Mississippi Senate Kills Voucher Bill
It took 84 seconds to end the school voucher movement
Members of the Mississippi Senate are in no mood to move forward with a school voucher scheme.
They made their point clear when voucher legislation came before the Education Committee.
Mississippi Today reports:
The House’s education bill that includes wide expansion of school choice policies is dead, its fate decided after 84 seconds of deliberation by a Senate panel.
But as the House leadership and proponents of school choice have continued their press, reaching a fever-pitch in recent weeks, Senate leaders have made clear they are opposed to voucher programs that siphon money away from public schools — so opposed that there was no discussion when the committee considered the bill.
The committee members apparently needed no discussion:
“I’m not going to discuss it much other than to say we’ve looked at it in depth and … this committee has passed most everything (else in House Bill 2),” Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar said.
After DeBar, a Republican from Leakesville, received no questions, Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, made a motion to vote on the bill.
After a chorus of “nay” from committee members, DeBar said, “The bill dies today.”