What To Expect: A New Year, Same Tired Republican Excuses

This is Part 2 of a series this week highlighting what to expect from the Mississippi Legislature this session.

If the very calculated and well-funded defeat of Initiative 42 did not clearly spell out that the Republicans are not for the funding of a public education system, there is not much else we could say on this blog to prove this fact to you. 

The problem is, our education system needs an infusion of money. We can go round and round about where the money should come from, how it should be spent on kids and not administration, and on and on and on. But the fact remains, quality people and facilities cost money. Money that our schools do not have, as repeated over and over again during the Initiative 42 battle. Money that is needed – money to pay for teachers, money to pay for walls and roofs, money to pay for textbooks and working computers.

With all those big businesses and lobbyists and associations backing the anti-Initiative 42 on behalf of Gov. Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and Speaker Gunn, all three are now beholden to them and their wish list of tax breaks and incentives for companies and businesses. 

Republicans have announced that they plan to fund K-12 at current levels. Which means, underfund K-12 for another year. Instead of coming up with a plan to generate revenue, or not cut more corporate taxes, Republicans are developing a plan to move the goal posts and change the MAEP formula so the same or less amount of money will magically fully-fund education. 

When looking at what’s going on around the country in terms of charter schools, it’s hard not to get cynical about the next four years for public education. Republicans have basically been setting up unrealistic goals for public schools or defunding schools to the point where they cannot meet basic standards (or a combination) in order to convert schools to “charter schools.” But don’t think of these schools as the ones fought over a few years back – these are for-profit institutions using state money to run schools. ALEC and their friends in Indiana have already developed model legislation that will surely make its way to Mississippi.

In light of the unmasking of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, a look back in time...

Yesterday, when the Center for Media and Democracy released their report showing the Mississippi Center for Public Policy (MCPP) to be funded by a network of large corporations and right-wing lunatics, the exchange between an employee of the MCPP and myself in the comments section of this previous post didn't come to mind.  I was reminded of it by David McDowell, though, who doesn't miss much.  Here's the particular comment that is now laughable in light of yesterday's revelations:

Now, you might remember Jake McGuire as the guy whose personal attacks on senators via twitter was partially blamed for Joel Bomgar being denied a spot on the State Board of Education.  But that's not really the issue here.

The issue here is that the Mississippi Center for Public Policy advocated vociferously for charter schools.  Whilst their Communications Coordinator denied being funded by "giant corporations" like K12, Inc., which made over $730M last year alone by running charter schools.

The House roll call vote on the final charter schools bill

The Mississippi Press has the roll call vote on the charter schools bill in the House on their site.  The Democrats voting for the bill were Rep. Angela Cockerham (D - Magnolia), Rep. Deborah Dixon (D - Jackson), Rep. Chuck Espy (D - Clarksdale), Rep. Bennett Malone (D - Carthage), and Rep. Joe Warren (D - Mount Olive).

Wading back in; a wrap up of what I've missed covering

I'm back in the office a bit today, and here's a round up of the stories that I've missed while out:

- When the history of this session is written, the most important story of it will be Medicaid expansion.  House Democrats have pulled the biggest political power play since the 2011 redistricting battle in forcing Republicans into the following position: either have an open floor debate about Medicaid expansion or don't have Medicaid.  There was doubt early on as to whether House Democrats would stick together, but they certainly have.  Rep. Bobby Moak (D - Bogue Chitto), has emerged as a very effective leader for the House Democrats, who have proved they are still a major force in the Legislature when they stay united.

- Gov. Phil Bryant (R) named anti-abortion activist Terri Herring as his nominee to fill a position on the State Board of Health being vacated by Ellen Williams of Senatobia.  While everyone was distracted by Herring's maniacal positions on reproduction, the AP looked at the statute and a map, and figured out that Herring, by law, couldn't serve.  Bryant withdrew her name, avoiding what would have been a contentious confirmation battle.

- In reference to the above, the State Board of Health is made up of 11 people, a minority of whom have to be physicians.  Am I the only person who sees something wrong with that?

- Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) has conceded that "C" districts, in addition to those gaining scores of "A" and "B", will have veto power over charter school startups within their districts, and that has apparently broken the logjam over charter schools legislation. The House, just minutes ago, approved the conference committee report that would allow up to 15 new charter schools each year in "D" and "F" districts.

- Jackson has been named the worst city for people with spring allergies.  That's no surprise.  When you've been blessed with a botanical and agricultural bounty like ours, there's a downside.

A thought on the education proposals in Gov. Bryant's State of the State

It is interesting that Gov. Bryant is asking for legislation raising the requirements for education majors, yet his party supports charter schools that wholly reject the idea of teacher certification.

Just putting that out there.

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.

Mississippi's former State Superintendent of Education makes strong case against charter schools

I can't add much to this.  Read it, share it, write and call your representatives.

Dr. Richard Boyd on the failure of charter schools

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.

Gov. Phil Bryant: I haven't figured out how people make money off charter schools

If a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes a single quote is worth a political career of them.

Emily Wagster Pettus had a long sit down with Gov. Phil Bryant recently, and the transcript of the Q&A portion was published on the Sun Herald site on New Year's Day.  The interview concerned the upcoming legislative session, with topics ranging from economic development to immigration.  But it's the following exchange that should send shivers down the spine of Mississippians:

AP: People also wonder: Who's going to make money off charter schools?  

Bryant: "If there is money to be made in charter schools, I haven't figured out how that happens.

Considering that this man, as our governor, is pushing extremely hard for charter school legislation, one might think he would have at least been briefed on this issue.  Guess not.

