Poor Speaker White. His omnibus school choice bill got short shrift in the Senate. His resort now appears to be name calling. “Senate leadership has aligned themselves with the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, the Mississippi Democratic Party, and the status quo,” he whined.
This has been common rhetoric among school choice proponents – only liberals oppose school choice. Surely you saw on social media the “pick a side on school choice” ads. One featured President Donald Trump, Gov. Tate Reeves, and Mississippi Speaker Jason White (the conservatives) on top and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (the liberals) on the bottom.
“Mississippi Democrats celebrate Republican senators’ decision to kill Trump-backed school choice plan,” screamed a headline in the Magnolia Tribune, a major dispenser of the pick-a-side rhetoric.
However, it was conservative Republicans who killed White’s bill in the Senate. The vote in the Senate Education Committee, made up of 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats, was unanimous. And 17 Republicans voted against the bill in the House, where it passed by just two votes after two Republicans failed to vote.
The notion that those Republicans who voted against the bill are not conservative and chose a liberal path is ludicrous. And White knows better.
Nine of those Republican senators voting “no” represent conservative counties that voted for Trump in 2024: Greene 85%, Pearl River 83%, Rankin 73%, Jackson, 69%, Harrison 64%, DeSoto 61%, and Lafayette 60%. The other, Warren County, voted 51% for Trump.
The 10 Republican senators and the 17 Republican house members generally voted in line with their constituents’ wishes, e.g., committee member Sen. Nicole Boyd told the Magnolia Tribune she received a tremendous number of emails and phone calls from her constituents who opposed the house bill. Others feared the omnibus bill reached too far.
Legislators representing their constituents’ preferences used to be a core conservative principle.
No longer for Gov. Tate Reeves. After the Senate action, he called out Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Education Committee Chair Sen. Dennis Debar. “I’ve never been more disappointed in elected officials,” he posted on Facebook.
The Speaker's name-calling tactics and other high-handed maneuvers have caused some unrest in his Republican caucus. Several frustrated members have chosen not to seek re-election next year. Rumblings have also started that White might not win re-election as speaker.
“Jason White is yelping to the high heavens because he just got UNANIMOUSLY spanked by a Senate Committee,” wrote an anonymous commenter on the Jackson Jambalaya blog. “Many other issues that Mississippi needs rectifying NOW, this ain't one of them. Jason may not get re-elected if he keeps up this ‘I'm really important’ act.”
"The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none” – Proverbs 14:6.
