Could Mississippi lawmakers gavel in for a special session to focus on school choice before regularly scheduled activities begin in the capitol? Gov. Tate Reeves is not ruling it out.
“I don’t ever rule anything out,” Reeves said during an appearance on Mornings with Richard Cross. “I do think that this topic is timely. The reality is that if you look at virtually every other state around us, Republicans in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee have all had this debate, and they’ve all implemented universal school choice. It’s time for Mississippi to do the same.”
Mississippi has been behind its peers in the push to pass legislation relating to school choice, the concept of allowing parents to select where their child is educated rather than being limited to the public school in their zip code. As Reeves referenced, a bulk of the state’s neighbors have been leading the “education freedom” charge while Mississippi lags behind, despite the strides the state has made in the classroom.
During stump speeches at last month’s Neshoba County Fair, Reeves and Republican House Speaker Jason White made it abundantly clear that school choice would be a top priority in the 2026 legislative session. However, it may be so important to the governor that he would be willing to have legislators head to Jackson early to discuss further.
Reeves touted during the interview the role he played in some forms of school choice coming to fruition during his time as lieutenant governor. While operating as the state’s second-in-command for eight years, Reeves helped lead efforts to establish public charter schools for students in underperforming districts. He also oversaw the enactment of a law allowing parents of students with special needs to withdraw their children from public schools and use state funds for private school tuition or other expenses.
“I’m going to push as hard this year for school choice as I pushed for school choice in 2012 and 2013 when I served as lieutenant governor,” Reeves said. “That’s part of the conversation that hasn’t peeked its head. We’ve talked a lot about the successes we’ve had in public education in the state of Mississippi in the last 10 years … but I just want everybody to fully understand and appreciate that education freedom is not new to Mississippi. This is something that we have been doing.”
School choice has been a hot-button issue in Mississippi for quite some time, but the concept has hardly made meaningful headway in a legislative session. While the House of Representatives, particularly under White’s guidance, has been adamant on giving parents more options for their children’s education, the Senate has been a consistent roadblock in these efforts.
That was the case until President Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed “big, beautiful bill” became law. The law entails a provision allowing states to opt in to a federal voucher program. The provision would include a reimbursement of up to $1,700 for contributions sent to nonprofits offering financial assistance for K-12 students.
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Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, someone who has been quite hesitant to promote school choice in the past, had a bit of a change in tune when discussing the Trump-backed voucher program. While acknowledging that there are a couple of “t’s” to cross and “i’s” to dot before the program could come to fruition, Hosemann referred to it as a legislative priority, giving the school choice movement an unexpected rush of momentum in the offseason.
The Trump administration has also been keen on allowing states to dictate their own education policies while simultaneously attempting to disband the federal Department of Education. Reeves sees this as a golden opportunity for Mississippi to finally break the glass ceiling that has prevented school choice from becoming the educational standard for the state.
Though the governor is not committing to calling a special session, he is urging the legislature, which has a Republican supermajority, to finally put this issue to rest and pass school choice reforms. Reeves even dismissed the claims that school choice would deliver a detrimental blow to the public education system, saying the “sky hasn’t fallen” since public charter schools came about, and after parents of special needs youth were given more education options for their pupils.
“The fact of the matter is that President Trump is 100% for more education freedom in our country, and therefore, by definition, in our state. I’m 100% for more education freedom in our state, and I hope that our Republican legislators understand that school choice is part of the Mississippi Republican Party platform,” Reeves continued. “School choice is part of the national Republican Party platform, and the reason for that is simple. We believe in the individual. We believe in empowering kids and empowering parents to make the best decisions for themselves.”
After the conclusion of the 2025 legislative session, White announced a select committee solely dedicated to exploring possible school choice measures to introduce come January, barring a special session being called. The committee is slated to have its first meeting on Aug. 25. Dr. Laurie Todd-Smith, the assistant secretary for early childhood development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Lindsey Burke, the deputy chief of staff for policy programs at the U.S. Department of Education, will weigh in on school choice at the meeting.
