Republicans Support School Choice

Yesterday, delegates at the Republican National Convention formally adopted the 2024 Republican Party Platform, and it includes a ringing endorsement of universal school choice: 

“Republicans believe families should be empowered to choose the best Education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America.” 

Polling conducted in Mississippi last year appears to support this statement, with 72% of Republicans and 74% of conservatives indicating support for an Arkansas-style universal school choice program. (Incidentally, 46% of Democrats and 59% of independents also expressed support for this policy according to the same poll.) 

 Earlier this year, former Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Lucien Smith penned an op-ed for the Magnolia Tribune in which he asserted that all conservatives should support school choice.  

“I for one do not believe you can call yourself a conservative and oppose [school choice] reforms, even if you disagree with how best to implement them,” said Smith 

Current Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst also stood firm in support of school choice in a recent podcast interview with Empower CEO Grant Callen: 

“I don’t know how anyone in the world could argue with the fact that the parent knows what is best for their child and if we’re going to educate children the best way, the parent is the one who should be making that choice.” 

Hurst went on to add, “It’s frustrating that we are considered such a conservative, super-red state, and we are behind on this issue involving parents and children and schools.” 

The Mississippi Republican Party platform also endorses school choice: 

“Parental involvement in education should extend to allowing parents to choose the school that best meets the educational needs of their children.” 

Recently, the issue of school choice has enjoyed vocal support from a growing number of Republican party officials, and neighboring states have moved to enact sweeping school choice policies at lightning speed. Arkansas enacted a massive school choice bill last year, and Louisiana and Alabama followed suit in 2024.  

However, school choice policies in the Magnolia State have remained stagnant over the last decade. Since the enactment of the state’s charter school law and the creation of an Education Scholarship Account program for students with special needs nearly 10 years ago, the issue of school choice has made no demonstrable progress.  

While we are encouraged by the GOP’s endorsement of the issue in its platform and among its leaders in other states, school choice supporters in Mississippi might want to temper their expectations. Even as school choice has seemingly been embraced by elected Republicans across the country, there’s been little indication that big changes are coming to the Magnolia State in the near future. 

Mississippi’s new House Speaker, Jason White, has time and again reiterated his support for school choice but has said publicly that politics inside the State Capitol, including in the House Republican Caucus, make the issue challenging. Governor Tate Reeves championed school choice while serving as the state’s Lieutenant Governor but has, with a few exceptions, remained relatively quiet on the issue since becoming governor. Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann has appeared tentative at best when asked his position on school choice.  

In a state that is overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans, it remains somewhat of a mystery why school choice policies have not gained more traction. We are hopeful that Mississippi’s Republican lawmakers will embrace the state and national Republican party platforms supporting school choice and move swiftly to put all parents fully in charge of their children’s education.