PARENT POWER!

Mississippi

U.S.
Rank

#42
Overall PPI Score:
61%
PPI Grade Key:
← Back to Mississippi state overview
A
B
C
D
F

Score:

62%

Grade:

D

Rank:

#39

Cap of 15 new charters per year.

Fast Facts:

Law passed: 2010

Most recently amended: 2013

Number of charter schools: 6 (a seventh is slated to open in 2020)

Number of charter students: 2,128

Cap on the number of schools allowed:? Yes – 15 new schools per year

Virtual charters allowed? No

Charter Law Analysis:

AUTHORIZERS: Only one – the Mississippi Charter Board. Charter schools in any districts not deemed low-performing must also be approved by the local board.

GROWTH: Charters receiving an ‘F’ in the last year of their 5-year contract are not eligible for renewal. The cap of 15 new schools per year allows for some growth, but likely hinders some potential operators from submitting applications, particularly when combined with only one authorizer. 

OPERATIONS: Charters are exempt from some, but not all, laws and regulations that apply to traditional public schools. They must follow several of the laws and regulations regarding discipline and curriculum. All teachers must be traditionally certified after a school has operated for three years. No virtual charter schools are permitted here. 

EQUITY: Local funding for charters is equal to the local tax rate for the district schools. The state directs each school’s proportionate share of funds from federal and state categorical funds to eligible charter schools. Authorizers receive a three percent administrative fee. There is no per-pupil facilities funding for charters.

Learn More:

Mississippi Charter School Law

Empower Mississippi

Mississippi First

Public School Options Mississippi Chapter

Fast Facts:

Law enacted: 2012-2015

Number of programs: 3

Statewide Participation: 753

Types of programs: Voucher (2), Education Savings Account

Choice Laws & Analysis:

Voucher
Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship Program
Mississippi enacted the nation’s only school choice program for students with dyslexia in 2012. The program provides vouchers to students with dyslexia to attend accredited private schools with dyslexia therapy programs. There is no income limit for eligibility, and no enrollment cap. The voucher amount is capped at $5,626 per student.

Voucher
Speech-Language Therapy Scholarship (Nate Rogers)
This voucher program began in 2013 for students with speech-language therapy needs. As of 2020, there are 2 participating students. The voucher amount is capped at $5,626 per- student. There is no income limit for eligibility, and no enrollment cap.

Education Savings Account
Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program
The states’ first ESA was enacted in 2015, with 502 students participating in 2020. This program allows students with special needs to put a portion of their public funding into a government authorized education savings account with multiple uses. The annual award amount is capped at $6,765, and there is no income limit for eligibility. The program has an enrollment cap of 2,500 students.

Learn More:

EdChoice Analysis on Mississippi

Federation for Children Choice Program Information

2019 ALEC Report Card on American Education

Score:

73%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#25

Has some strong requirements for teacher prep but ”does not collect or publicly report data that connect student growth to teacher preparation programs.”

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 69%
General Teacher Preparation 62%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 72%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 85%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 58%
Alternate Routes 70%  

STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 71%
Hiring 88%
Retaining Effective Teachers 55%

TEACHER EVALUATION: 79%

TEACHER COMPENSATION: 72%

Learn More:

National Council for Teacher Quality State Teacher Policy Database

Score:

62%

Grade:

D

Rank:

#39

Cap of 15 new charters per year.

Fast Facts:

Law passed: 2010

Most recently amended: 2013

Number of charter schools: 6 (a seventh is slated to open in 2020)

Number of charter students: 2,128

Cap on the number of schools allowed:? Yes – 15 new schools per year

Virtual charters allowed? No

Charter Law Analysis:

AUTHORIZERS: Only one – the Mississippi Charter Board. Charter schools in any districts not deemed low-performing must also be approved by the local board.

GROWTH: Charters receiving an ‘F’ in the last year of their 5-year contract are not eligible for renewal. The cap of 15 new schools per year allows for some growth, but likely hinders some potential operators from submitting applications, particularly when combined with only one authorizer. 

