Elizabeth Crisp • Clarion Ledger • March 10, 2010

House and Senate leaders likely will negotiate their differences over legislation that would bring charter schools - or “innovative schools” - to Mississippi.

After a nearly two-hour debate at the Capitol on Tuesday, the House passed its own version of a Senate bill that would allow parents to restructure operations of a dozen schools across the state that are either failing or at risk of failing for three consecutive years.

“This is giving parents the opportunity to take back their schools,” said House Education Committee Chairman Cecil Brown, D-Jackson.

A different version of Senate Bill 2293 passed the Senate earlier this session. The legislation heads back to the Senate for more work and likely will be given to a handful of Senate and House members to discuss in order to reach a compromise.

Charter schools operate in nearly every state, but Mississippi lawmakers have been reluctant to open the door to the concept. A narrow charter school law was on the books until July, but lawmakers let it expire.

A charter school is publicly funded but operates independently of traditional school districts and can compete for public funds.

An innovative school is a type of charter school but does not divert dollars or students. The concept is simply parents taking an existing school and running it, Brown said. More than 50 percent of the parents would have to agree and the parents would elect a board to run the school.

The Department of Education recently tagged more than 200 schools as failing or at risk of failing under its new grading system.

Citing the number of failing districts, the Senate passed a bill in February that would allow certain nonsectarian groups to petition the state Department of Education to form open-enrollment charter schools.

Brown questioned several areas of that legislation, though, saying the Senate version was too vague and provided no structure for setting up the schools.

“We brought forward what we thought was a reasonable amendment,” he said of his committee’s decision to change the bill.

The “innovative schools” legislation faced a tough fight Tuesday, with some lawmakers walking the House floor to try to sway votes.

“This is a very emotional bill. It means a lot - in many ways - to many people,” House Speaker Billy McCoy said. McCoy repeatedly had to call the room to order during the debate.

Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who has been a proponent of charter schools, said he believed the Senate version was a “real effective charter school bill,” while the House version provides loopholes.

“The barricades for development of charter schools under this legislation are insurmountable,” he said. “It will be almost impossible to obtain the 50 percent approval from parents.”

“At least we got a bill that will go to conference,” Bryant added.

Rep. Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, said he favored the Senate version and stressed the need to include the phrase “charter school.”

“It can go to conference, and it should go to conference,” he said. “Let’s come up with a bill that we can all be proud of.”

He said calling the schools “innovative schools” rather than charter schools was a matter of semantics and not policy.

“This ain’t my first rodeo - I see what’s going on here,” Frierson said. “Call it what it is if that’s what it is.”

Those who spoke against the legislation pointed to the education reform bills Mississippi has passed in recent years.

“For years now, the state has passed legislation after legislation after legislation that’s supposed to improve our schools,” said Rep. Kelvin Buck, D-Holly Springs. “We should have waited a little longer before we decided to move on with more legislation.”

Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, said he voted against the bill for similar reasons.

“We have not seen the results of what we put in place two years ago,” he said, referencing the Children’s First Act.

Through Children’s First, the Legislature gave the state Department of Education the power to take over failing districts.

“We say we’re the great state of Mississippi, but we constantly destroy education,” Hines said.

Rep. Billy Broomfield, D-Moss Point, said he disagrees with charter schools in principle.

“This strategy is not the right strategy for our public school students,” he said. “It’s designed to take the best of the best from everywhere, and then you take the worst and if they don’t drop out, you kick them out.”

Rep. Chuck Espy, D-Clarksdale, pointed to the Kipp Academy in Arkansas as an example of success.

“This is simply just another form of standing up for education,” Espy said.

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