The push to expand school-choice programs has ambitiously been pressed and even accepted throughout some of the Southeast region, including many states bordering Mississippi. Mississippi’s own lawmakers continue the debate now as to how parents can have more freedom to choose where their children attend school.
Lawmakers have made school choice a top priority in Legislation. Just last week, consideration for drafting a bill to give Mississippi families the option for universal school choice was discussed among Mississippi House lawmakers.
It admittedly is a complex issue. Although it may provide more freedom, what regulations and stipulations come with it? Is it right to use public money to spend outside of the traditional public school setting? How could providing vouchers for private school tuition impact both the public and private settings? Could this be the answer for families living in struggling public school districts? Do parents deserve more control over their children’s futures?
These are all questions that have been dissected at both a state and national level. But what would school choice mean for the local Yazoo community? Let’s take a look from both the public and private education spectrum.
The discussion of school choice arrives within the local community amid the state accountability scores being released from the Mississippi Department of Education. A year after improving its accountability ratings with the state, both Yazoo City and Yazoo County school districts have dropped a rating grade with the most recent results reported from the state.
Last year’s improvement to a “C” rating within the Yazoo City Municipal School District, which was still considered the Mississippi Achievement School District at the time, was met with tremendous fanfare from school officials and the local community. A “C” rating had not been accomplished since the state takeover in 2019.
With the MASD now dissolved, the return of the Yazoo City Municipal School District as a Transformation District, however, was met with a lower grade from the 2024-25 Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) results. The local city school district returns to a failing status.
With the announcement of the city public schools returning to a failing status, Superintendent Dr. Earl Watkins said he knows the option of school choice may look appealing to some families within the city school district. But he said he remains optimistic about the direction of the city public schools, adding that accountability remains in the forefront of public education.
“In the Yazoo City Municipal School District, we are doubling down on our efforts to improve the district’s accountability grade,” Watkins said. “That means, we are strengthening instruction, supporting teachers, and proving through action that our students can achieve better academic outcomes. In the 2023-2024 school year, we achieved the district’s first ever ‘C’ rating, and we will achieve it again. There are no accountability measures for school choice policies that allow families to use public funds to subsidize the cost of private educational services.”
Yazoo County School District also saw a decrease in its rating. Last year, the county schools improved from a “C” rating to a “B” grade. However, recent results show a drop back down to a “C” rating.
Superintendent Dr. Terri Rhea said she is concerned on how school choice options would impact the Yazoo community, considering it is a rural community with limited resources ranging from funding to transportation.
“In most states and local areas that expand school choice, a very rural, low-resource district…is more likely to lose per-pupil revenue, face program/curriculum cuts, and struggle with transportation and special-education services, while seeing little of the ‘new options’ that ‘School Choice’ is supposed to deliver,” Rhea said.
Rhea said if a dramatic drop in student enrollment were to occur within the county school district, there would be a budget shock risk, creating a funding gap that the district couldn’t recover from without cutting programs or staff.
“There may be an increase in millage necessary and asked for by the public school district due to decreased state funding,” Rhea said, which could apply to both the county and city public school districts. “Ultimately, there could be the untimely possibility of school closures and/or consolidation. Sustained enrollment loss can force rural schools to close, increasing travel time and weakening community identity drastically.”
Rhea said state funding drops when students leave. Allocation of funds is based on student enrollment, and if students were to leave the Yazoo County School District, that funding goes elsewhere.
“Vouchers or universal choice siphon per-pupil dollars away from the district if students take that funding elsewhere,” she said. “And rural districts have the smallest budgets and the least amount of cushion, so even modest enrollment losses can force cuts. There is greater fiscal stress, which could result in school consolidations, staffing cuts, reduced extracurriculars. There are documented cases where rural districts lost substantial enrollment, to a nearby charter or private program, and then had to close schools, eliminate positions, or cut course offerings.”
Outside of the big impact with funding, Rhea said other areas should be considered, such as transportation and special services.
