Mississippi Puts Real Money Into Schools. Now Let Parents Choose.

When I served in the Legislature, every time I spoke up for school choice I heard the same tired line: “If you support choice, you’re anti-school.” Nonsense. Mississippians value education—and we pay for it. The question is whether our kids are actually learning and whether parents have the power to put their child in a school that fits.

What we spend

Mississippi now spends roughly $12,000 per student (that is a lot of money), right in line with our neighbors. We are not starving the system. We’re funding it. Taxpayers have done their part.

What we get

Some wins: Our early-grade reading reforms worked. Fourth graders have posted some of the best gains in the country. Graduation is up, too. That’s good news and it took effort.

But, by eighth grade the edge fades. Too many students are walking across the stage without the skills they need for college, a trade, or the military. That’s not a funding problem; that’s a results problem.

How we stack up to private schools

Private high schools typically graduate more of their seniors and post stronger scores. Yes, some of that reflects family factors, but it also reflects mission, discipline, and the freedom to run a school that fits its students. Families who can match a child to the right school usually see better outcomes. That’s not “anti-public.” That’s pro-student.

Are we getting our money’s worth?

Partly. We paid for improvement and got some—especially in early literacy. But taxpayers aren’t buying fourth-grade scores; we’re investing in adults who can read, reason, and work. If a child spends twelve years in a school system and still isn’t ready for what’s next, the system—not the child—failed. Paying more into the same structure and expecting different results is the political habit we need to break.

How school choice helps Mississippi kids

Choice isn’t a threat to public schools; it’s a promise to parents. When money follows the student, every school—district, charter or private—has to earn a family’s trust.

Mississippi has proven we’ll pay for education. That should end the slur that conservatives are “anti-school.” We’re anti-excuses. If we truly value kids more than systems, we’ll let parents choose, let schools compete, and demand results worthy of the dollars we already spend.