House speaker Jason White addressed the Stennis Press Forum at Hal & Mal's in downtown Jackson this week, laying out his plans for the legislative session and how the House of Representatives will work with the Senate over the next few weeks.
White addressed school choice, PERS, teacher pay raises, Pharmacy Benefits Manager legislation and a host of other issues.
White defended the House’s priorities on teacher pay, the state retirement system and school choice, while criticizing the Senate for killing his signature education bill without what he called a “real” debate.
White, a West native in his first term as speaker, sketched a Capitol session he described as hectic but focused, coming just after a key deadline for House bills and as lawmakers pivot to Senate measures and budget work. He also outlined an expected state relief package for recent winter storms and tried to frame the House as the chamber pushing “common-sense, solution‑focused” legislation on education, pensions and pharmacy benefits.
Storm response and disaster funding
White opened with an update on the state’s response to January’s winter storms, saying Mississippi recently secured a federal disaster declaration and an initial $39 million in federal aid, a figure he said will “greatly increase” once the hardest-hit counties in north and northeast Mississippi are fully counted. He warned lawmakers will have to grapple with the state’s share of cleanup and recovery costs because, unlike Hurricane Katrina, the federal government is unlikely to cover 100% of eligible expenses.
He said current guidance points toward a 75%-25% federal–state match, with the state and local governments expected to split the 25% share, and predicted “a push for the state to absorb as much as we can of the local share.” White said House leaders are in “constant communication” with the Governor’s Office and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to make sure members understand FEMA and MEMA rules and how this disaster will differ from Katrina.
White took a swipe at the Senate for passing a $20 million appropriation for MEMA on its own, calling it unnecessary at this stage and suggesting it looked like a “political response” rather than a targeted need. He said neither MEMA nor the governor requested the money and that MEMA is “okay in their cash position” for now. He said the House will support more money for disaster work “when the time’s right” but wants a clearer picture of total damages, local obligations and whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will approve individual assistance for households — something he noted Washington has been “very reluctant” to grant in recent years.
White said Mississippi has “very capable cash reserves” to meet its obligations once the Legislature settles on a formal storm relief package.
Teacher pay, PERS and mobile sports betting
Much of White’s talk centered on four House measures he said define the chamber’s current agenda: a broad teacher pay bill, a mobile sports betting bill tied to the Public Employees’ Retirement System, a pharmacy benefit manager overhaul and additional education changes outside of his school choice plan.
White highlighted House Bill 1126, which passed the House unanimously and would give teachers a $5,000 across‑the‑board raise. He said the bill would put Mississippi’s starting teacher pay $2,000 above the regional average and provide an extra $3,000 for special education teachers. He cast the proposal as evidence that House Republicans are not trying to “starve public education,” arguing the same members pushing school choice are also backing significant raises and literacy and math initiatives.
The bill also includes a cap on superintendent pay, limiting a district chief’s salary to no more than 250% of a teacher’s salary with the same credentials and years of experience. White said the House has “a proven history of prioritizing students and teachers over systems” and framed the cap as part of that approach.
In addition, HB 1126 carries changes to the controversial new Tier 5 of PERS, the state retirement plan for newer hires. White said teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees had pushed for “corrections” to Tier 5 so Mississippi can continue to recruit and retain quality workers. Those adjustments include reverting service‑time and high‑salary averaging rules to Tier 4 standards while leaving in place Tier 5’s changes to cost-of-living adjustments.
On pensions, White said the House has for two years backed a dedicated annual stream of revenue for PERS and will do so again this session, arguing that a one‑time bailout alone “will not do it.” He pointed to an amendment that would inject $600 million in cash into PERS, and to House Bill 1581, which would legalize mobile sports betting and earmark the state’s share of that new tax revenue for the PERS unfunded liability until the system reaches 82% funding.
