Students, parents, and educators visited the state Capitol on Tuesday to celebrate National School Choice week.

The biggest issue for school choice in Mississippi is the re-authorization of the state’s Education Scholarship Account program, which is set to expire on July 1 without legislative action. A bill to renew the program passed the Senate last year, but died in the House Education Committee without a vote.

John Wells, whose 11-year-old daughter Jalyn is receiving assistance through the ESA program, said she had gone from being non-verbal as a 5-year-old to being an A and B student. The ESA allowed the Wells family to get their daughter a speech therapist and a tutor.

“Parents, we know who knows our children best and that’s us,” Wells said. “We know what they can handle and what they can’t. We’re so thankful for the legislators that voted this through and supplied this and I’m sure there are hundreds of parents throughout the state that are thankful for all of the help they get to educate their children. We really want you to encourage you to speak to your leaders and keep it going and even expand it. 

“There’s so much we can do with it. It’s an amazing thing to be able to choose where your children go to school, choose how you live your life with your children because there are so many people who don’t get to have this choice.”

Tamala Boyd Shaw is the founder and executive director of the second charter school, Leflore Legacy Academy, to be opened in the Delta region. She told the crowd that an equitable education is the civil right of the 21stcentury.

The Greenwood school’s application was rejected on the first attempt by the Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board and she thought about giving up before deciding after prayer to redouble her efforts.

Now the school is set to open in time for the next school year. Boyd Shaw said that she’s now interviewing support staff and will hire the teachers next. She also said they’ve found a turnkey building for the school and will start with sixth grade and add a grade every school year until they can start a high school.

“Understanding charter schools and school choice is really more than understanding the differences than traditional public schools,” Boyd Shaw said. “It’s about understanding the needs of students and the desires of parents. I would encourage legislators and others in decision-making seats to dig deeply when thinking about whether they are for or against school choice and think about the children.”

Mobile, Alabama’s City Council will delay its decision on whether to spend $3.04 million in taxpayer funds on bringing passenger rail service to the city.

The council voted unanimously to postpone the resolution until the next meeting on February 4 on whether to authorize the matching funds for Amtrak over the next three years starting in 2023. This twice-daily service would connect the Port City with New Orleans via CSX trackage that runs along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Mississippi has already committed about $15 million in state taxpayer money to the project, with Louisiana adding $10 million. The decision will be one day before a federal deadline to receive the matching funds from the federal government.

Stephen McNair from the Southern Railroad Commission told the council that if the city couldn’t find the funds to pay for the rail service, the train’s terminus would be in Pascagoula.

“I believe this is a train whose time has come and I’m hopeful that we can move forward positively,” Council vice president Levon Manzie said. Manzie sponsored the resolution on the council’s agenda for the rail funding, which was rejected by the council’s finance committee last week.

Gary Knoblock, a councilman at-large in Bay St. Louis, told Al.com that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is all behind bringing rail back to the area.

“I know Alabama has been concerned with the costs and whether it will bring tourists,” Knoblock said. “No one really knows until you do something. Unfortunately, you have to spend money to find out. It’s hard to make decision on something like that without knowing for sure something will happen.

The Federal Rail Administration — under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program (CRISI) — is providing up to $32,995,516 in taxpayer funds for improving crossings, bridges, sidings and other infrastructure along the route. 

The federal grants that would be provided to enact Amtrak service are meant to get the service online. The first year, the grants would provide 80 percent of the operating costs, declining to 60 percent in the second year and 40 percent in the third.

A 2015 Amtrak study says that a twice-daily train between Mobile and New Orleans would draw 38,400 riders annually and likely cost about $7 million annually to operate. Similar routes have existed from 1984 to 1985 and 1996 to 1997, but both ended because state taxpayer funds were no longer appropriated for that purpose. 

The Southern Rail Commission is an Interstate Rail Compact created in 1982 by Congress and consists of commissioners appointed by governors from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. 

The Mississippi Alcoholic Beverage Control department says they couldn’t possibly handle wine in grocery stores.

Those wishing to purchase wine face a couple major hurdles in Mississippi: Mississippi is one of 17 states that control wine (and liquor) sales and distribution, along with being one of only 11 states that prohibit grocery stores from selling wine. 

As is often the case with government-sanctioned and empowered monopolies, the requirement that you must purchase wine from a liquor store has created a strong lobbying force which uses government regulations to protect their entrenched interests.

