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We caught up with Gov. Phil Bryant, who has been a supporter of those bills to find out if he had a response to those comments.
"I think Sen. Bryan is a passionate man, and from his viewpoint, which is somewhat left of where I stand philosophically on what we should do in education I believe he probably would [believe it is dangerous] because I believe we're gonna make some dramatic changes, I hope," said Bryant.
He went on to specify some of those changes, which he said will not let a child pass from the third to the fourth grade unless they can read sufficiently.
"To say that we're talking about funding teacher salary increases based on outcomes and those types of things might scare him. I'm excited about it because I think we're gonna get a better product and hopefully reduce the dropout rate."
Sen. Bryan and those who oppose the plans laid for the session have said they support fully funding the Miss. Adequate Education Program and other programs and initiatives already in place. We asked the governor what he thinks about that point of view.
"I'd love for them to look at the budget," he said. "If you look at the tremendous growth in Medicaid costs, tremendous growth in Dept. of Corrections, I think we're doing very good to be able to level fund MAEP. But there are some other targeted things we can do. I asked the legislature to fund the Teach for America program, but we've just got to live within our means," he said.
Though charter schools have gained support in some Democratic circles in the state, the plan remains a largely Republican ideal.
Bryan was one of only three lawmakers to attend Tuesday's West Point meeting. Superintendents have traditionally opposed charter schools as the plan stands now. Sam Bounds, executive director of the Superintendents Assoc., said increasing teacher salaries should be a goal. The governor is in favor of outcome-based increases.
"I just think Sen. Bryan comes to education from a different perspective than we do," said Bryant.
Video from WCBI:
