Senate passes bill allowing more to attend charter schools

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - More students would be able to attend charter schools in Mississippi under a bill that a spokesman says Gov. Phil Bryant will sign.

The Senate voted 24-21 Thursday to agree to House changes to Senate Bill 2161, which would allow students in Mississippi school districts with academic ratings of C, D or F to cross district lines to attend charter schools elsewhere in the state. With four Republicans opposing the measure and seven not voting, the bill went to Bryant only on the strength of three Democratic votes.

Mississippi’s charter law, passed in 2013, said only students from within a public school district could enroll in a charter school there. Supporters of expansion say that’s created obstacles to establishing the schools, which are an alternative form of public school run by private nonprofit groups, in rural areas with small districts. So far, two charter schools opened in Jackson in August, the state’s second-largest school district, and two more have been approved for the city. None has been approved anywhere else.

The Senate had originally passed a bill saying any student could enroll in any charter school statewide, but the House trimmed that language.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, argued that lawmakers should let parents choose. “Their parent or guardian decides that’s the best for them, not you or me or any other senator,” he said Thursday.

But Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said parents already have a choice.

“The issue is whether you’re entitled to get public tax money to take your child to another school,” he said. He claimed expanded charter schools are just another step toward an ultimate goal of some Republicans to offer vouchers for all students.

The measure instructs the state to send an amount equal to a district’s locally raised per-student revenue to a charter school enrolling the student and withhold that amount from the district. That effectively transfers local tax revenue to charter schools. Bryan said communities that choose to tax themselves at higher rates to support local public schools shouldn’t be forced to send slices of that higher tax base to charter schools elsewhere.

“You’re yanking it out of the treasury of the public schools in Amory and transferring it to a charter school anywhere in the state,” he said.

Other opponents said it was too soon for an expansion before charter schools proved they were effective in the state.

“No one can show me any evidence that the school is performing better, and yet we’re expanding the program,” said Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Tupelo.

The bill maintains the veto of A-, B- and C-rated districts over charter schools in those areas, while only the state Charter School Authorizer Board must approve schools in D- and F-rated districts. It also allows charter schools to choose to enroll in the state’s public pension system and clarifies that individual charter school teachers have three years to earn state certification.

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Online: Senate Bill 2161: https://bit.ly/1SSQZn2

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