White said mobile wagering has repeatedly passed the House and “accesses hundreds of millions of dollars” to help stabilize the retirement system. He called current law — which allows app‑based betting only if a gambler is physically on a casino’s property — “silly in the modern world,” noting that illegal bookmaking and offshore websites already serve Mississippi bettors. “We’re not fooling anybody but ourselves,” he said, adding that “common sense and business sense dictate that we get this done.”
PBM reform and independent pharmacies
White also promoted House Bill 1665, which he said is now the only live bill aimed at reforming pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen who manage prescription drug benefits for insurers and employers. After several years of failed efforts, he said House leaders brought “the right people in the room” and believe they have found a workable compromise that protects independent pharmacies while avoiding new costs that could hurt employers and patients.
The bill includes a three‑year “repealer,” forcing lawmakers to revisit the policy and adjust if necessary. White, who said he generally dislikes repealer clauses, argued that on a sensitive issue touching ERISA‑governed plans and federal preemption, a built‑in review is warranted because “we’re kind of getting off into some no‑man’s‑land a little bit.” He said he hopes HB 1665 can “gain some traction and find some footing” in the Senate so lawmakers can “finally land this plane.”
School choice fight and House Bill 2
White reserved his sharpest criticism for the Senate’s handling of House Bill 2, his marquee “Mississippi Education Freedom Act,” which bundled education savings accounts, charter school changes, JROTC funding, prayer provisions and other policies into one sweeping package.
He said senators held what he described as a “theatrical” 90‑second committee meeting to kill the measure about a month before deadline, without debate or amendments. Calling that move “purely out of character, even in the Senate,” White said avoiding a substantive discussion on school choice and related reforms is “a disservice to taxpayers, to parents, to students and future generations of Mississippi.”
White argued the Senate could have stripped out the most controversial ESA portions and advanced the parts it claimed to support, such as JROTC funding, federal testing waivers, the “Tim Tebow Act” for homeschoolers and charter school changes. By killing the entire bill, he said, senators also wiped out those provisions, even though some had been previously introduced by senators as standalone measures. He called many of those Senate bills “purely a reaction to House Bill 2 and the pressure surrounding that.”
The speaker cast HB 2 as the logical next step after what he and other Republicans have branded the “Mississippi Miracle” — the state’s gains in reading scores and graduation rates. He credited teachers for that progress but said it came in tandem with conservative reforms in 2013 and 2014 that some of the same “status quo crowd” now oppose when they appear in HB 2. “House Bill 2 would’ve expanded educational opportunity, strengthened proven instructional strategies and empowered parents,” he said, describing it as “about freedom, results and investing in Mississippi’s future.”
White said opponents of school choice, including teacher unions, some senators and some in the media, have not offered an alternative plan for students “trapped in failing school districts” or “chronically underperforming” systems. “Not one counter‑proposal,” he said, repeating a line that “if nothing changes, nothing changes.”
He framed access to high‑performing schools as largely a function of “your address or your bank account” and questioned why, unlike on other civil‑rights and equity issues, he believes many in the press have given “a full pass” to preserving the demographics of high‑rated districts. He warned that neighboring states are moving ahead with universal school choice and other reforms, saying that “when you’re sitting still in this game, you’re getting left behind.”
White acknowledged HB 2 was not perfect and said House leaders “begged for back‑and‑forth conversation” with the Senate. He said the House will now “evaluate multiple avenues” to expand school options for families, insisting that “affirming the fundamental rights of parents to direct their child’s education is an issue that is not going away,” regardless of the bill’s fate.
Senate relations and political dynamics
In a brief question‑and‑answer session with reporters, White was pressed on the “logjam” between the House and Senate over school choice, given that both chambers draw from the same electorate. He said he did not know how the standoff would end but suggested the disconnect stems from differences in leadership and a lack of willingness in the Senate to have “hard conversations” about public schools.
He insisted that House Republicans can be “for both” public schools and parental choice, pointing to the teacher pay raise and academic initiatives as evidence. White said about 80% to 85% of House Republicans voted for HB 2, a level he said roughly matches support for school choice among GOP primary voters and still polls “fairly high” with independents and Democrats, depending on how questions are framed.