“Many liquor store owners, though, are afraid allowing wine sales in grocery stores will hurt their business and equally important, cut down on quality choices for customers,” a recent Northside Sun article said. “Tasho Katsaboulas, spokesman for the Mississippi Beverage Merchants Committee, said larger retailers would likely sell the cheaper wines, the same ones that current liquor stores rely on to make ends meet.”

Frankly, our public policy should not be dictated by the whims of any entrenched interests be it business, union, lobby, or otherwise. Our political leaders ought to be seeking to enhance liberty and freedom for the citizens in the market, not restrict certain industries from having to face potential competition.

But along with liquor stores who don’t want the new competition of grocery stores, you also have the state who says they can’t handle that additional volume.

“If you pass wine in grocery stores, I don't know where you would put it,” Department of Revenue Commissioner Herb Frierson recently told members of the state Senate.

According to Frierson, the 211,000 square foot warehouse in Madison that stores wine and liquor is at full capacity, even without Kroger or Walmart being in the market. Keep in mind that it is current government law which mandates that the state control the acquisition and distribution of all alcoholic beverages through one warehouse.

Just as our state policy should not be dictated by the business interests of a certain group, it should not be limited by the ineffectiveness of the government bureaucracy.

If the customers, through the free market prefer to purchase wine through a grocery store, then they should be allowed to do so, and further they should have access to do so without the imposition of government.

Current options on the table involve expanding the existing warehouse which is operating at capacity, decentralizing the process and building warehouses across the state, or privatizing the distribution system.

Ultimately, the state should seek to privatize the system and transfer control of distribution. This would give retailers the ability to work directly with distributors (as they do with everything else they sell in grocery stores), rather than the state, and allow them to make buying choices based on consumer demand, not availability in the state warehouse.

Other states have undergone this privatization process and thus have not only facilitated the empowerment of the free market but have also reduced the existing burden of government operations.

Gov. Tate Reeves delivered his first State of the State speech Monday and outlined his goals for improving education, the state’s foster care system, and rural hospitals while cutting regulations.

The first-term governor also announced that infamous Unit 29 at Parchman will close and that a nationwide search is being conducted for a new corrections commissioner. 

Reeves said he supports a teacher pay increase and increasing the progress made by Mississippi students in the classroom. From 2017 to 2019, Mississippi students were first nationally in progress made on both the fourth grade math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests.

Reeves has already signed into law a bill that provides a deficit appropriation to fully fund a $1,500 pay increase that was passed in the last session. There are also several bills in the Senate and the House that would increase teacher pay, including a $1,000 raise bill authored by state Sen. Dennis DeBar (R-Leakesville), who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

A raise passed by the legislature this year would mark the fourth pay hike for teachers since 2000.

“I do not want to aim for average,” Reeves said. “We have achieved incredible education gains that put Mississippi at the top of the charts for test scores. We should not just aim for passing grades. We can and should aim to excel.”

Reeves also wants Mississippi to be the nation’s leader in the number of certified teachers.

He also outlined his plans to expand the state’s training programs for trades while taking a few shots at the higher educational system nationally. He wants a $100 million workforce development program that would increase apprenticeships and provide more community college grants and assistance for workers.

“There has been a malicious myth spreading across our country for many years: That the only way to achieve the American dream is through a four-year university degree and a career behind a desk,” Reeves said. “That myth comes from the arrogance of an elite class that sees their comfortable life as the only ideal. They are the same metropolitan narcissists who look at our state and sneer. They have tricked millions of Americans into taking on mountains of debt and wasting precious years—all based on a conceited lie. 

“We must break the cycle. In Mississippi, we can be at the tip of the spear. Because in Mississippi, we know that there is pride in a trade. We know that there is money to be made. We can let the east coast have their ivory towers. We can let the west coast have a generation of gender studies majors. We will take more jobs and higher pay.”

On the state’s embattled foster care system, Reeves said he wants to promote adoption and move children to permanent homes.

“But today, I ask that we would all take a moment to recognize our responsibility for these kids,” Reeves said. “I ask that you would join us in working to reform the system that is set up to protect them. There is much that we can and must do.”

Reeves said he supports a major expansion of the rural physician scholarship program and tax incentives for businesses that contribute to hospitals in rural areas. He also said he supports expanded telemedicine.

“I believe that we must create a reason for doctors to locate in underserved areas,” Reeves said. “We must put patients first and protect them from the higher costs.”

On regulation, Reeves went on the offensive. He said he wants improve customer service and make it easier for workers to receive occupational licenses.

