A survey of Tennessee’s voluntary state funded preschool program found statistically significant negative results for children who enrolled in the program compared to those that did not.

There have been numerous studies on early childhood education in the past that proponents will likely point to in an attempt to discredit this survey. But this is the first randomized control test, or “gold standard” study. Because the program was oversubscribed, researchers were able to randomize the sample and provide a control group.

As we have often seen, this study showed some positive effects on student achievement at the end of preschool, but those gains have dissipated as the children enter elementary school. Specifically, by third grade, the survey found statistically-significant adverse actions on student math and science achievement and no significant effects on reading achievement.

These results don’t mix with the popular narrative of the day: that preschool is a wonderful thing, it is popular, and we would be better off if every parent began enrolling their child in a program at three years old. And because parents aren’t doing this, that is why their children may struggle when they hit kindergarten. That is the message from many politicians and the media.

Mississippi is headed in that direction

Mississippi began its journey into state funded preschool five years ago. Proponents celebrated that we were “finally” doing something. At the time, Mississippi Center for Public Policy was one of the few groups willing to speak out against such a program. As is often the case, legislators push a program because it sounds good or feels right without looking at the unintended consequences.

Mississippi has many wonderful private preschool providers. Many are run by churches, others by private schools or some other private enterprise. But they are competing with one another. They compete for students and the tuition needed to stay in business. That is healthy.

And parents can then choose the best program- for their family. That decision may be based on curriculum, or some other factor that is important to them such as whether the program is three days or five days or if it is a half day or full day. And it will usually involve talking with friends or scouring Facebook or other websites for reviews.

Beyond that, preschool isn’t necessarily the preferred early childhood education format for every family. Data shows it’s not and we see parents becoming very flexible for their children. If one parent can’t stay at home full time, many parents adjust their schedule so one parent can always be at home. Or they start working from home. Or they have relatives or friends watch their child. Again, there are options that families are taking advantage of.

Parents still offer the best childcare

For those who are fans of regulations, you will like the Tennessee program. The state mandates the minimum length of daily instructional time and the maximum size of a classroom. All teachers need a state license and each school has to choose among a set of approved curricula. So, very much like elementary and secondary school. And the results weren’t that much different.

What children need are involved parents. This has not changed, and will not change. Family is the building block of society and parents are responsible for raising their children. Children who stayed at home in Tennessee were better off than children who were enrolled in the program.

The debate today is similar to any time large government programs were born and expanded. In the 1960s, there was a perception that families and churches aren’t meeting all the needs for those in poverty, so the assumption is that government must step in. That’s the wrong step to take.

Yes, poverty programs solved some short-term problems, but they created the long-term perception that government was going to take care of people, inadvertently leading to more single-parent families. And the poverty rate remains virtually unchanged.

There is a belief that if something is wrong then only government can solve it. And as time passes, the government program only becomes larger and the private or non-profit sector shrinks before it disappears. We then begin living under the impression that this is government’s responsibility, regardless of how poorly government is functioning.

A parent friendly solution

Many parents like the idea of state funded early childhood education because it would remove a financial burden. That is understandable, but the state can do that without usurping the role of the private sector, and the family. And moving children from a good setting to a free, but poor, setting.

The federal government offers tax credits to help with childcare costs, and the state could do something similar. Rather than investing tax dollars in programs at state approved preschools, that same money could be returned to families for their child’s needs via tax credits. Families would be helped, the private sector would flourish, and government would not be expanded.

Mississippi Center for Public Policy recently signed on to a national letter urging the United States Department of Education to rescind a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Obama administration regarding school discipline.

This letter warned school districts that received federal funding against disparate outcomes in the implementation of their school discipline policies.

“As attorneys in the conservative movement, we believe that the suspension ‘Dear Colleague’ letter is not only poor public policy – studies have shown it has a negative impact on academic performance – but also an illegal exercise of federal administrative power and an unjustified intrusion into state and local matters," the letter said.

You can read the full letter below. 

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Victory for charter schools in Mississippi

Mississippi Justice Institute and other defendants protect constitutionality of charter schools according to trial court

 (JACKSON) – Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas ruled today in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of charters schools in Mississippi. Judge Thomas ruled in favor of the charter schools and their parents, and against the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Mississippi Justice Institute (MJI) Director Shadrack White, who represents the parents of charter school students, said, “This is a critical victory for the parents and their children who attend charter schools in Mississippi. Judge Thomas saw that the constitution does not trap my clients in their traditional public schools when public charter schools provide a better option. These parents know what’s best for their children.”