OPERATIONS: Charters are exempt from some, but not all, laws and regulations that apply to traditional public schools. They must follow several of the laws and regulations regarding discipline and curriculum. All teachers must be traditionally certified after a school has operated for three years. No virtual charter schools are permitted here. 

EQUITY: Local funding for charters is equal to the local tax rate for the district schools. The state directs each school’s proportionate share of funds from federal and state categorical funds to eligible charter schools. Authorizers receive a three percent administrative fee. There is no per-pupil facilities funding for charters.

Learn More:

Mississippi Charter School Law

Empower Mississippi

Mississippi First

Public School Options Mississippi Chapter

Fast Facts:

Law enacted: 2012-2015

Number of programs: 3

Statewide Participation: 753

Types of programs: Voucher (2), Education Savings Account

Choice Laws & Analysis:

Voucher
Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship Program
Mississippi enacted the nation’s only school choice program for students with dyslexia in 2012. The program provides vouchers to students with dyslexia to attend accredited private schools with dyslexia therapy programs. There is no income limit for eligibility, and no enrollment cap. The voucher amount is capped at $5,626 per student.

Voucher
Speech-Language Therapy Scholarship (Nate Rogers)
This voucher program began in 2013 for students with speech-language therapy needs. As of 2020, there are 2 participating students. The voucher amount is capped at $5,626 per- student. There is no income limit for eligibility, and no enrollment cap.

Education Savings Account
Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program
The states’ first ESA was enacted in 2015, with 502 students participating in 2020. This program allows students with special needs to put a portion of their public funding into a government authorized education savings account with multiple uses. The annual award amount is capped at $6,765, and there is no income limit for eligibility. The program has an enrollment cap of 2,500 students.

Learn More:

EdChoice Analysis on Mississippi

Federation for Children Choice Program Information

2019 ALEC Report Card on American Education

Score:

73%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#25

Has some strong requirements for teacher prep but ”does not collect or publicly report data that connect student growth to teacher preparation programs.”

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 69%
General Teacher Preparation 62%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 72%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 85%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 58%
Alternate Routes 70%  

STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 71%
Hiring 88%
Retaining Effective Teachers 55%

TEACHER EVALUATION: 79%

TEACHER COMPENSATION: 72%

Learn More:

National Council for Teacher Quality State Teacher Policy Database

Digital Learning:

Score:

55%

Grade:

F

Rank:

#51

In May 2020, the State Superintendent of Education presented a Statewide Digital Learning Plan to the Mississippi Legislature. The plan describes providing devices to students, distributing hotspots in homes, providing professional development to educators and ensuring schools have access to high quality digital tools and learning content. However there is little activity to help implement digital learning instruction.

In June 2020 Lawmakers passed the “Equity in Distance Learning Act”, dedicating $150 million from federal CARES Act funding with the goal of making sure every student in the state has a device and internet connectivity. 

Bandwidth: 93.1% of students in Mississippi can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds. But there is still work to be done. 33,522 students still need more bandwidth for digital learning. In Mississippi, 32% of households do not have broadband. 

Personalized Learning:

Personalized learning is included in Mississippi’s Board of Education Strategic Plan. The state also has the Districts of Innovation program, which gives districts flexibility from some of the policies and regulations that inhibit personalized learning. Currently, schools participating in the program use the Early College High School model, which gives students hands-on learning experiences outside of the classroom.

Learn More:

Districts of Innovation

Governor Tate Reeves first closed schools on March 19th, a closure that was extended through the end of the school year on April 17th.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi worked to ensure all students had access to devices and the internet in order to be able to learn remotely, and offered professional development opportunities for teachers. The state did not offer guidance on distance learning plans, unfortunately, but did create a great new website with information and resources.

Mississippi has continued to expand technological access for all students, as they have ordered over 400,000 devices in preparation for the 2020-21 school year, which will be distributed to those in need.

Mississippi’s Learning At Home resource page is very user-friendly and provides learning materials broken down by age group and need.

