NAACP opposes Miss. charter school legislation
JACKSON — Members of the Mississippi NAACP met with lawmakers Tuesday, asking some to reject a bill that would expand the state’s current charter school law.
Derrick Johnson, president of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said lawmakers should focus instead on full funding for public education. He said shortchanging public schools in a tough budget year would “create and maintain a permanent situation of second-class citizens.”
This year’s budget talks will move into their final phases in the coming weeks. Lawmakers are trying to figure out how to fund state programs that had been propped up by the federal stimulus — funding that won’t be available in fiscal 2012.
The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would open the door for charter schools to operate throughout the state. Under the bill, the charter schools would have to get permission to operate from the state Department of Education, the local school board or a local university.
The state’s current charter school law, which went into effect in 2010, only allows charter schools to open in struggling districts. Sen. Michael Watson, a Republican from Pascagoula who filed the bill, said the state’s current law is considered among the worst in the nation.
“For far too long our state has been ranked at the bottom with regard to education. I believe
