Mississippi’s Charter School Funding Challenged in Court

On July 11, 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center backed a lawsuit by several parents (also on behalf of their children) against Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, the Mississippi Department of Education, and the Jackson Public School District; the suit challenges the constitutionality of using ad valorem tax money and per-pupil funding to fiscally support charter schools in Mississippi (as per the Charter Schools Act of 2013, or CSA).

The gist of the suit involves giving public money to schools that are not overseen by the state and district. An excerpt from the suit:

Section 206 of the Mississippi Constitution provides that a school district’s ad valorem taxes may only be used for the district to maintain its own schools. Under the CSA, public school districts must share ad valorem revenue with charter schools that they do not control or supervise. Therefore, the local funding stream of the CSA is unconstitutional.