Guidelines for reopening schools for the 2020-21 school year are published here and districts are empowered to make many decisions for their students:

State recommendations have changed several times as the state had an increase of COVID cases. Many decisions are up to districts, and many had planned to reopen fully in-person in early August, but made last-minute decisions to delay starting.

Fast Facts

4th Grade Math Proficiency:

32%

8th Grade Math Proficiency:

18%

12th Grade Math Proficiency:

24% (nat'l average)

4th Grade Reading Proficiency:

31%

8th Grade Reading Proficiency:

22%

12th Grade Reading Proficiency:

37% (nat'l average)

Graduation Rate:

85%

Average SAT Score:

1226/1600

Average ACT Score:

17.8/36

Public School Enrollment:

442,000

Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:

0.5%

Average Student Funding:

$9,653.00
Digital Learning:

Score:

55%

Grade:

F

Rank:

#51

In May 2020, the State Superintendent of Education presented a Statewide Digital Learning Plan to the Mississippi Legislature. The plan describes providing devices to students, distributing hotspots in homes, providing professional development to educators and ensuring schools have access to high quality digital tools and learning content. However there is little activity to help implement digital learning instruction.

In June 2020 Lawmakers passed the “Equity in Distance Learning Act”, dedicating $150 million from federal CARES Act funding with the goal of making sure every student in the state has a device and internet connectivity. 

Bandwidth: 93.1% of students in Mississippi can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds. But there is still work to be done. 33,522 students still need more bandwidth for digital learning. In Mississippi, 32% of households do not have broadband. 

Personalized Learning:

Personalized learning is included in Mississippi’s Board of Education Strategic Plan. The state also has the Districts of Innovation program, which gives districts flexibility from some of the policies and regulations that inhibit personalized learning. Currently, schools participating in the program use the Early College High School model, which gives students hands-on learning experiences outside of the classroom.

Learn More:

Districts of Innovation

Governor Tate Reeves first closed schools on March 19th, a closure that was extended through the end of the school year on April 17th.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi worked to ensure all students had access to devices and the internet in order to be able to learn remotely, and offered professional development opportunities for teachers. The state did not offer guidance on distance learning plans, unfortunately, but did create a great new website with information and resources.

Mississippi has continued to expand technological access for all students, as they have ordered over 400,000 devices in preparation for the 2020-21 school year, which will be distributed to those in need.

Mississippi’s Learning At Home resource page is very user-friendly and provides learning materials broken down by age group and need.

Guidelines for reopening schools for the 2020-21 school year are published here and districts are empowered to make many decisions for their students:

State recommendations have changed several times as the state had an increase of COVID cases. Many decisions are up to districts, and many had planned to reopen fully in-person in early August, but made last-minute decisions to delay starting.

4th Grade Math Proficiency:

32%

8th Grade Math Proficiency:

18%

12th Grade Math Proficiency:

24% (nat’l average)

4th Grade Reading Proficiency:

31%

8th Grade Reading Proficiency:

22%

12th Grade Reading Proficiency:

37% (nat’l average)

Graduation Rate:

85%

Average SAT Score:

1226/1600

Average ACT Score:

17.8/36

Public School Enrollment:

442,000

Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:

0.5%

Average Student Funding:

$9,653.00
Your governor:

Tate Reeves (R)

First term began in 2020 (two-term limit)

Since being elected in 2019, Governor Tate Reeves has signed both an ESA program and a charter school bill into law, although the charter school bill is one of the weakest in the country. Governor Reeves  supports the notion of parent power but we’ve not seen as aggressive an effort as is indicated by his rhetoric.  And the importance of innovative models of learning isn’t very strong here.

State Legislature:

The legislature is split on its support for educational choice and there’s much more it can do to expand and improve educational opportunities for families in Mississippi, but it takes leadership.

The Mississippi constitution contains a Blaine Amendment, but in a recent case “the Mississippi Supreme Court distinguished between aiding students and aiding the schools they choose to attend,” (Institute for Justice) and therefore has validated the use of public funds for parental choices including parochial schools.

In September 2019, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of charter schools receiving state and local dollars.

