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House passes bill to create statewide school transfer pathway; debate centers on funding, transportation and equity
Summary
The House approved a broad school transfer ("portal") bill that lets local districts set transfer policies, requires public reporting and creates a $5 million state fund to offset local ad valorem losses for accepting districts; it passed after extensive debate, 67–46.
The Mississippi House passed a bill establishing a statewide public‑to‑public school transfer pathway, approving a strike‑all amendment and sending the measure to final passage 67 yeas to 46 nays.
The measure’s sponsor, identified in the transcript as Representative (Pearl River), described the strike‑all amendment as a portability bill intended to remove a local sending district’s power to veto a parent’s request to transfer a child to another public district. “Under current law, if I decide to send my child to another school and that school accepts my child, another public school, my school district is allowed to veto my decision … This will be eliminating that veto power that the sending district has,” the sponsor said on the floor.
Key provisions explained by the sponsor and debated on the floor: - District discretion and public reporting: Receiving districts may adopt their own capacity and acceptance policies; they are required to publish those policies and report transfer data to the Mississippi Department of…
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