White stressed he does not take personal issue with senators opposed to school choice but is “disappointed in the lack of being willing to debate the issues.” He said that if lawmakers are confident in their opposition, they should “let it die a natural death or amend the bill as you normally do,” not dispatch it in a one‑minute meeting with a voice vote.
With roughly two months left in the 2025 session, White told the press forum the House still has major work ahead on the budget, storm recovery and the policy fights he outlined. He promised the chamber will “keep working hard” on what he called “common‑sense, solution‑focused legislation that prioritizes all Mississippians.”
Below is a transcript of his talk:![]()
I’ll try to get these maybe where y’all can hear me, but I’m going to see if I can put some notes up here today.
Alright. Can y’all hear me? Maybe? Is that better? Seeing some yes. Okay, thank you. And thank y’all for the opportunity to be with you today for a few moments.
I feel like I’m preaching to the choir on a lot of this because the people in this room are certainly engaged and know lots about everything that I’m able to talk a little bit about today.
As y’all know, last week we got through a major deadline with House floor action on bills originating in our House and obviously the Senate, same thing on their end of the building. The only week worse than last week is the committee deadline week where, you know, now members will be just fine in the House with killing Senate bills starting this week, but they don’t really like their bills to die. And a bunch of them died last week and certainly on that committee deadline a few weeks before that.
So we’re always glad to kind of get those deadlines behind us to really see what has survived the leach into the building to this point and kind of where we go from here, if you will, as we also start thinking about the budget.
Somebody was asking me about last week and what the process is like and how does the Speaker’s office deal with all that and prioritizing what we’re going to pass and shuffling the calendar and those kind of things. I said, well, I’ll tell you, it has been hectic. They said, well, what have y’all done today? And I said, well, let me give you an idea of what we’ve done today.
We started off the morning, to tell you about the Mississippi Speaker of the House’s office, we met with the ambassador from Morocco and his whole entourage. And right behind him, Mr. Bobby and I met with the Lee County Board of Supervisors. I can promise you what each was looking for out of Mississippi state government were much different and the conversations were much different. But then after that, we run out and start taking up bills on the floor. So it makes for interesting days. If they’re not always fun, they’re certainly interesting.
Before I dive a little bit into the House agenda and where I think we’ve gone and where we’re going, I would like to give y’all a quick update from the House perspective on our storm response as a state and cleanup and all that that entails.
As you know, we finally, through the White House, got the federal disaster declaration at the end of a week ago Friday. So we’ve had that for a little over a week, and the first 39 million was approved in the response, if you will, as far as the federal support. That number, as you know, will greatly increase. That didn’t even include most of the hardest-hit storm counties and cities in north and northeast Mississippi. So that number’s certainly going way up and will require some real attention.
We are in constant communication with the Governor’s office and with the folks at MEMA. We have had very good and productive meetings with them, being sure my people understand the process of FEMA and MEMA and how this could be so much different than Katrina. Katrina was approved for 100% reimbursement federal coverage. This will certainly not be that and probably won’t even be the 90/10 that places have enjoyed maybe before. It looks like it’ll be 75/25, and then that 25% of our part of the match split equally between the locals and the state. There will probably be a push for the state to absorb as much as we can of the local share of that 25%.
All of those things will have to be taken into consideration as we try to get a very accurate count on what damages and cleanup and that sort of stuff will be.
The Senate did pass a 20 million dollar appropriation or allocation to MEMA as some sort of response, I guess, in dealing with the winter storm. It’s not that we’re adverse to sending additional resources to MEMA, and we will certainly do that when the time’s right. They didn’t ask for that; the Governor’s office didn’t ask for that. They are okay in their cash position right now and able to pay bills and operate and that sort of thing. We weren’t really interested in what looked to be some sort of political response in light of a natural disaster. We weren’t going there. We will get our ducks in a row on what that looks like going forward.
