The House charter schools bill has passed the Education Committee

This morning, the House charter schools bill passed the Education Committee, and heads to the floor for a vote.  As mentioned before, there are several substantial differences between the House and Senate charter schools bill, meaning that we're still a long way from knowing what the final outcome will be.

Sam Hall digs deep and compares the House and Senate charter schools bills

Sam Hall did the heavy lifting today and has a comparison of the House and Senate charter schools bills on his blog.  Y'all head on over and read it.

Charter Schools: No vote today in House Ed Committee; next chance for vote is 9 a.m.

Word out of the Capitol is that the House Education Committee did not take up Rep. John Moore's charter schools bill.  The next opportunity for that to happen will be at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Further scuttlebutt is that Rep. Charles Busby (R - Pascagoula) will be handling Rep. Moore's charter schools bill on the House floor, presuming it passes the Education Committee.

House Republican leadership will attempt to ram through charter schools bill today

I've received word from the Capitol that House Education Committee Chairman Rep. John Moore (R - Brandon) has sent text messages to members of his committee indicating that they will bring up for a vote his charter schools bill, which was filed this morning.

The bill is 251 pages long and was not available for anyone other than close allies of Rep. Moore to read until a few short hours ago.  His bill, HB 369, may be read in its entirety here.  The bill's title is 2,263 words long, and it amends, brings forward, or repeals 75 separate code sections.

A very quick review of the first few pages of the bill reveals that charters schools may not be created in A, B, or C school districts unless the school board votes to request one.  This would be in conflict with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves' position that charters schools should be allowed in all districts, regardless of how they are performing.

A word search reveals that this bill also would create virtual charter schools, which are the source of much controversy, are allowed under this bill.

More on this as I learn it.

Photo of State Capitol Police investigating possible assault of Rep. Reecy Dickson

The above photo purportedly shows State Capitol Police investigating reports that Rep. Reecy Dickson (D - Macon) was assaulted after the charter schools vote in the House Education Committee.  The charter schools bill died by one vote, with Rep. Dickson voting against the measure.

HB 1152 to be amended by Senate with charter school language

Republicans in the Mississippi Senate, not satisfied with the defeat of charter schools legislation in the House Education Committee moments ago, will amend HB 1152, a conversion charter schools bill.  The amendment will purportedly be a strike-all amendment that will add the language of the now-dead charter schools bill to HB 1152.  Should the amendment be successful and the Senate pass HB 1152 as amended, HB 1152 will go on the House calendar for concurrence or nonconcurrence.  The House will then have a straight up or down vote on the charter schools language.

CHARTER SCHOOLS BILL DIES IN HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Here are the votes:


No

Bain
Burnett
Calhoun
Clark
Dickson
J Evans
Gardner
Hamilton
Holloway
Jennings
Massengill
Nelson
Straughter
Thomas
Weathersby
Whittington

Aye

Arnold
Barker
Boyd
Chism
Crawford
Currie
DeBar
Espy
Frierson
Guice
Martinson
Mayo
McGee
Moore
Warren

***BREAKING*** - Charter schools bill not brought up in committee

The forces behind the charter schools bill have been unsuccessful in gaining a majority of votes in the House Education Committee, it appears. Chairman John Moore (R - Brandon) did not call the bill up in committee today, with the deadline looming.

This may be the end of the charter schools debate for this year.

All eyes on the House this afternoon

The House is set to take up the Motion to Reconsider SB 2576, the Workers Compensation Destruction Bill, when it returns to session this afternoon at 4 p.m.  In addition, the House also has the following items to deal with in short order:

I found out what Education Chairman John Moore (R - Brandon) said so on state-funded SuperTalk radio yesterday morning. WOW.

Yesterday morning, I asked what I'd missed by not catching Rep. John Moore's interview on the Gallo Show.  Sure, Rep. Moore (R - Brandon) spent time asking listeners to the Gallo Show to work to unseat people who vote against Moore's beloved charter schools bill.  There's nothing odd or wrong about that.  It's what he said at the end of the interview with Paul Gallo that should curl your hair.