Learn More:

Institute for Justice: Mississippi School Choice and State Constitution

School report cards are easily accessible and highlighted on the main page of the Mississippi DOE website. Report cards are incredibly clean and easy to navigate, featuring a summative letter grade at the top of the report. Data on student proficiency, state assessments, teacher quality, and school environment are displayed in simple charts with the function of clicking for more detailed information on that specific measure. Additionally, educational options are easily located from the state DOE homepage improving accountability and transparency in the state.

School Board Elections are during the General Election cycle, which gives parents more power in their decision making because of higher voter turnout.

Your governor:

Tate Reeves (R)

First term began in 2020 (two-term limit)

Since being elected in 2019, Governor Tate Reeves has signed both an ESA program and a charter school bill into law, although the charter school bill is one of the weakest in the country. Governor Reeves  supports the notion of parent power but we’ve not seen as aggressive an effort as is indicated by his rhetoric.  And the importance of innovative models of learning isn’t very strong here.

State Legislature:

The legislature is split on its support for educational choice and there’s much more it can do to expand and improve educational opportunities for families in Mississippi, but it takes leadership.

The Mississippi constitution contains a Blaine Amendment, but in a recent case “the Mississippi Supreme Court distinguished between aiding students and aiding the schools they choose to attend,” (Institute for Justice) and therefore has validated the use of public funds for parental choices including parochial schools.

In September 2019, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of charter schools receiving state and local dollars.

Learn More:

Institute for Justice: Mississippi School Choice and State Constitution

School report cards are easily accessible and highlighted on the main page of the Mississippi DOE website. Report cards are incredibly clean and easy to navigate, featuring a summative letter grade at the top of the report. Data on student proficiency, state assessments, teacher quality, and school environment are displayed in simple charts with the function of clicking for more detailed information on that specific measure. Additionally, educational options are easily located from the state DOE homepage improving accountability and transparency in the state.

School Board Elections are during the General Election cycle, which gives parents more power in their decision making because of higher voter turnout.

Select Your State

Charter Schools

Charter schools are public schools, open by choice, free from most rules and regulations that hamper traditional public schools and held accountable for results.

Since 1991, when charter schools were first established in Minnesota, the principle has remained the same — increased operational autonomy in exchange for increased accountability for outcomes. This freedom to innovate allows academically excellent charter schools to flourish.

As of 2020, there were more than 7,300 charter schools across the country with more than 3.3 million students, with demand higher everywhere they are located. Forty-six states, including Washington, D.C. have charter school laws. West Virginia enacted the most recent law in 2019. All charter laws are not created equal, however, and in fact, many are so flawed that they allow for only minimal opportunity for parents. PPI draws from CER’s newest Charter School Law Rankings and Scorecard, produced in the summer of 2020. For the US as a whole, the glass is more empty than full when it comes to meaningful charter choices.

Since 1996, CER has researched, analyzed, and ranked charter school laws, taking the content of each law into consideration as well as how it impacts charter schools on the ground. This Parent Power Index looks at four main areas of each state’s law:

If it allows for multiple authorizers, and if applicants have the ability to appeal a denial; whether it allows for growth, particularly with no caps on number of schools or enrollment; if schools and teachers have freedom to innovate; and if there is equitable funding of schools, including for facilities and transportation.

Charter schools are the most analyzed public school reform in decades. Since 1996, CER has studied their impact, their environment, and their practice and made recommendations for how to improve each law. The Parent Power Index charter score is based on whether the law allows for freedom and flexibility that can ensure parents, teachers and the general public are able to build vibrant, successful charter schools without undue interference from flawed state regulators, with equitable funding and parents in the driver’s seat. More about how this works can be found in CER publications, most notably Charting a New Course and The Future of School.

In addition, past rankings document how states have grown or confined charter schools and what best practices should be followed. Finally CER has provided a model charter school law for policymakers that is the standard bearer for advocates who believe that parents, not systems, should drive education.