The charter lawsuit turned on whether the Mississippi Constitution allowed funding from state and local governments to be spent at charter schools. “Our case was simple,” said White. “My clients pay taxes, so they should have the right to take that money to a public charter school if that is a better option for their children. These schools are making their lives better. The plaintiffs in this case, however, had an extreme argument: that the funding for charter schools, agricultural schools, some alternative schools, and other types of non-traditional public schools should be barred.”

“As this case marches forward, I am going to continue thinking about all the good that charter schools have done for my clients, like Gladys Overton and her daughter Drew,” said White. “When we started this case, Gladys told us that, in her old school, Drew experienced nonstop bullying and a difficult classroom environment. Drew moved to ReImagine Prep, a charter school in Jackson, and today she is thriving. She was the most improved student in her class last year and, like every other student at ReImagine, is learning computer coding skills to prepare her for the workforce.”

“Students like Drew are who we fight for,” added White.

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One benefit of doing the right thing is that it just works better. We know that innovation and choice are good for parents and kids, but the economic and social impacts can also be a game changer for our state.  School choice for Mississippi can help create jobs, lower the crime rate and reduce welfare dependency. School choice works and will help average Mississippians get back to work.

The following is the abstract from a new study released by the Institute for Market Studies at Mississippi State University titled Mississippi’s Game Changer: The Economic Impacts of Universal School Choice in Mississippi.

Mississippi has a unique opportunity to improve its future economic condition through implementing a fully universal Education Savings Account (ESA) program. We forecast the economic impacts of such a program accrued through decreased criminal activity, increased high school graduation rates, and increased lifetime earnings. Our models assuming a higher rate of program participation find:

● Mississippi would pass West Virginia in 14 years on per capita personal income, and the advantage would grow to around $2,300 per person by the year 2036.
● Mississippi’s streets would have 9,990 fewer felons and 13,824 fewer misdemeanants by 2036, leading to a reduction of over $384 million in costs to society.
● Mississippi would have 7,798 more graduates by 2036, leading to social benefits in excess of $1.6 billion.

Our models assuming moderate rates of program growth find:

● Mississippi would pass West Virginia in less than two decades on per capita personal income and the advantage would grow to around $700 per person by the year 2036.
● Mississippi would have 6,191 fewer felons and 8,566 fewer misdemeanants by 2036, leading to a reduction of over $238 million in costs to society.
● Mississippi would have 5,338 more graduates by 2036, leading to social benefits in excess of $1 billion.

Read the full study HERE

Court: IRS must answer conservative group  Lawsuit alleges IRS abused organizations that opposed Obama Administration    A federal judge has ordered the IRS to submit to discovery and depositions in a lawsuit filed by True the Vote (TTV) which alleges discriminatory practices and abuse against organizations which were politically opposed to the Obama Administration. The Treasury Inspector General found in a May 2013 report that the IRS selected groups for special mistreatment if they who had "Tea Party," "Patriot," or "9/12" in its name or if they advocated conservative policy positions.TTV sued the IRS, but the suit was dismissed in 2014. An appeals court reversed that dismissal, saying the IRS had not taken sufficient steps to prevent similar actions in the future. The suit was remanded to District Court for a decision on the merits of the case. Last week, the District Court granted TTV's motion for discovery, permitting TTV to discover the "past acts of alleged discrimination stemming from the alleged illegal targeting scheme" to ensure that the IRS has "eradicated the effects" of that scheme. Source: True the Vote 24 states: half or more babies on Medicaid Mississippi tied for fourth place with 64 percent in new study   In Mississippi, 64 percent of babies are born on Medicaid. That ties the state for the fourth highest rate in the country according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. Nationwide, 24 states report more than half of all babies born had their births paid for Medicaid. Mississippi is one of eight states in which Medicaid pays for more than 60 percent of all births. Source: CNSnews.com Arizona's big school choice victory All students now eligible for enrollment in education savings accounts   Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law an expansion of his state's education savings account (ESA) program, creating a near-universal option for students and parents. Arizona's previous ESA program could only be accessed by children with special needs, students in failing schools, children of active duty military or in foster care, and other limited criteria. Now, at the end of a four year phase in, any child will be eligible to enroll in the program, although there is a limit of 5,500 participants. Instead of sending funding directly to district schools, and then assigning children to those schools based on where their parents live, Arizona's ESA program provides parents 90 percent of what the state would have spent on their child in their district school, with funds being deposited directly into a parent-controlled account. In Arizona that is typically around $5,300 for a student, annually, and closer to $14,000 annually for a child with special needs. The family can then use those funds for any education-related service, product, or provider. Parents can roll over unused funds from year to year in anticipation of future education-related expenses. [Editor's note: Mississippi also has an ESA program. It is available only to students with special needs. Based on the amount of funding the legislature has provided, it is capped at fewer than 500 students.]     Source: The Daily Signal Population shifts Birthrate and migration shifts the American landscape In more than 1,200 American counties, people are dying faster than babies are being born to replace them. The U.S. population is growing older, and younger Americans are having fewer babies. Washington Post blogger Christopher Ingraham took Census Bureau data and color coded the maps below. These maps reduce the coloration to a simple binary scale: red for losing population, blue for gaining it.   Americans are also moving, continuing a long-standing trend of migration out of colder climates and to places like the Sun Belt. But even in Southern states, the migration picture is mixed. An arc of red running from Mississippi up through the Carolinas shows net losses to migration in the counties of the Black Belt.   Combine the two maps above and you get the total net population gain or loss in American counties in 2016. Population gainers include the Western half of the country, the entire Florida peninsula, the I-95 corridor from D.C. to New York, and the New England coast. Places like the Black Belt, the Rust Belt, the extreme upper Midwest and much of the central plains lost population. Overall the population shifts of 2016 marked a return to trends that had been common before the Great Recession: a movement of people out of cities and rural areas and into the country's suburbs, particularly in warmer regions.     Source: Washington Post Wonkblog   Funding Students, Not Districts Heartland discusses benefits & outcomes of decentralized school funding   What are the benefits and outcomes of allowing school funding to follow the child instead of being based on the school district? Listen to the answer on this Heartland Institute Podcast, where two experts discuss student-based funding, which allows parents a choice and provides students with additional educational opportunities. Source: Heartland Institute

