Political Emails to State Employees Only Legal for Republicans

What better way to remind our public school employees that they are underpaid than to receive constant email reminders from Mississippi Republicans?

Governor Phil Bryant, a native of Rankin County, and the Mississippi Republican Party have quite possibly violated state law by sending emails to public employees through a school district email server in Rankin County.

Mississippi Code Section 23-15-871 clearly states that

It shall be unlawful for any employer, or employee having the authority to employ or discharge other employees, to make any statement public or private, or to give out or circulate any report or statement, calculated to intimidate or coerce or otherwise influence any employee as to his vote, and when any such statement has obtained circulation, it shall be the duty of such employer to publicly repudiate it, in the absence of which repudiation the employer shall be deemed by way of ratification to have made it himself...

The prohibitions of this section shall apply to all state, state district, county and county district officers, and to any board or commission and the members thereof by whatever name designated and whether elective or appointive, and to each and every one of those employed by them or any of them. And no state, state district, county or county district officer, or any employee of any of them who directly or indirectly has the control, or in any way the power of control, or who asserts or pretends that he has such power, over the expenditure of any public funds in this state, whatever the purpose or object of said expenditure may be, shall state, suggest or intimate, publicly or privately, or in any manner or form, that any such expenditure shall in any wise depend upon or be influenced by the vote of any person, group of persons, or community or group of communities, whether for or against any candidate or group of candidates at any election.

To add insult to injury, Republicans have the nerve to ask for money from these hard working women and men even though Mississippi's public school employees are among the worst-paid in the country.

Interestingly, it was House Education Committee Chairman and Rankin County Republican John Moore who authored House Bill 449 this year which would have created criminal penalties for teachers and school personnel who engage in political activity while at work.

Empowering Opponents of Public Education

In the Haley Barbour years, Mississippi Republicans at least voiced some support for public education. Even then-Lt. Governor Phil Bryant campaigned on the promise that he would always fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP.) As anyone who has observed the Republicans' shameless tactics to undermine Initiative 42 can tell you, Republican support for public schools has come completely unraveled over the past several years. What's changed?

Many Republicans have probably just started showing their true colors. For years, they would voice support for MAEP while voting to under-fund it. There were a few who really did support public education - mainly from districts with strong public schools, such as Lafayette, DeSoto, Madison, and Rankin counties. Their reversal seems to have been dictated by outside pressure rather than personal philosophy or the interests of their constituents.

Thanks to financial disclosures posted on the Secretary of State's website, we can start to get a picture of who is applying that pressure. A campaign finance report for an anti-public education political action committee, Empower PAC, shows some disturbing information about our elected officials' stances on public education. We already know that Republicans are not supporters of public education, and the information in this report further backs that up.

Between January 1 to April 30, 2015, this PAC received nearly $365,000 in donations from anti-public education forces such as state House candidate Joel Bomgaars of Madison and the Mississippi Federation for Children PAC, an ALEC-aligned organization, which is oddly based in Virginia. Who is the Federation for Children, you might ask?

The national organization is chaired by former Michigan Republican Party Chair Betsy DeVos. Her husband, Richard, unsuccessfully ran for governor of Michigan in 2006, as a Republican, while spending $35 million of his own money on the race. For Mississippi's purposes, the Chairman of the Mississippi Federation for Children PAC is Greg Brock, a person who is listed with a Washington, DC, address. To give you a sense of his feelings on public education, he led an unsuccessful school voucher initiative in 2000. The DeVos family, as well as billionaires Alice and Jim Walton of Walmart, have poured a tremendous amount of money into anti-public education efforts in recent years. That money is now seeping into Mississippi politics.

Republican candidates for statewide and legislative offices are indirect recipients of the DeVos and Walton money to undermine Mississippi's public education system. If you recall from this year's legislative session, state Rep. Forrest Hamilton spoke from the House Well claiming that he was to be the target of forces who want to hurt public education while Speaker Gunn demanded to know the source of this speculation. Hamilton was right. Hamilton's Republican primary opponent, Dana Criswell, has received at least $11,000 from Empower PAC. Steve Hopkins, who is challenging fellow DeSoto County Republican Rep. Wanda Jennings, has received at least $11,000. Mind you that Hamilton and Jennings both oppose legislation advocating vouchers and charter schools. Longtime Republican Rep. Ray Rogers of Rankin County voted against charter schools in 2013, and now he is a target of Empower. Rogers's opponent, Randall Stephens, has received over $11,000 to take on this race.

