The school choice train is picking up steam in Mississippi, where a poll of 600 residents found that 79% of them support allowing families to use state money to send their children to a school of their preference.
The idea seems likely to get a hearing in the 2024 legislative session. And as Mississippi’s test scores are on the rise, it may be time for some more experimentation.
A decade ago, education reformers may have thought that charter schools were the solution. But, as anyone who has managed a school can tell you, running one of them is difficult on the best days. For whatever reason, in Mississippi at least, the charter school business has not lived up to its potential. Most charter schools are in Jackson, with too few of them in the small towns and counties that could benefit greatly.
The state set up a board to oversee charter schools, but it has only approved a handful of them, and only a few of those have received state ratings that are significantly better than the traditional public schools in their community.
So it makes sense that, instead of trying to build a network of new schools, Mississippi could use its existing networks of public and private schools to see what happens when it gives more parents the ability to choose the school that they think will do a good job for their children, rather than a school determined by location or by family finances.
The poll was conducted for the “Yes. Every Kid. Foundation.” The extra punctuation is part of the organization’s name, and its website says it promotes education that empowers families and advances education freedoms.
Given that mission statement, it is perhaps no surprise that the poll found such broad support for school choice. As reported by the Magnolia Tribune website, 84% of Republicans, 80% of independents and 73% of Democrats in the poll favor the idea.
Americans prefer to have choices. But this is more important than a restaurant buffet line; the quest for education options must be balanced with the fact that there would be many details to work out.
Some that come to mind: Would school choice be restricted to letting families transfer their kids among public schools? Or will private schools be included? Would a school be required to accept a transferring student if it’s already overcrowded? How often can families move their children? How to solve the transportation challenges that are sure to arise?
The Legislature’s Republican majority will control the parameters of any school choice bill that gets approved, whether in 2024 or later. The state should not rush into this — not meaning to delay it, but to think it through, see what has worked in other states (and what has not). Maybe even experiment in just 10 or 20 counties for a couple of years to determine what would suit a state dotted by rural counties and small towns.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