Interesting read at the Washington Post about the House Education Committee meetings over the Mississippi charter schools bill

Mike Sayer of Southern Echo provides an in-depth account of the scene at the House Education Committee over the last two days.  The charter schools bill is stuck in the committee, and the vote keeps getting pushed back as supporters of the bill struggle to flip "no" votes.  The battle will resume next week, and Sayer's article builds the back story very well.  It's a fascinating read, and you can find it here.

***Developing throughout the afternoon - Votes still not there on charter schools

This was the scene moments ago when the House Education Committee began its meeting today to take up the charter schools bill, SB 2401.  Rep. John Moore (R - Brandon), the chairman of the committee, decided that the vote would be put off until another meeting of the committee later this afternoon.  That is a big signal that there still are not enough votes to pass the charter schools bill out of the committee, and that Rep. Steve Massengill (R - Hickory Flat) is standing his ground.

Meet Your Chairmen, Part 3 - Rep. John Moore (because sometimes one introduction just isn't enough)

As we wait for Rep. Moore to resume his assault on public education in Mississippi at today's House Education Committee meeting, here are more fun facts from Rep. Moore's past for your reading pleasure.

Back in its Fall 2004 Intelligence Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center mentioned Rep. Moore's name among other notable Mississippi Republicans who enjoyed a close relationship with the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization formerly headed by Richard Barrett.

Apparently, Barrett and Moore's relationship was a very close one as Moore was named a beneficiary in Barrett's will (alongside the Government of Iran).  To read more about Barrett and the Council of Conservative Citizens, check here and here.  

Assuming Rep. Moore is successful in his efforts to dismantle Mississippi's K-12 program, it'll be interesting to see what he and the CCC come up with as a replacement.

***BREAKING*** - Intrigue builds as House Education Committee may not pass Senate charter school bill

Representatives were called into Republican Speaker Philip Gunn's office today prior to the House Education Committee meeting, at which the Senate charter schools bill was to be presented.  The intention of the meeting was to press Education Committee members into voting for the bill.  The effort may not have worked, however, as Chairman John Moore (R - Brandon) announced during the committee meeting that there had been a late development. The bill was laid on the table subject to call, and the committee adjourned until tomorrow morning.  There's much more, though.

HB 1536 would establish school choice through tax breaks

At a time when the Republican budget relies heavily on cutting education funding, House Education Chairman Rep. John Moore (R - Brandon) has a plan to sneak school choice into Mississippi law via an income tax deduction.  The author of HB 1536 seeks to allow a $5,000 a year deduction (per child) for private school tuition.  Now that won't cover even half of the tuition at the more expensive private schools around Jackson.  But it will cover tuition at rural schools like Manchester Academy in Yazoo City or Washington School in Greenville.  And it will cover nearly all of the tuition at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis or Sacred Heart in Hattiesburg.

So what is the net result?  Middle income and wealthy parents will get tax credits for sending their children to private schools, while poor parents won't be in a position to spend the $5,000 in tuition up front and get a rebate.  Average daily attendance at public schools would wane, leaving them with less money to educate poor children.

House Education Chairman John Moore on why he doesn't want to teach kids about civil rights

As posted before, House Education Chairman John Moore (R-Brandon) has proposed legislation to discourage teaching Mississippi's children about civil rights.  Well, when asked why he would be opposed to, ya know, TEACHING ABOUT CIVIL RIGHTS IN MISSISSIPPI, he responded thusly:

“I just want to make sure it’s teaching the truth and facts and not being accusatory of one group of people or the other. I don’t want it to be somebody’s philosophical idea of what civil rights are."

That's the new House Education Chairman, folks.  Thanks, Speaker Gunn.

***UPDATE*** - Mississippi House Education Chairman not a college graduate

***The Meet Your Chairmen series has been interrupted for this important note on yesterday's subject, Rep. John Moore.***

Former House Education Chairman Cecil Brown (D-Jackson), served on the Education Committee for two terms before becoming its chairman. Rep. Brown is a certified public accountant who is generally considered an expert on budgetary issues such as education, with a resume that includes being the Executive Director of the Department of Finance & Administration and a Governor’s Chief of Staff. Brown received a bachelor’s degree from Ole Miss in mathematics and English, and a master’s degree with special distinction at the University of Texas.  After last Friday, Rep. Brown is no longer a member the Education Committee, let alone its chairman.  Republicans rejoiced at this.

