Private schools that accept tax funding or vouchers must follow the same standards as government schools, warned Mississippi Superintendent of Education Lance Evans. The statement adds urgency to growing concerns over how government funding may corrupt private education and homeschooling.
As in other Republican states, the battle over tax-funded vouchers for students has been raging in Mississippi all year. But unlike in many other states, Mississippi’s Constitution specifically prohibits public funding for private education — a major roadblock in the path to “school choice” in the state.
The new state superintendent, a longtime public educator, was very vocal in expressing the view that government control must follow tax funding. “I do believe if one single dollar of public money goes into a private school, then every single child in that school has to be subjected to the same assessment of every single student in public school,” said Evans.
Among other policies, Evans warned that private schools taking government funds would have to follow non-discrimination policies in hiring and admissions, state testing requirements, and government-issued standards (Common Core). He framed his views as being in line with those of the entire education bureaucracy.
“What I will tell you — that is not just the opinion of Lance Evans. That is the opinion of any superintendent you talk to, any principal,” continued the new state education boss after being selected by the state board of education and confirmed by lawmakers in the Republican state. “My goal is to make sure every student has a quality education.”
Doubling down on his stance that no child should be able to slip through the cracks of government oversight, especially if public money is involved, Evans made clear that he would seek to have government control follow the government funding. “We all have to be held to the same measure,” he added. “That is the bottom line.”
Meanwhile, GOP presidential contender Donald Trump has become more vocal in promoting “school choice” at the federal level, where the U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment prohibits any federal role. Under his proposal, families would be able to use federal education dollars to pay for alternatives to traditional government schools.
On the campaign train in Milwaukee, where “school choice” was followed by government regulation, Trump articulated his support for a national scheme. “We want federal education dollars to follow the student, rather than propping up a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.,” he explained.
“If you want a better education for your child, Kamala Harris stands in your way,” continued Trump, who has called for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. “Kamala and the Radical Left Democrat Party want to keep Black and Hispanic children trapped in family government. I think that’s really the reason.”
In Arizona, which created the first universal voucher program in the country, Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs and Democrat leaders in the legislature are pushing for government control of private schools and homeschool families taking government money. The controls include testing standards, data collection, non-discrimination policies and more.
As the Newman report documented in 2022, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) publicly called for imposing government control on “non-state education providers“ using public money as bait. In a report, the agency suggested all education should be brought under government oversight through vouchers.
Many advocates of vouchers are well meaning, searching for ways to protect more children from indoctrination, sexualization, and dumbing down in government schools. However, as Mississippi’s top education bureaucrat showed again, tax-funded “choice” poses an existential threat to the independence of private schools and home education. As such, it must be resisted.
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