Choice Programs

Educational choice is best defined as the availability of a multitude of public programs that provide parents with the ability to include private and religious entities – schools, tutoring, and other organizations – in their choices. Those programs are enacted at the state level, allowing in a wide variety of ways that the funds allocated for education in a state either follow the student to the institution the parent chooses or, as in the case of tax credits, public funds are redistributed to support the choices parents make, rather than automatically going to government based school districts.

These options are often referred to as scholarship programs, vouchers, tax credits, education accounts and more.

The existence of a higher degree of educational choice in a community or state, particularly for lower income students, has been found to be a significant factor in improving education and ensuring all students have access to the best school that meets their individual needs. Where once private options were only available to the more advantaged, most choice programs today ensure that those without resources have the power to shape their student’s education and invest in their future.

PPI 2020 assesses the extent to which every state gives families better and more abundant educational options through various mechanisms. Choice programs are analyzed and evaluated on their potential to reach all children across a state and for the degree to which they can actually support the full choice of parents, as opposed to only providing a modest amount of financial support. Programs where a significant population of parents can obtain scholarships or vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice score higher than those that have limitations based on geography, income, and student eligibility constraints.

To determine scores, PPI relies on well-established organizations which study, advance and support such programs. The scores were developed with this lens, and on information and ratings from EdChoice’s School Choice in America Dashboard, American Legislative Exchange Council’s Report Card on American Education: 23rd Edition, and American Federation for Children’s School Choice Interactive Map.

Teacher Quality

Teacher Quality is an equally important facet of ensuring greater educational opportunity. There is a direct correlation between quality teachers and student achievement, and teachers have the power to foster highly effective learning environments and leave a lasting impact on the future of their students. State teacher policies are critical in ensuring that students have the opportunity to receive the best education possible. Without schools full of well-prepared teachers who are held accountable either directly to the parent or to taxpayers for student achievement, opportunity can be meaningless. Most states vary widely in the criteria used to train, hire, retain, evaluate, reward and advance teachers, and local rules also influence that criteria greatly, as do teachers unions. PPI looked again to the expert analysis of the National Council of Teacher Quality, and from several aspects of their work PPI extrapolated final teacher quality scores. (NCTQ does not grade each state.)

Relying solely on the rich data collected from the National Council on Teacher Quality, states are measured by across a wide range of policy categories: Training and Recruitment, Staffing and Support, Evaluation, and Compensation. The score is by no means comprehensive about teacher quality across every community and state, but it is based on the extent to which states rigorously expect, manage and measure different aspects of teacher training, hiring, evaluation and compensation. States score higher when they have strong, data-driven, performance-based accountability systems that ensure teachers are rewarded, retained, and advanced based on their effectiveness. Likewise, states that establish rigorous teacher preparation programs and offer alternative licensing programs earn higher scores.

For more information about the Teacher Quality landscape, please see the National Council on Teacher Quality’s detailed analysis in their State Teacher Policy Database.

Innovation

States are measured on their increasing commitment to and practice of innovative approaches to education that include digital learning models and pathways, full or in part, encouraging personalized learning through focus on competency and mastery – even on a pilot level – or by allowing flexibility in schools and school districts that want to do it. Personalized learning models value mastery of material over traditional subject matter time tests, and competency over end of course grades. While these practices are best decided locally, closest to the student, states can motivate, incentivize, fund, discourage or encourage.

To determine scores, the PPI drew heavily from ExcelinEd’s 2019 State Progress Toward Next Generation Learning, Aurora Institute’s 2020 Future-Focused State Policy Actions to Transform K-12 Education, and KnowledgeWorks’ 2019 State Policy Framework for Personalized Learning.

