JACKSON – Students at low-performing Mississippi schools will be able to cross district lines to attend charter schools under a bill passed by the Mississippi Senate and sent to the governor this week.
(Photo by: Cady Herring)
Senator Gray Tollison stands in his law office on the Oxford Square last week.
“I’m focused on the child, not the school,” said Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, who authored the bill. “My argument is, if the parents of the children going to the traditional school are not happy, just like a private school parent wasn’t happy with the Jackson schools, why wouldn’t a family of low income have that same option not to go to a poor-performing school? Why should we leave them trapped in that chronically failing school?”
Charter schools are publicly-funded independent schools established by teachers, parents or community groups. The current state law, enacted in 2013, allows students to attend charter schools only in their district unless they go through an elaborate process required for a switch.
The new bill would allow students attending public schools rated as C, D or F to cross district lines for charter schools. The bill, SB 2161, passed the Senate last week on a vote of 24-21.
After a motion on Monday to reconsider, the Senate voted 26-24 on Wednesday to send the bill without any changes to Gov. Phil Bryant for his signature. He is expected to sign the bill.
Tollison, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said the important factors are to have a strong, unified charter authorizing board and to quickly close schools that aren’t working. Charter schools that don’t perform are much easier to close than traditional failing public schools, he said.
But many say the new law will have a negative impact on education in the state. DeSoto County Superintendent Cory Uselton is one of the school administrators opposed to the legislation.
“Charter schools were initially only for F schools,” Uselton said. “And now it appears to be C, D and F.”
Uselton said it is possible there may be future attempts to include A and B districts.
“If this happens, it will divert taxpayers’ dollars away from our public schools,” Uselton said. “This could be very detrimental to the operations of our school district.”
(Photo by: Cady Herring)
Parents’ Campaign Executive Director Nancy Loome sits at her desk in Jackson, Miss. last week.
Nancy Loome, executive director of the Parents’ Campaign, said she believes allowing students from C schools to attend charter schools is harmful to all students. The Parents’ Campaign, based in Jackson, is a nonprofit network of parents, educators and public school supporters.
“We support charter schools for chronically failing schools,” Loome said. “That does not include C-rated schools. It threatens to weaken good schools by siphoning away state and local funding. It also lessens the chance that students in under-performing schools will have a spot in a charter school because they will have to compete with better-performing students.”
Mississippi has two charter schools, both in Jackson. They opened in August 2015 and are taking tests to measure their progress next week.
Reimagine Prep in Jackson was the first school to open and is a branch of RePublic Schools, which has seen success in Nashville.
Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes ranked RePublic Schools’ branches as the top two charter schools in the state for student growth in 2013. Later in 2014, Nashville Prep and Liberty scholars were in the top 5 percent of the state for growth and absolute performance.
Last week, Tollison visited Reimagine Prep, where many of the students started the year two or more grade levels behind. To make up for lost time, they have a longer school day compared to the traditional public schools. They are in school from about 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to help them catch up in a safe environment.
“It’s really inspiring,” Tollison said. “They are excited about being there – excited about learning.”