“Transportation becomes a much bigger barrier,” Rhea said. “Even if some families could use vouchers, private schools rarely provide rural bus routes, meaning long travel times and extra costs reduce practical access for low-income families. This increases inequity and reduces the effectiveness of ‘choice.’ Additionally, programs that are costly per student (special education services, career/technical education, small-grade offerings) are at the greatest risk of being downsized if not sliced in half in some cases. When enrollment drops, districts often cut high-cost, low-enrollment services first.”
Within the city school district, Watkins also agrees that he is skeptic about school choice and what it could mean for the city public schools. He questions and asks others to consider whether “money” is truly the answer.
“School choice means families could look beyond their neighborhood schools to options like charter schools or vouchers to help pay for private educational services,” he said. “On the surface, that sounds like opportunity for some families. But as a community, we have to ask what happens when resources and students are pulled away from the schools that have always been the heartbeat of Yazoo City. While choice might serve some families, it may also divide the community, weaken our shared schools and shared traditions, and leave us asking whether money truly answers the bigger questions about equity and opportunity.”
The possibility of school choice would also greatly impact private schools within Yazoo County. Allen Pavatte, head of school at Manchester Academy, said parents would have greater ability to choose schools—public, private, or charter—that best fit their children’s needs, learning styles, or faith values.
“Parents who value a Christian, faith-based education would have more freedom to choose Manchester without finances being the main barrier,” he said. “This could reinforce the Academy’s identity and mission. It allows parents to choose a school that best fits their children, regardless of their socioeconomic position.”
The possibility of an influx of enrollment is one of the top concerns within private education with the question being asked: can private schools handle it? And, if public money and vouchers come with the students, what regulations come with it?
“My main concerns would be what mandates or terms might bring if we accepted these government funds,” said Pavatte. “Independent schools would need to maintain their autonomy of accepting families that fit with mission of the school. If state dollars ‘follow the student,’ public schools lose money when families transfer out, even though many costs (teachers, buses, buildings) remain fixed. A sudden surge of enrollment could stretch resources, facilities, and staff at private schools like Manchester Academy. Accepting government funds may bring new rules, testing mandates, or restrictions that could chip away at a school’s independence and mission.”
Bryan Dendy, head of school at Benton Academy, agreed that a possible influx of school enrollment would take some much-needed planning. There certainly would be a boost in revenue, but resources would have to be balanced accordingly.
“BA may struggle with a large influx right away,” Dendy said. “Depending on how quickly this demand happens, we would definitely have to strategically plan to hire more teachers and expand facilities.”
Although leaders within local private schools said concerns remain about the regulations that would come with possible public funding and the planning that would surface with a population influx, all agree that school choice would provide options.
But public school leaders remain hesitant to embrace the concept, concerned with what the future could mean for local public education.
Rhea said she does see some benefits with school choice, ranging from creating pressure to innovate and creating new options to rural equity funding and additional local partnerships. But she also adds many proponents of school choice “have never darkened the door of public schools nor have their children or grandchildren.”
“Ultimately, school choice will stare us in the face like a bad disease that we continuously work to have the funding to ‘treat the disease’, but certainly not the funding to eradicate the disease and move forward,” Rhea said. “Statistically and financially speaking, school choice has the potential to significantly harm the forward progress and momentum of the Yazoo County School District.”
Watkins said he doesn’t believe school choice is truly the answer.
“For me, the better path is strengthening our public schools so that every child, regardless of their family’s income, has access to an excellent education close to home,” he said. “I would want them to see that if we weaken our public schools, we weaken the heartbeat of the community. We should also remember that ‘choice’ only works if every family can truly access it. Vouchers do not cover the full cost of private schools, and private schools are not obligated to accept all students as public schools do. Let’s make sure that every reform lifts all children, not just a few.”
This coverage is supported by a grant from Press Forward Mississippi, part of a nationwide philanthropic effort to reinvigorate local news.
