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
Liberty Luncheon: The Economic Impacts of Universal School Choice in Mississippi
Mississippi’s Game-Changer: The Economic Impacts of Universal School Choice in Mississippi
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.
Join us for a lively discussion about the incredible positive impact that school choice will have on Mississippi’s economy.
The United States Supreme Court issued an important ruling in a religious liberty case and agreed to hear another major case next term, which begins the first Monday in October.
Governments Can’t Discriminate Against Churches Merely Because They are Churches
In a 7-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court today said the government cannot discriminate against religious organizations by excluding them from government programs solely because of the organization’s religious beliefs unless there is a compelling governmental interest.
The case involved a preschool at Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri. The church applied for and was denied a state grant for rubberized playground surface material, which was offered by the state for the purpose of creating safer playgrounds. The state admitted that it denied the church’s application solely because it was a church.
“The exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand,” said the Court in its opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.
School choice implications?
This ruling perhaps opens the door to broader school choice programs, but that is not clear yet. Various observers share conflicting views on that question, but all agree that future cases will help answer it.
One case that could prove to be a critical test case involves a Colorado court decision, based on a clause in the Colorado constitution which is similar to a provision in the Mississippi constitution, that prohibits a local voucher program from being used at religious schools. That Colorado case is now at the U.S. Supreme Court, but justices have not indicated whether they will take it up. Today’s decision in the Trinity Lutheran case may increase the chances of its being considered by the Supreme Court next year.
Can Governments Discriminate Against Business Owners Who Believe in Traditional Marriage?
In a case that will have implications for Mississippi’s HB 1523, the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act,” the U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will take up the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, also out of Colorado, in their next term, which begins the first Monday in October and runs through June of next year. This case is about whether the government can compel people of faith to create expressions that go against their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage.
Jack Phillips, who owns the bakery Masterpiece Cakeshop, had a complaint filed against him for not baking a cake for a same-sex wedding. Phillips had provided countless services to other LGBT customers, but simply did not want to participate in a religious ceremony – a wedding – that violated his conscientious beliefs about marriage.
This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case that will decide the conflict between the Constitutional freedom of religion and the newly created right to same-sex marriage. Contrary to some news reports, there is no reason to think the case will reopen the overall question of whether same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right.
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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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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By Forest Thigpen
To hear this commentary click here.
High school students in Mississippi are required to take a US History test before graduating. But you won’t find George Washington or Abraham Lincoln on that test.
Many of the great problems we face in our country stem from a lack of appreciation for our unique role in human history. Whether they followed them perfectly or not, our nation's Founders built our country on a set of principles that recognized the inherent value of the individual, created by God, with certain rights and powers.
It's critical that our high school graduates have a basic understanding of these principles. The current U.S. History test should be replaced with the Civics Test given to immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens. Its 100 questions cover some current facts, such as the name of the president, and a good smattering of questions that cover the whole span of U.S. History.
Let your legislators know you think students should be tested on all U.S. History.
Proponents of spending more money on education say, or at least imply, that "fully funding the MAEP formula" will produce better results for students. But will it?
Most people probably think that if public school funding is increased, most of it will be spent on increasing teacher salaries. But will it?
Obviously, money is necessary for educating children. But the truth is that almost all the top-spending districts are among the lowest-achieving districts. The inverse is also true: almost all the lowest-spending districts are among the highest-achieving.
As you can see for yourself on our new website, SeeTheSchoolSpending.org*:
The 20 highest-spending districts yielded these grades from the Mississippi Department of Education, based on state-administered tests: 5 Fs, 6 Ds, 8 Cs, 1 B, and no As.
The 20 lowest-spending districts achieved 6 As, 10 Bs, 1 C, 3 Ds, and no Fs.
Of the 19 Districts with an A grade, none are in the top 20 for spending, and only 4 are in the top 90.
Of the 15 Districts with an F grade, none are in the bottom 20 spending districts, and all but 2 spend more than the state average.
The highest-spending districts spend more than twice as much per student as the lowest-spending districts.
When education funding is increased, where does it go?
A recent report by the legislative accounting watchdog, PEER (Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review), found that from 2005-2014, school districts' spending in the "Instructional" category, when adjusted for inflation, decreased by approximately $75 million, while spending in the "Administration" category increased by $57 million.
More specifically, the total spent on salaries of teachers and other professional personnel in the Instructional category declined by approximately $130 million, or about 8.6%. During the same period, expenditures for salaries in the Administration category increased by $15 million, or 8.1%.
On SeeTheSchoolSpending.org, you can see this trend has continued over the past two decades. In 1993, more than 41% of per-student spending was spent on teacher salaries. By 2014, that had declined to less than 33%. (In 1960, which precedes the data shown on SeeTheSchoolSpending, teacher salaries made up 60% of school spending.)
This means that the bulk of new spending has gone to things other than teacher salaries. If more money is put into the current MAEP formula, that trend is likely to continue.
Questions
Is it possible there is enough money already going into the school system? Could it be that too much money is being directed toward people or programs that do not improve student learning? Based on the findings described above, the answer to those questions appears to be "yes."
Will "fully funding the MAEP formula" cause student achievement to improve? If more money is appropriated, will it find its way to the classroom, where real progress can be made? If past performance is an indication of future results, the answer to those questions is "no."
* Click on the "Rank" heading to sort in order; click it again to sort in reverse order. This link shows 2013 comparison. Spending and grades for 2015 have not been reported, and the 2014 accountability grades are meaningless (see "Waiver Grades").