We do anticipate a relief package that will come forward, at least out of the House, and in coordination working with the Senate on not only addressing the state’s role in cleanup and partnering with our locals as our share of the cleanup, but also addressing on some level the fact that there is a thought we will not get an individual assistance declaration from the feds. They’ve been very reluctant to give those recently. So what role will the state play in helping individuals in their cleanup and damages as we move forward? I do anticipate there will be something on the state level to try to address that.
So that’s kind of a moving target, but that’s where we are today. I think in the next few weeks you will see maybe even both ends of the building try to come up with what the state’s response will look like as far as cleanup and moving forward.
There has been a lot of talk about the state’s initial response and how things may or may not have, could have been done differently. There will be conversation about that going forward, but right now we’re focused on the cleanup and getting back to some sort of normal in these places and the best role that we can play as a state in that regard.
The good news is we do have very capable cash reserves on hand that we should be able to meet the state side of any obligations and the direction we ultimately decide to go on this issue.
Certainly the people in this room are very aware of all the happenings at the Capitol. As you know, last week we finished our work on our general House bills. There’s been a lot of questions about, even specific questions from some of you in the media, about what we’re going to do with the Senate bills.
I’ll admit I’ve had most of my attention focused on House priorities and House bills. We will now start turning our attention to all the things that the Senate has sent us. I even got a question about why some Senate bills have been double referred. I probably snapped in that response, but do your homework a little bit: you’ll see that a ton of House bills were double referred, and those aren’t death wishes or anything along those lines. We’re trying to take a long, hard look at bills, especially if they have a spending component. That usually gets a double referral, not only to the general committee but to either our big Appropriations Committee or our Ways and Means (ABT) Committee to look at what we are spending and whether this endeavor we’re going down is worthy.
I have been focused on the House agenda and on House bills, and now that those deadlines are behind us, we will try to figure out the direction we intend to go on the Senate bills. I anticipate that most of them will get more than a 90‑second debate. There will be ceremonial killing of bills; some of them may not survive. But it will be in the broad light of day with real debate and consensus among our people.
Four key pieces of legislation passed the House over the last couple of weeks that I would like to draw your attention to. Those things are now in the hands of our Senate counterparts for their consideration. Mainly for us, the ones that are really on our radar are:
- Our House teacher pay raise bill that included the PERS Tier 5 corrections or adjustments we would like to see made to Tier 5.
- A mobile sports betting bill that included a dedicated stream of revenue for the PERS deficit as well as one large one‑time cash infusion to PERS.
- A bill that finally, we hope, addresses most if not all of true PBM reform and what Pharmacy Benefit Manager legislation would look like in a way that finally addresses some of the issues that our independent pharmacists are having to deal with.
- We passed some other education reforms that weren’t part of House Bill 2.
We’ll be watching those as they make their way through the other end of the building.
Our teachers, regardless of some of the politic back and forth about the “Mississippi Miracle” and who’s responsible, I think nobody argues that they’re mostly directly responsible for the Mississippi Miracle that we talk about today and you hear every politician talking about now. I would tell you those came as a result of conservative reforms that put those tools in the ballpark of our teachers and allowed them to do what they do best, and that’s teach, what some might even call the old‑fashioned way, on the issues of phonics and learning how to read.
Passing the House with a unanimous vote was House Bill 1126 that provides a 5,000 dollar across‑the‑board teacher pay raise. If the Senate intends to fund a meaningful teacher pay raise, then House Bill 1126 would be the vehicle to do that. It makes our starting pay 2,000 dollars above the southeastern average. It provides an additional 3,000 dollars for our special‑ed teachers.
I would tell you that the House has a proven history of prioritizing students and teachers over systems, and this legislation does that. It also sets the maximum allowable salary for our superintendents at no more than 250% of a teacher’s salary with equal licensure of education and years of experience.
Also included in that bill are the much‑asked‑for changes or corrections to our first Tier 5 system coming at the request of not only our teachers and education community but also our first responders, specifically police and fire but others as well, so that the state can continue to attract the best employees in all of these fields.