“As governor, I plan to take a hard look at all of the regulations on the books that make it harder for people to live and work here,” Reeves said. “If you want to make a living in Mississippi, we want to make it easy for you to live in Mississippi. It will help us to keep young Mississippians here, and recruit even more to live and work in our great state.

“That will be a focus of our administration. And we will count on the people of Mississippi to let us know where red tape blocks their path to prosperity.”

Gov. Tate Reeves said one of his top priorities as governor will be cutting red tape during his first State of the State address tonight.

“Often, the most impactful thing that we can do at this building is get out of the way and allow innovators to thrive,” Reeves said. “That is why one of my priorities will be cutting red tape. We are assembling a team that is committed to ensuring that the people of Mississippi are never held back by cumbersome government. Regulations and processes that may have been well-intentioned, often serve only to slow our state down. We are going to fix that.”

Mississippi has more than 117,000 regulations on the books. These regulations lead to higher costs for consumers, while having a detrimental effect on economic growth. 

We now have a history of empirical data on the relationship between regulations and economic growth. A 2013 study in the Journal of Economic Growth estimates that federal regulations have slowed the U.S. growth rate by 2 percentage points a year, going back to 1949. A recent study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University estimates that federal regulations have slowed growth by 0.8 percent since 1980. If we had imposed a cap on regulations in 1980, the economy would be $4 trillion larger, or about $13,000 per person. Real numbers, and real money, indeed. 

“If you are being held back by some unnecessary government rule or process, we will provide an easy way for you to let us know,” Reeves added. “And whenever we can take action, we will do so quickly. We will have a bias towards action. We will listen to the people of Mississippi and clean up our codes to put them first.

“And there’s no question, much of the red tape in government is the result of well-intentioned, but now outdated actions. But do not fool yourself: there are many who use regulation to protect themselves from competition. That must end.”

Mississippi licenses 66 low-and-middle income occupations. This includes everything from a shampooer, who must receive 1,500 clock hours of education, to a fire alarm installer, who must pay over $1,000 in fees.

According to a recent report from the Institute for Justice, Mississippi has lost 13,000 jobs because of occupational licensing and the state has suffered an economic value loss of $37 million.

“We must make it easier for everyone to earn money in Mississippi,” Reeves continued. “That means eliminating those unfair regulations that keep people from getting licenses to work. We must make it simpler for anyone to thrive in our state. As governor, I plan to take a hard look at all of the regulations on the books that make it harder for people to live and work here. If you want to make a living in Mississippi, we want to make it easy for you to live in Mississippi. 

“That will be a focus of our administration.”

House Bill 4, sponsored by Rep. Brent Powell, would increase the number of liquor store retail permits that an individual can own from one to three. 

Currently, no person, either individually or through a firm, partnership, or LLC, shall own or control interest in more than one permit for liquor stores. This limits a person’s ability to earn a living and run a business, while also limiting competition and consumer choice. 

This, however, is just one small part of the state’s desire to regulate, and in many cases, prohibit, legal alcohol sales in the state. 

While the internet, technological developments, and more have made the purchase and production of alcohol freer and easier in other states, Mississippi has denied its citizens personal liberty on this issue. 

The state has discouraged craft beer production, overregulated alcohol distribution, and cracked down on the ability for citizens to privately produce alcohol. Permits are difficult to secure, and thus many businesses have been left in the dark, unable to expand or operate. 

Mississippi could make considerable strides by entrusting in its citizens a greater personal responsibility and freedom when it comes to alcohol sale and production. 

There is much the state could do, but this is a step in the right direction. 

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read the bill here.

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

Senate Bill 2062, sponsored by Sen. Briggs Hopson, and SB 2022, sponsored by Sen. David Jordan, would lower the compulsory education age from 6 to 5 and move the age clock from September 1 to August 1. 

Mississippi, like every state in the nation, has compulsory school attendance laws that require a student to be in school, whether public or private, or to be homeschooled, beginning at a certain age and through a certain age, at a minimum.

In Mississippi, the mandatory compulsory age is 6. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, exactly half the states in the country have the same age for compulsory attendance. Even Massachusetts, the father of compulsory education, is 6 years old. Thirteen states set the mandatory age at 7 and two, Pennsylvania and Washington, set it at 8. The remaining ten states, plus the District of Columbia, set the mandatory age at 5 as this proposed bill would do. 

The bill would also add this definition to school: “Relative to kindergarten-age children, school shall mean any licensed public, parochial or nonpublic school kindergarten program or legitimate homeschool kindergarten program which promotes services that address the cognitive, social and emotional needs of five-year-old children.”

