By Bobby Harrison
Daily Journal Jackson Bureau
JACKSON – Parents will be eligible for up to $5,000 per year in state funds to send their children to private schools under legislation pending in both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature.
The legislation could be taken up as early as today in either the House or Senate Education committees or both.
“They are calling it scholarships, but in reality it is public education funds going to private schools,” said Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford.
Hughes said the state funds, which under the legislation is capped at about $29 million for the first year, but then escalates, could be used to provide funds for the purpose of home schooling children.
Gov. Phil Bryant and others have said they want to provide more school choice options for parents who are not satisfied with the public schools. Other pending legislation, for instance, would allow students to move from a poor-performing district to a better-performing district.
The voucher legislation, though, is what is receiving the most attention.
In a news release, Bryant said of the proposal, “This bill is a tremendous step toward ensuring that every child in Mississippi has the opportunity to choose a high-quality education.”
The bill would be an enhancement of the legislation that passed last year to provide $6,500 per year for parents of special needs children to pursue private education options.
Under what is being considered this year in addition to the vouchers for special needs students, low-income students would be eligible for vouchers of $5,000 for private-education options while middle-income students could garner $4,000 and high-income earners could receive $3,000.
“You could make $1 million a year and get the funds,” Hughes said.
It is not clear how the legislation would be impacted by Section 208 of the state Constitution, which reads no funds shall “be appropriated toward the support of any sectarian school, or to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school.”
Hughes and others question the wisdom of providing vouchers to private schools when the public schools have been underfunded $1.7 billion since 2008.
bobby.harrison@journalinc.com
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