We have proposed an annual dedicated stream of revenue for PERS over the last two years and will do that again this year. A one‑time cash infusion alone will not do it. Certainly that is a piece of the puzzle and we want to meet that. That’s why you saw Representative Huber’s amendment for a 600 million dollar cash infusion one time into PERS.
House Bill 1581 was the House bill that legalizes mobile sports betting, directing that the state share of that revenue be allocated to the PERS deficit until it reaches 82% funding in addition to that one‑time 600 million dollar cash infusion. Those things will get PERS headed more in the right direction, and the slight correction to years of service for retirement and the average high salary to determine retirement, taking those back to the Tier 4 level, won’t harm the gains that we can see with cash infusion, dedicated stream of revenue, and the change in the COLA as Tier 5 does.
We think those are common‑sense changes and they make sense among our employees and those who are having to fill and hire for those positions. They have advocated for that and the House has listened. I hope our Senate friends will on those issues as well.
This legislative session will mark the third or fourth year in a row that the House has attempted to legalize mobile sports betting and it has passed the House. It accesses hundreds of millions of dollars, specifically in our position to stabilize the state retirement system. Perhaps this will finally be the year that we find consensus with the other end of the building.
I do think it’s important to remember that we already allow sports betting as long as you are registered with one of our gaming establishments and you’re willing to come and stick your toe on the property. You can place that bet from the parking lot or the landscaping and then leave. I just think that’s silly in the modern world that we live in today, especially considering all the illegal betting that is going on in this area, whether it’s through illegal bookies or illegal online sites or the national cash‑outs, whichever ones you want to pick. It’s going on everywhere. We’re not fooling anybody but ourselves to not take advantage of this.
I would tell you, common sense and business sense dictate that we get this done.
In addition to addressing the long‑term stability and strength of PERS and the financial gains from mobile sports betting for numerous years, we once again tried to find that solution for our independent pharmacists while also protecting patients and employers. I will tell you, I’ve thought a long time that a perfect compromise wasn’t going to be attainable. Any of you in this room who have been involved in that debate and in that give and take know I’ve tried to get the right people in the room to figure this out.
I think maybe we have finally found a balance that strikes the interests of our independent pharmacists while also protecting and not passing a bill to the detriment of our business community and ultimately to employees and patients when it comes to cost.
House Bill 1665 at this point is the only PBM reform bill that is alive. At this point in the legislative process, I hope it can gain some traction and find some footing in the Senate so we can finally land this plane. It’s got a three‑year repeal, so if we’ve got a part not exactly right, it will force us to deal with it. I typically don’t like repealers, but maybe because this one’s been so hot and folks are so passionate on both sides of the issue, I thought maybe we do need to have a look at it as we attempt to address issues that have a federal‑law feel to them in the way we address ERISA plans and those kinds of things. We’re kind of getting off into some no‑man’s‑land a little bit.
We hope we can finally find a win‑win there. I think we’re close.
For the last few years, our strategy in the House, for better or worse depending on where you are and who you are, has been to narrow in on one or two big issues and focus most of our time and attention out of session on those issues, whatever they might be. We spent all of our energy in the off‑season studying and trying to build consensus to come forward with a bold and comprehensive piece of legislation at the start of the session.
It’s no secret to this crowd, or maybe now to everybody anywhere that’s got any sort of connection to the outside world, that for us that was House Bill 2, that we call the Mississippi Education Freedom Act. We are disappointed that the Senate did not engage in real meaningful discussion and debate on the issues in House Bill 2 and instead opted for what can only be described as a theatrical committee performance to kill the bill a full month before the committee deadline. There’s no reason for that. It’s purely out of character, even in the Senate, for that to happen. So you have to read some meaning into that and that’s fine. Those folks have their own politics and that’ll play out as it will.
The Legislature is called to work together to bring forward meaningful policy for Mississippians. To avoid conversation entirely is a disservice to taxpayers, to parents, to students, and future generations of Mississippi.
