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Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mississippi House kills bill to allow students to more easily move between school districts
House leadership on Wednesday allowed a bill to die that would have given parent's the ability to more easily transfer their child from one public school district to another. The legislation, a "portability" initiative that was embedded into a Senate education bill, would have allowed students to transfer between public school districts without the approval of their district of origin, and it allowed that child's portion of state K-12 education funding to follow them to the new district. When explaining why the bill died on the House calendar by Wednesday's deadline, House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, and portability advocate Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, both said the bill would have been challenged and killed with a point of order, which seeks to challenge whether a bill's language is germane to its original intent. "Anytime you have a bill, whether it's something that changes a minor thing or a major thing in education, you're going to have people for and against," Roberson said. "Unfortunately, portability is dead. We will come back next year, and we'll be talking about it again." Owen told reporters on the House floor that pressures both inside and outside of the legislature caused the bill's death. He later said he intends to pursue the legislation again next year. School choice update: MS House lawmakers push school choice as Senate chairman kills proposals. Read details "This had nothing to do with public dollars going anywhere but back to other public schools," Owen said. "The whole idea that this is to be lumped in with the (Children's Promise Act, a school choice bill) or anything else is (ridiculous). This was the most basic way to give parents the most basic amount of choice. The only thing we were doing here was telling a school district they can't tell me no when I want to send my kid to another public school district." Earlier this session, the piece of legislation in question, Senate Bill 2618, had been amended in the House Education Committee to include the House portability bill after the Senate had killed several House education priorities for the year. The issue was that the Senate bill only dealt with school attendance officers, and a portability piece was not germane. The bill was the last of a slew of attempts by House leadership to give parents more options for their child's education. More school choice news: Why universal school choice is unlikely to pass in 2025 MS Legislature? Read here The topic is often referred to as school choice, which typically has to do with using government funds to give parents more options with K-12 education, including both public-to-public school district transfers, expansion of charter schools and sending public dollars toward private education. House Speaker Jason White, R-West, who made education reforms such as school choice one of his top priorities for the year, laid the blame on a lack of support inside the legislature, lobbying against the idea and a lack of an opportunity for the Senate chamber to fully consider portability. "I think more and more of my colleagues here in the House and even in the Senate, if they're given an opportunity to express where they are in the form of voting for it or against it, I think you're going to see those (anti portability) attitudes change," White said. "(This issue) doesn't necessarily fall purely along party lines or racial lines. I think you're starting to see real, meaningful adult conversations among lawmakers about, 'Hey, what is best for kids and parents'…You're hearing those conversations." When the House portability bill originally passed the House chamber, it passed mostly along party lines, with less than a handful of Democrats voting in favor and a few Republicans voting against the measure. Throughout the session, Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, has killed both Senate and House proposals to give parents more school choice by way of both portability and other pieces of legislation that would allow public dollars going toward private schools. Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@ or 972-571-2335. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS House kills school district portability bill
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MS Senate tax cut plan unveiled. See how much it cuts
There will be a tax cut debate between the House and Senate this year after all. After several days of proverbial hammering from House members, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann unveiled specifics on the Senate's tax cut plan to match what the House passed early in the session. The plan would seek to cut $538 million in tax revenues over a four-year period in both cuts to the personal income tax and the grocery tax, while leaving local funding levels from sales tax diversions in place for municipalities. The plan would also raise the gas tax by 3 cents over three years and would raise it to a total of 9 cents on every gallon. Hosemann said during a press conference at the Mississippi State Capitol Building on Wednesday he expects $212 million to be added from that tax to go toward road and bridge infrastructure. State of the State address: Gov. Reeves urges tax cuts for Mississippi Hosemann said the tax cut proposal would take four years to fully implement, and it would leave the state's income tax at 2.99% and the grocery sales tax at 5%. House tax plan: MS House passes income tax cut after nearly 2-hour debate. Will Senate pass it next? "One thing that's really important to all of us in the Senate was the fact that we cut taxes immediately and consistently, that there's no bump here for a while and a decrease later on," Hoseman said. "This needs to be a sustainable, conservative approach to taxes." In the end, it would be a $326 million cut to state funding. The plan starkly contrasts key provisions of the House plan, dubbed the Build Up Mississippi Act. Which would: Feature a net $1.1 billion cut to state revenues. Totally eliminate the state personal income tax over 10 years Cut the grocery tax on groceries in half but allow cities to levy a 1.5% local sales tax. Remove sales tax diversions from the state to municipalities. Implement a 5% fuel tax to then fund infrastructure projects. The $80 million that was going to MDOT per year from gambling revenue will now be headed toward the Public Employee Retirement Systems of Mississippi to address a $25 billion deficit in future retirement benefits. Establishes a "budget stabilization fund" that will act as a secondary rainy-day fund. In contrast, Hosemann said the Senate tax plan does not contain provisions to address the state's public retirement system, but it would be a sticking point in another piece of Senate legislation. Hosemann also said he thought the House proposal was too ambitious of a plan and that any plan to cut taxes beyond a four-year window is unwise. "When you get beyond four years, you really get into Neverland about what's going to happen," Hosemann said. "Nobody really knows what's going to happen. You'll see we are very reluctant to get into something further than what we've done today." School choice debate: School choice in MS House lives by in-house rule, not Democratic principle. See details House Speaker Jason White, R-West, in response to the unveiling of the Senate plan that the House will stand firm in its resolve to totally eliminate the state's personal income tax. He also said he is glad the Senate has at least come to the table with a proposal. "I'm glad they have a play," White said. "I'm glad now hopefully we could start moving down the road of comparing their ideas, the house ideas, and see where the common ground is, where the differences are." The differences in the chambers' approach to tax cuts tees the policy up for a lengthy debate between House and Senate lawmakers. If those conversations are fruitful, one side will likely bend one way or another. For now, the bill that will feature the Senate's plan will have to be filed and pass through both a Senate committee and the floor before the House can consider it. Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@ or 972-571-2335. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Senate unveils tax cut plan
