It could soon become easier for Mississippi public school students to transfer to public schools that are not their home school, if a bill the Mississippi House of Representatives passed becomes law. After an hour-long debate over equity, the potential financial burden on local school districts, and transportation needs, lawmakers voted 67-46 to pass House Bill 1435 on Thursday.
House Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, sponsored the bill. He told the House that parents should have the right to choose where their child is educated.
“That’s the point of this bill. No superintendent, no school board, no public school teacher gets to tell Jansen that Darby and Mabry can’t go to a school. I know what’s best for my child,” Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Poplarville who authored the bill, told his colleagues while speaking on the House floor on Feb. 6. “Every parent in this room knows what’s best for their child and the people of Mississippi know what’s best for their children.”
State law currently allows a student to transfer to another district, but the transfer must first be approved by the school board of the district where the student lives and then by the receiving district. H.B. 1435 would allow students to move to another school district with the permission of the receiving district, taking with them their state portion of K-12 education funding. All local, or ad valorem tax funding associated with that student would stay within the district they moved from.
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The bill would require the state to cover any difference caused by the receiving district not getting the additional local funding by allocating $5 million from the state’s general fund for those situations. House Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, attempted to amend the bill to remove the fund. She said it is unfair for taxpayers to contribute to students who live in one school district but want to attend school in another.
“It should not be our responsibility as taxpayers everywhere else in the State of Mississippi to
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