school choice doesn’t mean turning backs on public education. It means opening our eyes to the reality that every baby is unique and every baby is different,” he said, before turning away from the podium to gather himself.

There were recurrent themes throughout the floor discussion, including accountability, transparency and fears over resegregation. One major portion of the bill changes current law to remove the veto power of a home school district if a student wants to transfer out. The other school district, however, retains its power to accept or deny a student.

Johnson argued that idea was antithetical to public schools by definition. 

“If I live in a county, I can go to school in that county,” he said. “And if I show up at that school ugly, dirty, rambunctious, crazy, I don’t care what it is — they have to take you. That’s what public education is.”

House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, who represents Starkville, brushed off concerns that the public-school transfer provision would result in a concentration of high-performing students at the most well-resourced schools, causing rural, struggling schools with lower-income tax bases to lose students and, subsequently, close. 

Some Democrats likened it to the segregation of schools in the 1950s. 

“These schools that you’re talking about are going to close anyway,” Roberson refuted. “That’s the road they’re on.”

Lawmakers also took issue with private schools accepting state money, while adhering to their own standards, not public school standards. 

Rep. Bob Evans, a Democrat from Monticello, said there were no penalties in the bill, but Owen disagreed: If schools fail to educate students, their parents can send them elsewhere, he said. 

“Let me ask you a question: If little Johnny’s momma is on crystal meth, and little Johnny’s daddy is a pimp, can you tell me how they (are) gonna be able to choose that little Johnny is getting the right kind of education services when that’s not even on their plate?” Rep. John Hines, a Democrat from Greenville, asked. 

“I hope little Johnny has a good grandmomma,” Owen responded.  

A handful of amendments offered by Johnson and Rep. Omeria Scott, a Democrat from Laurel, failed on the floor Thursday, including one presented by the latter to require a specific Psalm for provision of the bill that permits school boards to create policies that allow prayer at the beginning of the school day. 

While the House debated the lengthy House bill, Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, a Republican from Leakesville, told Mississippi Today the Senate Republican majority does not support the House bill. Senate leaders have already passed a public-school transfer bill, filed legislation that mirrors portions of the House bill and made clear they don’t plan to entertain an education savings account program to spend tax dollars on private schools.

He also alluded to moves by House Republican leaders to finagle votes in a Wednesday committee meeting, such as asking some members to skip the meeting instead of voting no.

“The Senate position is what we passed and I’m going to support the Senate position,” DeBar said. “I’ve got votes on a single bill, I’m not twisting arms or asking people to walk. I’ve got the full support of the Senate. When the House bill gets here, if it gets here, we’ll deal with it in due course.”

But White on Thursday after adjournment denied any heavy arm twisting of House Republicans. He told reporters that he asked his members to vote ‘yes’ on the bill, and that pressure has come from their constituents and “politics,” not House leadership.  

And if the Senate kills his bill, White said senators will “answer to the voters” and suggested that Gov. Tate Reeves would call a special session to reconsider school choice expansion. 

“ I’m hopeful and optimistic that we can find some common ground,” he said. “The same people that voted for these representatives, voted for those senators, and I just can’t believe we’re that far apart.”

DeBar said he plans to call a committee meeting next week to handle noncontroversial bills. He plans to have his committee consider whatever version of House Bill 2 passes the House, but did not say when that would be. 

“My preference is to bring the bill up as is and not have amendments made to it because I think the committee needs to consider the bill in its totality and make a decision on how they want to move forward with it,” he said.

House Democrats outlined their plans moving forward at a press conference on the Capitol’s second floor steps immediately after adjournment.

“We hope the position of the Senate remains steadfast on this issue, and we’ll continue to talk to them and encourage them, along with everyone else in the House and Senate,” Johnson said. 

The bill was held on a motion to reconsider, a procedural motion that could bring more debate or another vote on the bill before it could move to the Senate.

Staff writer Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.

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