As we write in Governing By Principle, parents, not the government, are responsible for the education and upbringing of their children. While most families choose to send their children to kindergarten, the decision should be still left to the parents. We should be expanding parental freedoms, rather than expanding the powers of government. 

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it violates our principles and therefore must be opposed.  

Read SB 2022 and SB 2062.

Track the status of this and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

The sun light provides the best opportunity for our flowers to blossom. The warmth and light are critical for repair, growth, and blooming. Such is the case with another Mississippi treasure; our public higher education system and its eight colleges and universities. Perhaps nothing is more important to the future of our state than developing and preparing our best and brightest. 

Yet, we have had very little meaningful discussion about how we do that. I think that is because Mississippians treasure their colleges and universities at a deeper level than many other places. In many ways, these schools and towns represent our fondest memories and strongest bonds. We are reticent to question, challenge, or critique them because they are like precious heirlooms. But like our most valuable heirlooms plants, a pruning is necessary for a longer, healthier, more bountiful future. 

In an effort to provide both sun light and guidance for pruning, our organization, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, began a collaboration with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) about six months ago. The goal was to produce an independent, non-partisan review and analysis of higher education in the Magnolia State.

The results of that project will be presented to the public and to the media on February 5 at a luncheon at River Hills Club in Jackson. Tickets to the event can be purchased here. ACTA is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to academic freedom, excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. 

The reason we chose to work with ACTA is because of their outstanding reputation and their critical mission: “the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across America to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of idea on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives a philosophically rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.” Amen.

I encourage you to visit their website, examine their work, and look at their Board of Directors.

Some national trends should alarm us. According to the OECD, we spend more per student than any other country except Luxembourg, but we rank 22 of the 36 countries measured in terms of the percentage of young adults who have completed college.

Student loan debt in America is greater than $1.6 trillion, which is $600 billion more than our credit card debt. More than eleven million college borrowers are in forbearance or default.

In 2015, colleges and universities spent $11.5 billion on construction and maintenance, increasing higher education’s footprint by 21 million square feet. We’ve tripled space per student since the 1970s. Utilization data and future costs analysis portend financial problems.

We’re seeing big growth in non-academic employees on campus, without corresponding student body or faculty growth. This is happening all across the country as the administrators and non-academic programs proliferate. Long-term misallocation of resources leads to bad results. We should all be interested in reforming higher ed.

The report from ACTA will focus on four areas: corporate governance, curricula, financial stewardship, and freedom on campus. A few key issues to be discussed at the luncheon:

• Graduation rates among several IHL universities are unacceptably low. 
• No school in Mississippi currently requires students to complete a single course in American government, history, or economics. 
• Is Mississippi’s higher education governance structure effective?
• How much are students paying?
• Where is the money going?
• Do schools promote a free exchange of ideas?
• What are students learning?

At the end of the report, there are 18 policy recommendations. Our job is to first make sure as many people as possible are aware of this study and then to work with leaders across the state, which includes trustees, alumni, donors, students, parents, and the legislature, to make sure policy ideas are turned into actions that can ensure Mississippi’s public colleges and universities are prepared for a long, healthy, bountiful future.

Our heirloom treasures deserve nothing less.

And we owe it to future generations to give them a chance to make their own fond memories and to build their own strong bonds. In a place with such powerful Southern Exposure and rich soil, we should be producing beautiful booms.  

Senate Bill 2127, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, will exempt eyebrow threaders from the state’s cosmetology licensure law. 

Eyebrow threading is a safe and simple technique that uses just a single strand of cotton thread to remove unwanted hair. It does not involve skin-to-skin contact between the threading artist and customer, does not reuse the same tools on different customers, and does not involve the use of sharp implements, harsh chemicals, or heat.

Currently, eyebrow threaders are required to take at least 600 hours of classes and pass two exams. Yet, not a single hour of classes covers eyebrow threading. Essentially, eyebrow threaders are required to spend thousands of dollars to learn nothing they want to learn and everything they don’t. 

The Mississippi Justice Institute, the legal arm of Mississippi Center for Public Policy has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dip Bhattarai. Bhattarai grew up in Nepal, where threading is a way of life, and learned how to thread at a young age from her family. She came to Mississippi after receiving a scholarship to attend Mississippi University for Women, where she saw an opening in the market for eyebrow threading. 

She was pursuing her version of the American Dream, until the state shut her down. 

This bill would allow Bhattarai and others earn a living. 

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read the bill here.

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker.