Football In MS

Low performers are low performers regardless who is in charge. All involved should be held accountable at the highest level. Without accountability, nothing else matters.

Proper funding, adequate facilities, consolidation of small districts and legitimate teacher pay would be a good start.

Hodge is likely implicated in whatever is about to happen to JA and is getting out ahead of it. Literally.

There have been so many versions of this through the years. All asking for the public taxpayer to send money to private schools. It’s just not going to happen in our state. Especially when results in other states are coming back really bad. Speaker White and the Gov engaging in name calling doesn’t sit well and will not be quickly forgotten. Vouchers are a no-go in MS.

So that would mean 81 schools available to play in a “private school” league away from the AHSAA? Definitely sounds like more than enough for a good, competitive league

24 north half and 24 south half is a good showing. That’s 4 regions of 6 schools each - which is the exact same number of schools as in one section of an MHSAA classification. AND doing this means they’d all be playing by the same (private school) rules. So, looks pretty fair to me. No way they’d face nearly as much disparity in numbers than our Top 7A school and bottom 7A school. So it’s definitely doable.

What am I missing here? AHSAA doesn’t want them. They have ample ability (and funding) to create their own association. They’re not bound by the same rules as public schools. So what’s the problem? Why do they want so badly to be accepted by a system who has said they’re no longer welcome? It’s time to end the relationship. Why are these private schools begging to be in a system who doesn’t want them?

It’s staggering how many (male) coaches do exactly this. Coach football, baseball or basketball one period a day and then are ‘assigned’ other classes on paper… that they don’t actually teach. While getting full time teacher pay. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. But to be clear, I’ve only seen this with males (usually those at larger, competitive schools). Female teachers who also coach softball or cheer or basketball don’t get this same treatment.

Idk how they can win a lawsuit on this. It would seem beyond frivolous to beg AHSAA for membership & simultaneously say ‘we’re not gonna follow your transfer rules because we’re private.’ Can’t have it both ways. But private schools want it both ways. And that’s why private schools are mad.

Interesting. I personally saw (and know) more than 1 private school family in our area who lived outside the preferred public school radius here locally and faked an address inside the district to try to get their girls on specific teams within the public school because it was better than the private they were attending. They all got caught & all had to either take their kids back to private school or actually buy property in the right area. They all legit moved so their kids could go to the public school. It never would’ve been questioned, but because their kids all made huge deals out of it with friends and on social media (i.e. how they were going to be on “xyz” team and didn’t have to relocate because everyone knew their parents had money). So this scam has been tried and works both ways.

So your state representative told you that vouchers would not go to the schools? He said funds go to the families who then give them to schools? None of that even makes sense. The tax implications for families receiving actual state funds would be massive. A “voucher” is worth nothing without the promise standing behind it. That promise is state money. The state will send funding to the chosen school. Funding HAS to go to the schools. Families won’t be getting funds they can transfer. Any funds transferral done will be done between the school and the state. Otherwise what’s to stop a family from getting this money and doing something else with it? The only group who may be able to get actual funds would be families of homeschoolers. But even that could be more of a reimbursement thing when it all comes down.

HB2 is written to allow funds for only 12,500 (max) in the first year. There aren’t 2 separate pools of students. Public & private are in the same pool. Including families with students already paying private school tuition for their students. There is no uppermost income limit to receive a voucher. That’s one of many issues wrong with HB2. Another one is the fact that students don’t have to be leaving a “failing” school in order get the voucher. When HB2 says “chocie” they really mean it. Vouchers can go anywhere - including private - for any reason. You don’t have to state why you want to leave where you are.

Nope. Anyone who applies and gets approved can go anywhere else they want. On your dime.

It’s SUPPOSED to be for 12,500 students whose families are at levels well below the poverty line. But HB2 provides no guarantee for that. If enough of those “low income” students don’t apply (because they aren’t aware or parents don’t know how or whatever), then the applicant pool widens and widens again until all 12,500 spots are filled. There is no cutoff in HB2 for those well outside the poverty line. THIS is the loophole where existing private school families can get tuition funded. And you can bet those families will know all about it and have their applications in. On time & early.

Exactly this. There is nothing in HB2 to stop families with high 6 digit incomes from accessing these “school choice” funds for their children who’ve been enrolled in private school since birth. Which is exactly why HB2 isn’t about school choice…

Initially it’s 12,500 (with no uppermost income limit on who can get it). Then it increases in subsequent years, with no provision for increases in accountability for use of funds

Not all public schools “…raise a generation of moochers who are told at a young age they aren't capable of the same accomplishments as certain others are…” I am sorry for you if that was your experience. That is certainly not the cumulative experience for every public school student. Speaking of it as such is playing a blame game. If there’s a problem at any level, including state level leadership, it should be addressed. Immediately.

The game is talking smack about public education to make it appear inferior on the overall to private. Look, I’m sorry if your kids were only test-trained in public school and didn’t get the education they needed. Yours is not the story for everyone, including me. So you insistence on calling the entire public school system a “fraud” is simply choosing inflammatory language to elicit a knee jerk reaction. And that’s a game I won’t play. If public education is broken, we owe it to our children to fix it - not find workarounds to it.

Exactly this. The large number of kids in struggling schools won’t have access (via transportation) to other schools. Speaker White knows this and didn’t provide for it in his HB2. That’s why he has no income cap in this bill. He knows only those who can take their kids other place (those already doing so) will be able to access these funds he wants to allocate. This bill is not about school choice.

The whole of HB2 wasn’t written for the kids who are struggling (or else it would also include mechanisms to transport those troubled kids from failing schools to other schools who the state would force to take them & it would allow space for all school aged children in low income families - but the bill does none of that). Do we truly think the voucher process will be simple and easy enough for many in our most vulnerable population to figure out and access on behalf of their children? I doubt it. Government does not tend to make processes ‘easy’ on the overall. HB2 was written for Speaker White and his buddies to get $ for their own kids private school education. There’s no uppermost income limit for receipt of funds. That’s on purpose. If this passes (REALLY hope it doesn’t), I’ll go out on a limb and predict that by percentage, the whole of those 12,500 available voucher spots won’t go to the most income-depressed areas in our state. They’ll overwhelmingly go to areas in our state where there are good public available already & parents just want the $ to reimburse themselves for the tuition they’re already paying (from the coast to around Pinebelt and then the Jackson area, if I had to venture a guess).

I simply reject your implication that all public schools only teach to test & thereby suck and that all private schools reject teaching to test and thereby appropriately prepare students for what comes next. Neither statement is 100% true. Surely you know that. Let’s not play this game.

HONEST ANSWER: Firstly, if a public school has issues, we need to fix the issues - not just use ineffective bandaids called HB2 that don’t help ALL the students in that school and don’t fix the root problem. Secondly, we all pay taxes for all kinds of public services. We may choose to opt out of some of those programs and never use others. That’s part of being a citizen & responsible member of the community. And those are your choices - like choosing homeschool or private school. Strong communities benefit us all. (THAT is the “good” you question.) Lastly, if your argument is that you should get to choose where your tax dollars go or get money back for public services you don’t use, you’re opening a WIDE door there - not just for retirees and all others who have no children utilizing public education… but also for those who don’t use Medicare, don’t regularly access public roads and highways, aren’t on WIC, SNAP & all types of other assistance programs. The list is long.

Definitely. Speaker Jason White authored the bill for himself and his buddies to get $$ reimbursed on the private school tuition they’re already paying. VOTE. HIM. OUT. It’s not a democrat vs republican issue. -If it was truly about choice, then it would apply to all students, regardless. -If it was only about getting students out of failing (D or F rated) schools, then it would not allow for those with salaries into the 6 digits to get $$ for private school tuition. -If this was only about education, other issues (i.e. Tim Tebow act = which is about athletics) wouldn’t be attached to it. Don’t buy the lie, y’all. Tell your legislators to vote NO!!

Interesting part is that however many of the 12,500 spots they have left after granting vouchers to the “impoverished” percentage who apply will go to anyone else who applies. As with a lot of social programs, those who truly need it and qualify for it don’t know when to apply or ‘how’ to apply… and so they don’t get the help they need (and deserve) and the funds they should be getting are diverted to others who really don’t need them…. which will be the case with those trying to attend the Jackson area MAIS schools…. where vouchers won’t even cover 50% of the total cost to attend. The whole thing is a mess. Because this bill tries to circumvent fixing the issue with struggling schools and just put temporary bandaids on the symptoms

Agree