So you can be more knowledgeable than our governor on the charter school issue, here's a list of stories to check out:

• Charter schools pay off for CEO's family
• Districts floored by payments to charter-cyber schools
• Charter executive pay: How much is too much?
• Charter school executives earning big bucks educating city's poorer students

Nancy Loome of Parents Campaign exposes profiteering of charter schools

Nancy Loome of the Parents' Campaign penned an article for today's Clarion-Ledger that exposes one of the big problems with the charter school movement.  It's paid for by big businesses who have something on their minds other than your kid's education: their profits.

From the article:

For-profits pay to influence education legislation to benefit their bottom line. Lobbyists push their agenda, donating to PACs that aren’t required to reveal their funders, running multi-million dollar ad campaigns to influence public opinion, and funding foundations that push their for-profit agenda.  

K-12 Inc. is the largest of several for-profit virtual school companies that are making money hand over fist from state tax dollars, despite an abysmal record.

Since K-12 Inc. is pushing hard for charter schools in Mississippi, this caught my eye.  How bad is that record?

A Pennsylvania study found that 100 percent of the state’s cyber schools, including K-12 Inc., had “significantly worse” outcomes than their traditional public school counterparts, for which the virtual companies were paid $10,000 per student from public school coffers. In turn, K-12 Inc.’s revenues for the first quarter of this fiscal year increased by 14.4 percent to $221.1 million. Last year, K-12 Inc. paid its CEO $5 million. (Emphasis mine)

So if these charter school outfits are failing, how do they keep getting states to go along with charter school legislation?

In Georgia earlier this year, out-of-state groups funded a $3 million ad campaign to push a constitutional amendment broadening Georgia’s charter school statute. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the initiative’s two primary backers were Families for Public School Options, which received 71 percent of its funding from out-of-state corporations and foundations (including K-12 Inc.), and Georgia Public School Families for Amendment One, funded entirely by PublicSchoolOptions.org of Arlington, Va. — not a single Georgia public school family.

If we had a few more real journalists in this state, and a populous that would pay their salaries, we'd have some idea of how deeply corporate money penetrates our charter schools discussions.  It's unfortunate that we don't.

C-L Editorial: Charter schools not the solution

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  Now it's back to the grind.

With the 2013 Legislative session looming, there's no doubt that once again the focus of education-related efforts will be on passing a charter schools bill.  The Clarion-Ledger stepped forward in a powerful editorial just before New Year's and called it what it is: a red herring.

From the editorial:

In a best-case scenario for charter school supporters, expansion in Mississippi would impact only a fraction of students, and that impact could be years down the road. If an expansion is passed, the first charter schools in the state could take years to set up. 

Thus, charter schools are little more than a political red herring — garnering most of the debate, energy and focus of the commonwealth while drowning out other education and general issues in Mississippi.

I strongly suggest reading the whole thing.

***BREAKING - CHARTER SCHOOLS BILL HEADED TO CONFERENCE***

The Mississippi House has voted this afternoon to send the charter schools legislation to conference committee.

Classic Marshall Ramsey cartoon ties together last couple of Cottonmouth posts

The old saw is that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, Marshall Ramsey's cartoons are often worth so much more.  The last two posts on this blog have been "Republican leadership: "'Vote for charter schools or lose your district'" and "Charter schools bill not brought up in House; signal that Republican leadership does not have the votes."  Today's Ramsey cartoon put it better than I could:

Very well done, Mr. Ramsey!

Charter schools bill not brought up in House; signal that Republican leadership does not have the votes

The new charter schools language inserted into HB 1152 by Sen. Gray Tollison (R - Oxford) sits on the House calendar for a vote on concurrence.  It was not brought up today, which means the House Republican leadership doesn't have the votes to pass it.  While today is a deadline day, this bill will not die until April 26, as it is a general bill on for concurrence.  (See timetable for processing legislation.)

Now here's the interesting part: the new redistricting maps have to be announced 15 days prior to sine die, which is before the deadline to vote on concurrence.  That means it may be difficult to continue to twist arms on the charter schools bill via redistricting.

Republican leadership: "Vote for charter schools or lose your district"

During last year's redistricting battle, Governor Bryant and other Republicans admonished legislators that the "gentleman's agreement," that one chamber would not interfere with another chamber's redistricting maps, was a violation of a member's oath of office because it was improper to vote for one bill in exchange for a vote on another.  Count that among the many "principled" stands that have become suddenly inconvenient with Republicans in charge. 

Cottonmouth has received word from several House members that members are being told that they will jeopardize their chances of having a "good" district if they don't vote to pass the charter school bill.

A vote on House Bill 1152, a measure that was amended to include the "Mississippi Public Charter Schools Act of 2012" by Senator Gray Tollison (R-Oxford) earlier today, is likely to come up for a vote in the House on Thursday. 

How do we explain the different eyewitness accounts of the alleged incident yesterday at the Capitol?

There's been quite a bit of talk today surrounding what happened or did not happen with the alleged shoving of Rep. Reecy Dickson (D - Macon) by a reported Tea Party member yesterday.  How can so many people who claim to have seen the same event have such different accounts of it?  Here's my crack at an explanation:

EMCL - Eyewitness identification and testimony - Is it reliable?

Audio of Rep. Chuck Espy (D - Clarksdale) on floor speaking about alleged shoving of Rep. Reecy Dickson (D - Macon)

Rep. Chuck Espy (D - Clarksdale) addressing House concerning alleged shoving of Rep. Reecy Dickson (D - Macon)

The HOME website has the audio of Rep. Espy's fiery speech on the House floor yesterday concerning the alleged shoving of Rep. Reecy Dickson (D - Macon) by a reported Tea Party member.  I referenced the speech here before, and recommend that you go listen to it.  Will be interesting to see what happens with Rep. Espy's investigation.

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.