Rep. John Moore (R-Brandon), by contrast, never served on the Education Committee before becoming its chair. As outlined yesterday, that doesn't mean he didn't have his own inventive solutions for how to move Mississippi off of the bottom educationally. From reducing the number of days spent in the classroom to preventing teachers from teaching about the Civil Rights Movement, Rep. Moore has been a font of ideas.

One thing Rep. Moore has not been, however, is overly dedicated to his own education. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, Mississippi House Education Chairman John Moore doesn't have a college degree:

Surely, the Paul Gallo interview is just days away now, in which Moore will explain his lack of a college diploma by citing some personal hardship or tragedy that befell him in the mid 1970s.  And that's all fine and good.  One does not need a college diploma to make it in life. A personal commitment to one's own education should be a requirement to head the House Education Committee, however.

So the takeaway is this: new Speaker Philip Gunn just appointed a man with no college degree to head our Education Committee.  This is in stark contrast with the previous chairman, who earned a college degree with a double major and a masters degree with honors.  I'm sure the national media will have a field day with this one.

Arkansans, on behalf of Speaker Gunn, you're welcome.

***BONUS*** - In an unrelated matter, I couldn't help but note that Rep. Moore also offered a bill that would prohibit municipalities from collecting taxes from tobacco sales if they restricted tobacco use inside the city limits.  Yes, you read that right.  If Rep. Moore had his way, towns that prohibit smoking in restaurants would be denied the ability to collect sales tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Meet Your Chairmen, Part 1 - Rep. John Moore

As promised, the weekend brought a bit more time to study Speaker Philip Gunn's committee chairmen appointments.  According to Geoff Pender of the Sun Herald, Speaker Philip Gunn based his committee assignments on the laudable criteria of “capability, seniority, regionalism and political party”. At a minimum, there should have been a warning that those factors were listed in no particular order.  In truth, Gunn's stated criteria appear to have been listed in reverse order of importance.


So this week, check in daily for an introduction to some of the more notable committee appointments and remember, this House is your House, this House is my House from John Moore to Alex Monsour.

Meet your Chairman: Rep. John L. Moore (R-Brandon)

No chairmanship has drawn more scrutiny, angst, and surprise than Speaker Gunn’s appointment of Rep. John L. Moore as Education chairman. Echoing the sentiments of teachers across Mississippi, Moore said he was “blind sided” by the appointment.

Elected in November of 1995, Moore has served four full terms in the House, all without being a member of the Education, Universities & Colleges, or Appropriations Committees. Thankfully for our purposes here, Rep. Moore didn’t allow the fact that he has gone 0-4 in education-related committee assignments keep him from offering legislation on the subject. Consider these offerings:

1. A measure reducing the number of school days from 180 to 170;
2. A measure to keep civil rights from being a required course of study in MISSISSIPPI;
3. A measure to require that all elections for Boards of Education be partisan;
4. A measure to eliminate remedial reading and writing courses;and
5. A measure establishing a school voucher program.

After reading these adventures in bill writing, you’ll understand why one Rankin County businessman had the following reply upon being told that Mr. Moore had ascended to the rank of Education Committee Chairman: “Yeah, and I’m an astronaut.” Hope that fella has his Tang ready.

Apart from Rep. Moore’s efforts to completely deconstruct the public education system through general bills, his efforts to “fund” the system should be interesting.

• His first public statement after appointment was to tout the new political viability of charter schools, a maneuver that has been widely criticized as a method of defunding public schools. 
• He has also annually filed bills to completely eliminate the corporate income tax. While Mississippi Economic Policy Center figures say over 80% of Mississippi corporations pay no such tax, corporate taxes do provide the state $431,000,000 in revenue for the annual budget.  In 2012, these corporate taxes amounted to 9.38% of the entire budget. 
• Moore has also proposed legislation, with no co-sponsors, eliminating all individual state income tax (an estimated $1.38 billion, or 30.19% of the 2012 budget). 

Given these bills, it is not clear how Mississippi would fund any education whatsoever under Rep. Moore’s tax agenda.  But don't worry.  As long as reading and writing continue to be elective skills for Mississippi students, everything should be fine.

For Tuesday: Rep. Gary Chism (R-Columbus), Insurance Committee Chairman