A crowd of approximately 1,000 supporters are expected in Jackson for National School Choice Week, says Grant Callen of Empower Mississippi.

The state of Mississippi, known as one of the poorest, often trails in student test scores.

Mississippi, in fact, has many options for educating children, Callen says, but many parents in the poor state aren’t financially able to pursue those alternatives.

Bryant

“Who may be working parents or single parents trying to raise their kids and put food on the table,” he explains, “you too often are stuck with just the public school that you’ve been assigned to. And so we think parents ought to have more options.”

One suggestion is to expand the state’s scholarship program to make it available to all public school students, not just those with special needs.

“We have supported the expansion of our state’s Special Needs Education Scholarship Account Program to a broader audience of students,” he explains, “and so eventually we believe every student in the state ought to be eligible for that program.”

Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, both supporters of school choice, are expected to speak to participants on Tuesday.