FreedomWorks Identifies House Legislators Blocking Education Reform in Mississippi
Washington, DC- Next Tuesday, the Mississippi House Education Committee will vote on the Senate-passed Charter School Bill, SB 2401. The legislation would allow for charter schools across the state, bringing dynamic curricula and much-needed reform to the failing Mississippi school system. FreedomWorks has identified six House legislators who are actively working to prevent education reform legislation from being sent to the Governor’s desk.
“Putting politics before the education of Mississippi children has created a dangerously ineffective school system across the state,” commented David Spielman, Campaigns Coordinator at FreedomWorks.
“According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 22 percent of Mississippi 4th graders and 19 percent of 8th graders are proficient in math and reading. No honest state representative can look parents in the eye and say these numbers are good enough, or that the system is working.”
FreedomWorks will be working with a broad coalition of local activists and tea party groups to inform families on the specifics of the educational reform bill, and to expose the individuals in all levels of government blocking the path to progress.
The six anti-reform legislators to be targeted before the House Education Committee vote include:
Pat Nelson (District 40)
Steve Masengill (District 13)
Tracy Arnold (District 3)
Eugene Hamilton (District 6)
Toby Barker (District 102)
Tom Weatherby (District 62)
FreedomWorks has engaged its Mississippi network of roughly 12,000 members to participate in an aggressive weekend grassroots campaign to make hundreds of phone calls to state house offices and to distribute over 2,500 door hangers exposing the six legislators currently blocking reform.
If the charter bill passes the House Education Committee, it will be sent to the House for a full floor vote in the next week. For more information about FreedomWorks’ efforts to support SB 2401, please contact Press Secretary Jackie Bodnar at Jbodnar@FreedomWorks.org.
