Mississippi’s Public Schools Are Succeeding-Don’t Derail Our Progress with Vouchers!

As parents of students in Madison public schools, we want to voice our opposition around the growing push for private school vouchers in Mississippi. Every single year voucher bills are introduced, and every single year they have been defeated. Moms, dads, grandparents, and faith leaders have been telling our legislators through calls, emails, and in-person meetings that we do not want vouchers for private schools in our state. We’ve been united in this message: public tax dollars belong in public schools.

Mississippi has seen the greatest academic improvements in the country recently. Mississippi ranks 16th in the nation in education according to the 2025 Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book, Mississippi’s highest ranking in history. Our 4th graders are ranked 9th in the nation in reading and 16th in math according to the 2024 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), or “The Nation’s Report Card.” In fact, Mississippi's significant improvement in NAEP scores, particularly in 4th grade reading and math, place the state ranking at #1 in the nation for NAEP score increases since 2013. Over that same time period, each of the nation’s top “school choice” states (FL, AZ, WI, OH, IN, VT, IA, AR, WV, NC) declined. We’ve achieved this not with vouchers but through hard work, high standards, committed educators and targeted investments in early literacy and teacher support. Meanwhile, states with so-called “school choice” programs are steadily declining in rankings. Why would we adopt the failed policies of states that are moving backward while Mississippi is climbing?

We all need our public schools to thrive. Strong public schools equal strong communities. The health of the local public school affects property values, crime rates, and economic growth. One of the top reasons corporations choose where to locate is the strength of the public school system. If we weaken our schools by siphoning away funding, we jeopardize our communities’ safety, prosperity, and future.

Supporters of vouchers sell “school choice” as if parents are desperate for more options. But we already have choices-magnet schools, charter schools, open enrollment in some districts, and the ability to choose private schools with our own money. What vouchers do is different: they take money away from the public schools that serve the majority of our children and give it to private schools that can pick and choose who they admit. That’s not true choice for all-that’s taxpayer-funded exclusion.

Parents don’t want vouchers. Teachers don’t want vouchers. Superintendents don’t want vouchers. So why is this being pushed on our state? Whose interest does this serve? It certainly isn’t the children sitting in Mississippi’s public-school classrooms.

And we can only hope our legislature doesn’t try to pull a cynical political maneuver like lumping a deeply unpopular voucher program into the same bill as something we all agree on, such as teacher pay raises. Surely, they wouldn’t force legislators into a position where voting for teachers means voting for vouchers. But given the way politics can work, we will be watching closely.

The message is simple: Mississippi’s public education success is a story worth building on, not dismantling. Keep our tax dollars where they belong…in our public schools, serving all children, strengthening our communities, and securing our future.