We never said House Bill 2 was perfect. We begged for the back‑and‑forth conversation and dialogue on the issue, but it does take two to dance, or tango, or whatever you want to say. The Senate had every opportunity to make that bill better, to bend it in ways maybe that were more aligned with their priorities. It’s been pointed out that many measures that were in House Bill 2 had been sent to us in piecemeal or individual bills from the Senate. If they actually care about the policies that they took the time to do individual bills on—which I would submit to you were all purely a reaction to House Bill 2 and the pressure surrounding that and the conversation that was building there—then they could have simply gutted the ESA portions of House Bill 2 and left the remaining components that they say they are aligned with alive and well in the Senate.
In addition to killing options for parents, let’s not lose sight of the other pieces of House Bill 2 that were killed as well, that didn’t come over in any Senate component. Things like restarting and fully funding our JROTC programs, a pilot program that led to that throughout the state that was wildly popular with our school districts and many were asking for that to be reinstated and some real state resources go there. Our prayer in schools was in there. Our federal testing waivers were in there. The Tim Tebow Act was in there. Major charter school reforms were in there.
Regardless of how you feel about charter schools, they are classified as public schools in our state and, by all accounts from folks on every side of the issue, nobody’s happy with where they are now. They’re not happy with their results, where they can go, how they’re regulated, that whole process. That should drive us to look at that and try to figure out how to make that better and make it work for people throughout the state.
All those things were lost when House Bill 2 was killed prematurely.
That strategy would’ve still neglected our students when it comes to those students that have no options. But it would’ve at least kept the conversation alive and allowed for some meaningful reforms as I’ve just talked about as well. Maybe then that so‑called deliberative body would’ve actually deliberated, and who knows where we would’ve gotten on any of these issues.
It seems like a lot of political posturing to sell a lie that school choice in some way undoes Mississippi’s education gains. If you’re so comfortable being against school choice, just let it die a natural death or amend the bill as you normally do. But to call a 90‑second meeting and kill it with no debate or discussion on a voice vote—we all know what that is.
What House Bill 2 would’ve done is build on the success of the Mississippi Miracle that we so proudly talk about today. It would’ve built on the reforms from 2013 and 2014, the reforms that the status‑quo crowd now fights so hard against in House Bill 2. Those same people fought against those original reforms, but they continue to do a victory lap now with the Mississippi Miracle. There’s no denying that, there hasn’t been a lot of reporting on that, but that is the fact.
House Bill 2 would’ve expanded educational opportunity, strengthened proven instructional strategies that were working, and empowered parents to make the best decisions for their children. That legislation was about freedom, results, and investing in Mississippi’s future.
Our gains in education are not theoretical. They’re real, measurable, nationally recognized now, and the result, yes, of teachers’ hard work, but coupled with conservative education policy. Many people ask why we would pursue further changes. That’s a simple answer: because when it comes to our children’s education and what the next step is, good isn’t good enough. Do you think our neighboring states are sitting around waiting to see what we’re going to do? They’re copying some of our stuff, but they are headed this way. They’re going up. Certainly they’ve done that even with their universal school choice programs, but in other areas too. They’re not sitting still. And when you’re sitting still in this game, you’re getting left behind.
We do have kids that are trapped in failing school districts and those that are chronically underperforming districts. It’s hard for me to ignore that. You’ll just have to shoot me for being willing to focus on that and not give those kids a chance. That’s hard for me to accept.
I will point out, while we’ve been criticized in a big way—not only by folks in the media, but by the Senate, by the teacher unions, and by the status‑quo crowd—not one of those groups or individuals that are so loud on this issue have proposed an alternative solution. Not one. Not one solution for those kids that are trapped in those districts where they have no viable option. Not one counter‑proposal on the issue.
I would remind you of a simple maxim: if nothing changes, nothing changes. It’s just that simple.
Every day at the Capitol, we welcome school groups in both galleries. Y’all are there and you see it or you hear it on the speakers. Some A‑rated public school district is there getting recognition, whether it’s for all their ACT scores that are over 30, or some great achievement, or they won some academic competition in another state. Or it’s a private school there recognizing their ACT high achievers or scholarships or whatever it is.