Not all incumbents are targets, however.

• Lafayette County Republicans like Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison and House Education Committee member Brad Mayo both received $2,500 from Empower PAC.
• House Education Committee Chairman John Moore received $2,000.
• Republican Rep. Carolyn Crawford (who serves on the House Education Committee) received $5,000.
• Republican Rep. Joey Hood received $2,000.
• Republican Rep. Randy Boyd (who serves on the House Education Committee) received $2,500.
• Republican Rep. Charles Busby (who serves on the House Education Committee and was the floor manager of the charter school bill) received $2,500.
• Republican Lt. Governor Tate Reeves (who is a product of the Rankin County school system) received $5,000.

The evidence is abundantly clear that Republicans do not care about public education; it's been said before and will be said again. You can be a Republican or you can support public education, but you cannot do both.

Democrats + Public Education = Greater Support

Republicans must be feeling the heat from public education supporters on the campaign trail. Given the Republicans' shortchanging of Mississippi's public education system, it makes perfect sense.

Take a journey with me to 2011, the most recent year where Democrats had leverage in the appropriations process, to see for yourself which party truly supports public education and which does not. 

In 2011, the Democratic-led House of Representatives passed its Department of Education appropriations bill funding the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) to the tune of $1,835,713,885. Republican leaders such as now-Speaker Philip Gunn, now-Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden, and now-House Education Committee Chairman John Moore were among a small number of members who joined their Tea Party colleagues (the Tea Party used to be a thing) and voted against higher levels of public education funding passed by the Democratic leadership.

Meanwhile, in the Phil Bryant-led Senate, Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to cut education funding to $1,754,374,491, a proposal roughly 4.5 percent lower than the Democratic plan.

The final product hammered out between House Democrats, Phil Bryant's Senate Republicans, and Haley Barbour resulted in funding MAEP at $1,808,129,050 - an amount closer to the Democratic position than the Republicans'. In short: Democrats' negotiating strength led to more support for public education funding than would have passed under the Republicans.

This is another example of Democrats putting their money where their mouths are while Republicans accept less support for public education and call it a success. We now find ourselves in an election year where Republicans like Speaker Gunn and Greg Snowden champion education spending while they have voted against greater support for public education. One could say that the flip flopping by Gunn and Snowden constitutes being "full of it." As has been stated, "You can be a Republican in Mississippi, or you can support education, but you can't do both."

Republicans Just Aren't Into You

In the dating world, there comes a time when you hear the phrase "You're nice, but I'm just not that into you." This is true of the Republican Party's feeling towards public education.

Friday afternoon, House Education Chairman John Moore (R-Brandon) participated in a panel discussion on public education funding in Mississippi. During his remarks, Chairman Moore presented a list of reasons the Republican Party just isn't into fully funding public education in Mississippi.

Moore's reasons include:

• Hurricane Katrina
• The BP oil spill 
• WorldCom filing for bankruptcy in 2002
• No new sources of revenue 
• Medicaid taking a greater share of the budget (while refusing to accept federal funds to offset the cost)
• Tornadoes
• Education funding wasn't his problem prior to 2012 (even though Moore has been in the legislature since 1996)
• The Mississippi Highway Patrol

Folks, this is the Republican Chairman of the House Education Committee rattling off a weak list of excuses why his party refused to fully fund public education during their four years in the majority. We have heard a lot of grandstanding and lip service from the Republicans about how much they want to fund public education, but the result is a list of lame excuses why they won't. The Republicans give us many reasons why they aren't fully funding public education, yet they don't list any reason why they should. No discussion about poverty. No discussion about economic development. No discussion about keeping young professionals in Mississippi after they graduate. 

It would be more honest of the Republicans if they just came out and say how they really feel: "Public education, we're just not that into you."

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.

***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.