A few local Mississippi newspapers reported that the Mississippi Senate spent last week resolving conflicts about a school choice program. Currently there are less than 1,000 students with learning disabilities being served by private schools or education programs.
Associated Press writer Jeff Amy writes, “One looming threat to school choice is a Hinds County Chancery Court lawsuit challenging state money for charter schools. Those suing say charter schools are barred from getting state money because they are not overseen by the state superintendent or a local school superintendent, and thus under previous state Supreme Court decisions, don’t qualify as ‘free schools.'”
He goes on to write, “Even beyond politics and law, there are structural issues working against broad school choice in Mississippi.”
The proposal Mississippi’s senators were debating, House Bill 1046, could help widen participation in the dyslexia voucher program, which currently has 160 students enrolled. This bill would allow students to continue in private schools through grade 12, instead of ending assistance after the sixth grade.
Read more on this issue at: The Daily Corinthian, The Clarion-Ledger or the Hattiesburg American
