After five tries in five years, Mississippi expands charters
Lawmakers in Mississippi passed legislation on Wednesday that will expand charter schools in the state, a victory for supporters who have made five attempts in five years to change the state’s current charter school law. The bill would allow the publicly-funded, privately-run schools to open in low-performing districts, and would give school boards in high-performing [...]
Mississippi passes landmark pre-k bill, moves forward with charters
Mississippi is one step closer to passing sweeping education reforms that could, for the first time, bring state-funded pre-k to the state. On Wednesday, the House and Senate passed legislation that would provide $3 million to partially fund voluntary preschool programs for 4-year-olds beginning in the 2014-15 school year. Advocates of early education in the [...]
Charter schools move forward in Mississippi
JACKSON, Miss.—Mississippi is one step closer to allowing charter schools to open in the state after the Senate Education Committee approved a charter school bill on Tuesday. Update On Wednesday, after more than three hours of debate, the Mississippi Senate passed their version of the charter school bill. Lawmakers approved an amendment that will allow [...]
Annual poll of education performance ranks Mississippi 48th
Mississippi ranked 48th — ahead of only Idaho, Nevada, and South Dakota — in an annual ranking of states’ educational performance and policy. Quality Counts 2013, released by the weekly newspaper Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, grades states on a variety of indicators, including school spending, overall student performance, and [...]
Why change is still a long time coming in Mississippi education
For education advocates in Mississippi, it must be difficult to sit quietly and watch the tepid progress, or, as some put it last week, “small scale ideas” that are emerging in a state with a perpetual education crisis. After all, it’s been 30 years since the so-called “Christmas Miracle” — the historic December day when [...]
Mississippi pushes for literacy, merit pay over pre-k
Mississippi will probably not fund or create public pre-kindergarten opportunities next year, but will prioritize teacher merit pay, literacy, and dropout prevention, according to the proposed budget released Tuesday by Gov. Phil Bryant. The proposal asks for more than $3 billion in education funding, a $24 million increase over this year and addresses some of [...]
A second chance for Mississippi charter schools
Republicans in Mississippi intend to fight for charter schools during the 2013 legislative session, renewing a contentious battle from last year’s session. At a Mississippi Economic Council gathering in late October, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves vowed to support school choice legislation that would create more avenues for charter schools to open in the state, the [...]
Controversial new child care attendance system examined in Mississippi
Mississippi parents will have to scan their fingerprints every time they drop off and pick up their children at daycare when a new program goes into effect next year. But childcare providers have been protesting the system for months, saying that it stigmatizes low-income families and may ultimately take away income from already cash-strapped centers. [...]
Will Mississippi jump in and provide funds for early learning?
Advocates of a privately funded early education program in Mississippi are asking the state for five million dollars to expand, in a move they hope will improve school readiness for children who too often start behind – and stay behind. The request to expand Mississippi Building Blocks follows increasing media coverage of early education in [...]
Will a new conversation about funding pre-k take hold in Mississippi?
A new conversation about pre-k is emerging in Mississippi as citizens examine the reasons behind the state’s woeful academic performance—documented in the first story of our “Mississippi Learning” series and since taken up by other news media in the state. This is an important conversation in Mississippi, which has the highest rate of childhood poverty [...]