COVID-19 Response

When COVID-19 reached our shores in early 2020, states were forced to close their schools for in-person instruction. Whether and how to continue teaching and set expectations for continued learning outside of the classroom was a big debate. Many states and schools quickly pivoted to delivering education remotely, either through technology enabled tools or with low-tech paper packets and phone calls, or a combination of both. The response from schools and school districts varied widely, with some being willing to adapt and some actually discouraging both teaching and learning. CER tracked those responses (and continues to do so, given the fluidity of the situation). States that were encouraging, set expectations, and demanded that schools figure out whatever they could to keep moving students forward, tended to have more schools and districts that responded well and worked to deliver education regardless of challenges. Many states that had digital or virtual learning programs in place were able to make a more seamless shift. Innovative leaders at local and state levels rose to the occasion. But many states and localities dragged their feet and, in some cases, outright discouraged schooling to keep going, including forbidding teachers in some areas to be required to do any face to face teaching via technology.

States were evaluated based on reviewing their official notices and declarations, and by reviewing a broad array of surveys and data many groups have been maintaining. This score also factors in states’ prior commitments to expanding broadband and internet access and how they worked to provide devices to keep students learning and engaged.

What was, and is, a challenging and unprecedented time for schools, teachers, and parents was also an opportunity to look at states’ and schools’ abilities to adapt, be flexible, and innovate.

For more on Education Innovation, check out the CER ACTION Series:

  • Virtual Events & Videos
  • Key Data
  • Resources
  • Publications

Leadership

Improving education opportunity and innovation requires leaders who boldly and courageously push forward to create or expand successful programs that allow a wide variety of educational choice and individualized programs to thrive. Governors and state legislators are the most important entities in each state to pave the way, or deter, expanded parent power. Some leaders pay lip service to issues, while others wake up with a fire in their belly to ensure that they are doing what they can every day to push through conventional wisdom and demand 21st century schooling opportunities for all students.

Whether or not your governor is the bold, fire-in-the-belly kind, or a passive applauder of others’ efforts, is evaluated to help you push or prod or applaud. PPI looks at their positions AND actions on charter schools, choice programs, innovation, and commitment to increasing educational opportunities for all students at every level and summarizes it for you here. You have the power to elect leaders who prioritize parents and students!

Constitutional Issues

The ability for states to enact educational change can be significantly limited depending on certain provisions in state constitutions.

The most common clause that limits educational opportunity in most states are “Blaine Amendments” – named after 19th century Congressman James Blaine nearly 150 years ago. Historically, these provisions in 37 state constitutions were either interpreted to restrict educational choice programs that include private schools or have been a deterrent for many programs being considered, let alone enacted.

This issue received a great deal of press leading up to and following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 30, 2020 decision in the case of Espinoza vs Montana Department of Revenue, a case that dealt with Montana’s Blaine Amendment. That landmark decision found that the U.S. Constitution “forbids states from excluding religious schools as options for families participating in educational choice programs, including through Blaine Amendments.”

As a result, most states have a new path to enact programs that provide options for families, including religious schools. Their individual versions of Blaine Amendments can either be nullified with attorney generals’ opinions, with legislation or with both. Additional restrictions on expanded opportunity are often dedicated by what is called a Compelled Support Clause where dated constitutional language restricts public funding to government entities.

We look at each state’s particular constitutional issues, utilizing a number of sources, CER attorney analysis and the Institute for Justice’s research as our guide. Additional information about Espinoza and Blaine Amendments can be found here.

In addition, if states have other constitutional barriers to more opportunity, they are evaluated in this area.

Transparency

Transparency is a key element of providing great opportunities for students. Every parent needs and deserves full transparency of school-level data to allow them to make informed decisions and drive changes in how their students are educated. School report cards empower parents in their decision making by giving them access to meaningful and quality education data about a particular school or district. Report cards often provide information on student performance, student growth, attendance, graduation rates, demographics, teacher quality, school environment, assessments, and more. States that have greater transparency and accountability provide the public with data that is current, readily available, and easy to understand.

States are measured based on the transparency and accessibility of data for the average person looking to learn about their child’s school. States have more gas in the tank when school report cards are easily accessible from their state DOE homepage; report cards are comprehensive, user-friendly, and easy to understand; and information about educational options are readily available. Additionally, states score higher when they hold School Board Elections during the General Election cycle, as opposed to off-times of the year when turnout is low, because this tends to afford parents more power in their decision-making.