Don't complain if you don't make your opinion known

This is an important week for education legislation!

The House and Senate are moving quickly through their calendars to beat the February 14 deadline for floor votes on bills that originated within their own chambers.

Please check in with your legislators about the bills that are important to you.

There are several bills that are of particular concern. Please have conversations with your legislators about these bills:

House Bill 906: Provides state support for tuition to private schools. Vote no.

House Bill 1004: Provides vouchers for tuition to private schools using MAEP funds. The bill purports to provide better service to children with special needs, though the private schools receiving vouchers are not required to provide any special needs services and are not required to comply with the IEP ruling. The bill also allows special needs students to transfer to other school districts; the receiving district must accept the students if there is capacity. This provision would allow districts to avoid responsibility for providing high quality special education services while "pushing students out" to districts that are serving students well. Vote no.

Senate Bill 2141: Requires that all school board members be elected every four years in conjunction with presidential elections. This would remove all continuity and historical/institutional knowledge from the school board. Running a school district is important and complicated, and it takes months for a school board member to come up to speed on the important issues that these boards must decide. A complete turnover of the board in the middle of a school year would be unnecessarily disruptive and could do serious harm to a district. Terms should be staggered to provide continuity. Vote no. 

Senate Bill 2189: Mississippi Charter Schools Act of 2013, Senate version. This bill allows for-profit corporations to manage charter schools. Vote no.

Senate Bill 2714: Creates a charter school district in Sunflower County. This bill includes provisions that could be detrimental to students in Sunflower County, including a mandate that the charter district include at least one virtual charter school. Vote no.

Your legislators are:

 Rep. Tom Weathersby     Personal: (601)845-2017    Capitol: (601)359-3336

 Sen. Perry Lee     Personal: (601)847-1178    Capitol: (601)359-3244

If your legislators are not listed above it is because we do not have your street address and zip code in our database.  Click here to find your legislator.  Click here to send us your street address and zip code.

Time is of the essence if we hope to influence the outcome of these bills. Please call your legislators right away, and ask your friends and family to call, too.

Education Bills Passed Today

Senate Bill 2395, the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013. This will provide Mississippi’s first state funding for pre-kindergarten programs. The Senate vote is a big step toward an important victory for Mississippi children! Thank you for your years of work in support of state funding for early childhood education. See the vote.

Senate Bill 2347, the Senate version of the third grade literacy bill. Unfortunately, this bill omits the most important part of the Florida model which the bill was intended to emulate: reading coaches in schools and retraining of teachers in research-based reading instruction. The House version of the bill includes training and coaches, and we are hopeful that this piece will be included in the final version. See the vote.

You can find summaries of all bills on which The Parents’ Campaign has taken a position here. You can find information on all bills affecting public schools on the MDE website here.

I am so grateful to the many, many of you who are taking the time to talk with your legislators about your hopes, dreams, and concerns for our public schools and school children. You truly are making a difference!

Keep checking our website and checking in with your legislators, and I’ll keep you posted. Together, we can ensure a better day for Mississippi.

Many thanks,

Nancy

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The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

The mission of the Rankin County School District is to prepare every student with the cognitive and social skills necessary to be productive members of an ever-changing global society.

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