To be a part of that success, you must fall, currently in Mississippi, into one of two categories: your address or your bank account. Is that really what we want? Is that really where we want to be?
Any other equality or civil‑rights issue that exists in our state now, many in the media would be using every bit of ink and keyboard to push that topic and that issue. But for some reason, on this specific issue, a full pass has been given to the preservation of the demographics or the culture of those A and B‑rated districts that folks are fighting desperately to protect. Square that for me sometime.
Whether the opposition is willing to admit it or not, House Bill 2 would’ve given our most needy kids a real shot, a shot that they do not have today. And there’s nothing coming down the pipeline. Affirming the fundamental rights of parents to direct their child’s education is an issue that is not going away. It doesn’t go away because it got killed a month early in a less‑than‑two‑minute meeting.
We are evaluating multiple avenues to get there that are available to us that ensure Mississippi families, regardless of income or ZIP code, have real choices and the freedom to pursue what works best for their children. The opposition, I started to say, may be loud, but it is loud. But all of the legislation that I mentioned today comes from the direct result of the House actually listening to constituents—yes, listening to educators, being willing to have the hard conversations and say that part out loud that nobody else is willing to say. And yes, we are ultimately willing to trust parents. What a novel idea.
We have a little less than two months left in the session. We have a lot to accomplish. We have budget coming, we have storm response coming, in addition to all of these policy issues that I’ve talked a little bit about today. We’re going to keep working hard in the House for what I would call common‑sense, solution‑focused legislation that prioritizes all Mississippians.
I appreciate the time to address you and I would be happy to take some questions from my friends in the press.
Question: Regarding school choice, the House and the Senate rely on the same voter base, and this is a big issue. How do you explain this logjam between the House and the Senate, given that political reality? And as you said, it’s not going away. How’s this going to get resolved? What do you see? How do you see this going down long term?
Answer: Well, I don’t know. I have often said in my public comments recently at Rotary Clubs and wherever I’m speaking that very specific thing you bring up: the same people that sent my House members to the Capitol sent those senators there. I think one, it’s leadership; two, it’s being willing—me being either just naive or dumb enough—to have the conversation about some of the things that really ail us in our public schools. It doesn’t mean they’re bad. I’m telling you all the great things they’ve done. I’m proud of our accomplishments there.
But there’s this false choice being presented that you can’t be for both. I saw this article about how, if the bad old Republicans are trying to starve public education, we’re doing a bad job because the money that we have put towards it has just gone up and up and up. The same folks that brought you some school‑choice legislation—while it certainly didn’t unanimously pass the House—also brought you a 5,000 dollar teacher pay raise and are working hard to bring that next reading initiative and math initiative. I think we find consensus there with our Senate friends.
I’m not mad at those guys and girls personally, it’s not about that. What I’m disappointed in is the lack of being willing to debate the issues. If you’re comfortable in your position, that’s fine, that’s your politics. I tell my Democrats in my House that there’s nothing wrong with them being against it. I think it’s quite ironic that something like school choice could help some of their constituents maybe more than it could help certain traditional Republican strongholds in the state where they have great and excellent public schools that people would kill to have in their communities.
So I think with conversation and back‑and‑forth, if we don’t have it right, I think we can get it right. But you’ve got to be talking, you’ve got to be having that dialogue. This idea that it’s off the table is a tough pill for us to swallow.
To answer your question, I don’t have a good answer. I don’t know how it ends. I do know there was a lot made of the vote count in the House, that all Republicans didn’t vote for it. About 80–85% of them did, and that’s about what it polls among Republican primary voters. It still polls fairly high among independents and Democrats. Folks say that’s in how you ask the question, but I think the first question you should ask is who should be in control of that.
I’m in the room when the government’s splitting up the money and deciding how it’s going to be spent, and it’s not pretty and it’s almost never good.
