Today Gov. Phil Bryant signs the state’s newly passed education legislation into law.
The law allows for the growth of charter schools in the state, and this change concerns legislators who contend that these schools will decrease the quality of the state’s public education system and leave failing schools with fewer options.
Other lawmakers contend that charter schools provide models for success in troubled school districts and give students, otherwise forced to attend failing schools, another option.
Mississippians agree that education reform should be a high legislative priority, yet enacting any substantive change requires legislators to abandon ideological positions and flexibly assess problems which vary from school to school.
Charter schools provide an opportunity to experiment with new education models, but their overall impact may ultimately undermine public education and perpetuate segregation.
School boards in A, B and C districts (better-performing schools) may veto the establishment of a charter school, while requests to establish a school in a failing district go straight to the state’s authorizer, made up of appointees by the governor, lieutenant governor and state public school superintendent.
The authorizing board works outside of the Mississippi Department of Education and will apply different standards to measure performance of these schools.
Some residents argue that these changes are necessary given the failure of some Mississippi schools, saying that flexibility within this new model will improve schools and offer students opportunity.
Charter schools do not charge tuition and accept all students located within a specific geographical area.
Once a school has reached capacity, a lottery selects new students from a waitlist.
The fairness of this system hinges on the accountability of this newly established legislative authorizing board, as it will oversee charges of discrimination in charter schools.
Per-pupil state funding for students will transfer to a newly attended charter school, meaning that failing schools will receive less funding if students leave to attend somewhere else.
Parents and students want the option to transfer to a highly performing school for obvious reasons, and the movement of students out of low-performing schools may worsen the quality of education for the students who remain in public schools after charter schools reach capacity.
Charter schools also pose a threat to an established statewide teachers’ union, as these schools can function apart from state rules governing tenure and benefits in public schools.
There will be established standards for both teachers and students, but these standards will be different from those the state’s Department of Education uses.
Depending on the number of charter schools established following the passage of this law, the state’s education standards could change significantly.
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, fears that a move toward nonprofit education jeopardizes the current public education system and brings the state closer to a voucher system that provides students with funds they can spend at public or private institutions.
These laws destabilize the public education system as districts experience potentially dramatic changes in funding following the transfer of a large number of students to a newly opened school.
These changes to Mississippi’s education system coincide with increasing concern over segregation in the state’s school system.
Private all-white academies as well as racially distinct school districts persist in many areas, and charter schools will do little to integrate students.
While this law may produce some successful schools, it will undoubtedly do so at the expense of other failing public schools.
While proponents of the bill see these causalities as necessary in improving the state’s education system, it is important to remember that these failing schools will likely still have underserved students who also fail within this system.
The state needs education reform that addresses all schools.
Flexibility is an important goal, but not at the expense of public school students and teachers in failing districts.
Meghan Holmes is a second-year graduate Southern studies student from Arab, Ala. You can follow her on Twitter @styrofoamcup.