Secure Contribution Invest in Liberty Make a secure contribution to the Mississippi Center for Public Policy here. Stay Connected "Free enterprise, not government, is the engine of personal economic prosperity." - Governing by Principle: A Framework for Governing, Principle #7

Fighting for Parents, Children and Choice in Education in Mississippi     This week the Mississippi Justice Institute filed a brief in Hinds County Chancery Court supporting the students who attend charter schools and the parents who made those educational choices for their children.   The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has filed a lawsuit against the State of Mississippi and Jackson Public Schools calling the funding of charter schools unconstitutional. Not only do the briefs filed by the SPLC not prove their case, but if SPLC were to win, other schools would lose all state funding including the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, the Mississippi School for the Arts, some alternative schools covering multiple districts, and failing schools that must be taken over by the state. It would also be questionable whether local funding could follow a student living in one district who receives consent from both school boards to transfer and attend a school outside his district of residence, and whether local funding could follow children who attend agricultural high schools outside their district. In fact, SPLC's arguments put the entire concept of all municipal school districts on shaky grounds, including Jackson Public Schools.   The SPLC's arguments for state funding depend on court decisions involving the Mississippi Constitution of 1868 and regarding the power of the state to operate segregated schools. You read that right. The Southern Poverty Law Center seeks to deny students the opportunity for school choice based on legal premises which once justified separate and unequal schools for black students and white students. We invite you to read the brief by the Mississippi Justice Institute to get an understanding of our defense of parents' right to choose what is best for the education of their children and the constitutional funding mechanism which provides educational opportunities for local students. Get a full update on the status of the case here and read the latest brief here.    The Mississippi Justice Institute exists thanks to the contributions of people like you. You can support our mission by making a secure contribution here. Mike Hurst  | Mississippi Justice Institute | (601) 969-1300 | [email protected] | msjustice.org STAY CONNECTED:

 

Statement of Forest Thigpen on the Lawsuit to Kill Charter Schools in Mississippi

(JACKSON) --

Jackson, MS, July 12, 2016 - Forest Thigpen, president of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, issued the following statement regarding the lawsuit filed yesterday by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The suit alleges that charter school funding violates the Mississippi constitution, in part because the plaintiffs say charter schools are not "free" schools:

Charter schools are public schools, and since they charge no tuition, any rational person would conclude that they are "free" schools as referenced by the state constitution.

Parents are responsible for their children's education. It is immoral for the government to force parents to send their children to schools that do not meet their academic and related needs, especially when other public options are available, including charter schools.

Parents who have enough money to move to a better district or to send their children to private schools already have options. Charter schools, as demonstrated by the student population at the two schools that opened this year, primarily serve families who cannot afford either of those options.

Improving educational outcomes is one of the most important ways to lift children out of poverty, and charter schools offer that hope to parents who want a better future for their children. By pursuing this lawsuit, it appears as though the Southern Poverty Law Center wants to perpetuate, not alleviate, southern poverty.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-profit organization based in Jackson. It works to advance the ideals of free markets, limited government, and strong traditional families. Its work, including the Mississippi Justice Institute, is supported by voluntary, tax-deductible contributions. It receives no funds from government agencies for its operations. To learn more about MCPP, visit www.mspolicy.org.

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