In early February, Mississippi’s Senate Education Committee soundly rejected HB 2, a bill that would have brought a new ESA voucher program into the state. No senators spoke in favor of the bill, and the bill died after a unanimous no vote.
This vote is a clear example of Mississippi’s bipartisan support for public schools. The Mississippi Senate Education Committee is led by a Republican and 10 of the 15 members are Republican.
Union Public School District Superintendent Tyler Hansford highlighted the importance of public schools and concerns about the voucher bill:
“Public education is not a consumer commodity; it is a public service. Like roads, bridges, parks, libraries, and fire departments, public schools exist to serve the entire community, not just the individuals who use them on a given day. Taxpayers support these services because they strengthen communities, promote safety and opportunity, and serve the common good, even if every resident does not directly or immediately benefit from every service….
“Our concern with HB 2 is that it moves Mississippi away from a shared public commitment to education and toward a model that fragments funding and responsibility. Public dollars should be used to sustain public systems that serve all students and communities, not to convert a public good into a marketplace transaction.”
The new ESA voucher program would have been a huge voucher expansion for Mississippi. The state currently has three small programs that serve only students with disabilities. The new program had a first year price tag of $87.5 million and would have been available to all students, split 50/50 between current public school students and any Mississippi student (including those already enrolled in private school).
North Carolina’s base budget appropriation for vouchers in 2025-26 is $731 million.
On the same day vouchers died in the Mississippi Senate, the Mississippi House Education Committee passed a $5,000 teacher pay raise that included $8,000 pay raises for licensed special education teachers in special education classrooms.
Mississippi already pays its beginning teachers more than North Carolina, and unlike North Carolina, its pay scale includes increases for advanced degrees.
According to the Education Law Center’s 2025 Making the Grade report, Mississippi’s cost-adjusted spending level was $1,366 per student higher than North Carolina’s. Mississippi spent $13,599 per student (state and local funds) while North Carolina spent just $12,193.
Not surprisingly, while North Carolina ranked the lowest of all states at #50 in funding effort, Mississippi came in at #22.
Mississippi’s investment and commitment to public education has been paying off. Their students had the highest score increases in the nation in Grade 4 reading and math between 2013 and 2024 despite having one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.
North Carolina has far more resources at its disposal than Mississippi. If we are serious about making our public schools the best in the nation, we need lawmakers to get on board and support our public schools.