Speaker Jason White in the fall of 2024 released polling data he commissioned on top policy priorities for the Mississippi House of Representatives. According to the Clarion Ledger article, of the 500 respondents to that poll, “50.2% identified as conservatives, 26.2% identified as moderates, 16.7% identified as liberal and 6.9% of respondents were not sure of their ideological identity”. Among the issues on the survey was school choice, which garnered 72.4%.
On its face, school choice is a topic that generally people of all political philosophies would likely support. I agree that parents should have the ability to make the best choice for their child’s education. However, the conservative’s definition of school choice is a multifaceted approach to dismantling public education by using public funds to support private schools. Within this ongoing debate about the future of education in Mississippi lies school vouchers.
Proponents argue that vouchers offer parents the freedom to choose the best educational environment for their children, ostensibly driving competition and improvement among schools. However, this seemingly appealing proposal masks several deep-seated flaws that make school vouchers a detrimental policy for Mississippi.
First and foremost, school vouchers drain critical funding from public schools. The Mississippi Legislature created a new school funding formula this past session that was fully funded, and I supported it. However, under the previous MAEP formula, public education had only been fully funded twice since its inception and there is no guaranteed language in the new law to fully fund the formula going forward. Mississippi's historically underfunded public education system has struggled to provide adequate resources and support to its students. Diverting funds to private institutions through vouchers exacerbates this problem, leaving public schools with even fewer resources. This results in larger class sizes, reduced extracurricular programs, and diminished support services, disproportionately affecting students who rely on public education the most. It makes me wonder if the new funding formula was a ploy to send taxpayer dollars to private schools.
State Superintendent Dr. Lance Evans spoke to both the lack of accountability and inequity and exclusion when asked about vouchers and school choice during the October 2024 Capitol Press Corps Forum. He stated that private schools receiving voucher funds ought to be held to the same standards as public schools because right now they are not. Private schools are not subject to the same rigorous accountability measures, including standardized testing and public reporting requirements. This lack of oversight means that there is no guarantee that these schools provide a high-quality education. In fact, studies have shown that students using vouchers to attend private schools often do not perform better academically than their peers in public schools, and in some cases, they perform worse. Mississippi should not position itself to siphon off precious taxpayer dollars to a school choice system that clearly does not work.
In addition, vouchers can exacerbate educational inequities. Private schools have the autonomy to set their own admission criteria, which can include selective enrollment practices. This can lead to a situation where students from disadvantaged backgrounds, or those with special needs, are effectively excluded from these institutions. Consequently, vouchers can create a two-tiered education system where public schools become repositories for the most challenging and costly-to-educate students, while private schools cherry-pick the best and brightest. Not to mention that in many rural communities, public schools are the only educational institutions available. Disinvesting in public schools encourages segregation and undermines state leaders’ vision of preparing an educated workforce today to meet job and economic demands of tomorrow.
Finally, the use of public funds to support private, often religious, schools raises serious constitutional and ideological questions. The separation of church and state is a fundamental principle, and using taxpayer dollars to fund religious education blurs this line. This not only challenges constitutional norms but also risks alienating families who may not share the religious beliefs promoted in voucher-supported schools.
While the idea of school vouchers might appear to offer more choices to parents, the reality is that they create far more harm than good. They strip public schools of necessary funds, lack accountability, exacerbate inequities, undermine community cohesion, and raise constitutional concerns. Mississippi's focus should instead be on adequately funding and improving its public education system, ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has access to a high-quality education. That’s how we win. That’s how we move Mississippi in the right direction. Investing in public schools is an investment in the future of our communities and our state, a commitment that vouchers cannot and will not fulfill.
###
Representative Zakiya Summers represents Mississippi House District 68, which covers portions of Hinds and Rankin Counties.