By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Of the fifty states, can you guess the three considered the least educated, based on numerous metrics? Can you guess one state, beyond any doubt, that is always on the short list of least educated states? Surely you can. Mississippi has always had, and continues to have, a problem of lack. Lack of fairness, lack of equality, lack of equity, lack of leadership, and lack of educational attainment. It’s in Mississippi’s soil, deep down, and it’s no accident – it’s willful. On some level, all Mississippians know it, but far too many are unwilling to do the work necessary to change it. The official answer to the question above is West Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana, as reported by numerous sources.
Mississippians continue to elect folks to lead us that do not care about our problems of lack. They’re often caught gerrymandering legislative districts. They discriminate in voting. They ban voting forever for felons that have served their time. They misuse – a pretty word for steal – federal funds specifically intended to help the poorest among us in the poorest state in the country. They don’t prioritize the health of our residents and access to medical care in the unhealthiest state in our country. They don’t intervene when civil rights are violated by law enforcement. Instead of offering help to address crime in the capital city, one can conclude that they foist their own new police department, led by a white man, in a city of 80 percent African Americans.
The elected Republican majority installed a new inferior court system with appointees, subverting the will of the voters. They willfully discriminate as minorities receive less than 1 percent of state contracts each year. They cripple us further by eliminating state income tax, a major source of revenue in the poorest state. They ensure just one African American is seated on the State Supreme Court – since 1985 – representing just 11.11 percent racially in a state with a near 40 percent minority population. The list goes on and on, and now public education could be added to the list of harm’s done, in a much bigger way than it already is.
To avoid integration, following Brown v. Board of Education – 70 years ago, hundreds of private schools – segregation academies – were stood up in Mississippi. For too many Mississippians, the color of the skin of the child sitting next to yours in class, is of paramount importance. Although some progress has been made, in 2023 the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division reported that “32 school districts in Mississippi remain under federal desegregation orders,” per the Associated Press. Some people like to think that the confederacy is dead. They need to spend time in Mississippi. Central to the Confederate States of America’s goals was the protection of slavery and states’ rights – limiting federal authority. Confederates like to claim they don’t tolerate federal authority, but they have no problem taking federal monies – nearly half of all of Mississippi’s revenue comes from the federal government.
Today we see the full court press for school choice barreling toward us. We hear words like liberty, freedom, parent’s bill of rights, vouchers, tax-credits, and educational savings accounts. Clearly, in the United States, a private education has always been an option, and it remains an option today – but individuals pay for it out of pocket. What’s going on here, and in some other states, is the attempt to get the state government (all taxpayers) to foot the bill for you to send your child to a private school instead of a public school. And in Mississippi, we know exactly what that looks like and why.
State Representative Jeffrey Harness, Esq. has represented District 85 (Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, and Warren) since 2018 and sits on the lower chamber’s Education Committee. That committee has twenty-seven Representatives, 19 of which are Republicans and 8 are Democrats, like Harness, per www.legislature.ms.gov. A graduate of Jefferson County High School, he went on to earn two degrees from Alcorn State University, and then a juris doctorate from Southern University. He pulled no punches about the Republican push for school vouchers in our meeting at the capitol October 6, 2025. “I’m a former schoolteacher. I taught history and a little Driver’s Ed, and was a head football coach, before I decided to go to law school. I’m surprised they put me on the Education Committee, they tend to not use peoples’ talents.”
In discussing the goal of this Republican push for school choice, he stated, “you mean to resurrect segregation academies? I’m very concerned about the resources, if this passes, that would be left for the public schools and how the money would be allocated. We already have a constitutional issue. The Mississippi Constitution specifically forbids sending public money to private schools. With the gains we have made in education in this state, why are we trying to change the envelope now?” We discussed the abundance of segregation academies that we still have today, even though they are far fewer than decades ago, and then returned to the subject of vouchers. “I don’t think vouchers fit because Mississippi is such a rural state. Those around us that are trying this; Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana – their programs are failing. And now with the new tax cuts here, I don’t see how we can afford it.”
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