Mississippi House panel hears push for school consolidation as enrollment falls
Mississippi lawmakers are weighing school and district consolidation as K-12 enrollment declines, a trend they say is partly tied to a falling birth rate, Rep. Rob Roberson, R, said Thursday after a House select committee hearing.
Speaker Jason White, R, appointed members of the House to the Select Committee on Consolidation to hold hearings out of session and gather information, the Legislature said. The committee heard presentations from three superintendents with consolidation experience: John Eillison, former superintendent of the Chickasaw County School District; Will Russell, superintendent of the Leake County School District; and Dr. Theresa Jackson, former superintendent of the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District.
Roberson, who chairs the select committee and the House Education Committee, said the superintendents told lawmakers the process is difficult but can yield long-term benefits for students and communities. “All three of them said it’s a tough business,” Roberson said, summarizing the presentations. The speakers said consolidated districts often provide better services and make fuller use of teachers’ skills, the committee was told.
The superintendents cautioned about short-term consequences, including potential dips in district accountability scores immediately after closures and the risk of lawsuits from upset community members, Roberson said. He added that scores generally recover within one to three years, according to the presenters.
Lawmakers discussed legislative responses, including possibly helping districts with litigation costs and creating standards to guide consolidation decisions. Russell is the only superintendent among the three who voluntarily initiated consolidation, Roberson said, and he described school boards’ reluctance to close schools because of local job losses. The committee also heard from Dr. Courtney Taylor, executive director of AccelerateMS, who urged a stronger focus on career and technical education to fill workforce gaps; Roberson said Taylor told the group only about 9% of students in CTE programs use those skills after high school.
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