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The effort of Mississippi House leaders and others to expand programs providing public funds to private schools validates the oft-repeated quote that “history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Efforts by Mississippi legislators to send public funds to private schools go back to at least the 1960s.

The current effort, led by House Speaker Jason White and buttressed by President Donald Trump and Gov. Tate Reeves, would provide funds to parents to allow them to help pay for the children’s education at a private school.

The argument is made that such a scheme, sending the money to parents to help pay for their child’s private school education, will not violate Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution, which states definitively that public money may not go to schools not operating as “free schools.”

The argument is being made that it would be constitutional because the public money is going to the parent instead of the private school. Some would argue that the process is simply trying to achieve through deception what the Mississippi Constitution says is prohibited and, who knows, maybe that is the definition of lawyering.

There have been limited state court cases involving Section 208, and none of those addressed directly the issue of whether providing public funds to a family to be spent on a private school education is constitutional.

It is almost certain that many of the nine members of the Mississippi Supreme Court would prefer not to have to take up the explosive issue. But if the bill passes the Legislature, it is almost certain that it will land in justices’ laps at the state’s highest court.

While it does not appear there has been a state case addressing the particulars that will be in front of the Mississippi Supreme Court if the bill becomes law, in 1969 there was a federal case with similar facts. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a state law sending public funds, called tuition grants, to families to be spent on a private school education.

As the number of Mississippi private schools exploded in the 1960s to provide white students an escape from attending classes with Black students, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill to provide funds to white students to be used to attend segregationist academies.

Many of those academies still exist today and could benefit if the new effort to provide public funds to private schools becomes law.

The 5th Circuit did not address Section 208 of the Mississippi Constitution, but instead said the law was discriminatory. The 5th Circuit found that the law “encourages, facilitates and supports the establishment of a system of private schools operated on a racially segregated basis as an alternative available to white students seeking to avoid desegregated public schools.”

Granted, 2026 is much different than the 1960s. There are many private schools that enroll and do a good job educating Black students.

But there are still private schools that take great pride in being the sole overseer of their enrollment criteria. The private schools told legislators during a hearing on the issue last year that they would not relinquish their authority to decide who they enroll.

There are, no doubt, private schools that deny enrollment to certain disabled students because of the high cost of providing those children an education.

And, no doubt, there would be private schools that would balk at enrolling gay or trans students. Some private schools also might deny enrollment to students who openly embrace certain religious practices.

Are those forms of discrimination?

In 1969, like today, the executive branch of the federal government got involved in the issue of sending public funds to private schools. The Trump administration has endorsed the bill pending in the Mississippi Legislature.

In 1969 the Justice Department of then-president Richard Nixon opposed the effort to provide “tuition grants” for students to attend private schools.

The opposing positions taken by the two presidents perhaps proves that sometimes history does not repeat itself and doesn’t even rhyme.

Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss sued the NCAA in state court on Friday for an additional year of eligibility so he can play for the Rebels next season.

The suit filed in Lafayette County came a week after the NCAA denied Ole Miss’ request for an extra year, saying the university and Chambliss’ previous school — Ferris State — failed to provide adequate medical documentation to back up the request.

The lawsuit filed Friday called the NCAA’s denial in “bad-faith, unreasonable and arbitrary,” and detailed Chambliss’ history of illness and included letters from physicians.

“Despite the duty of good faith and fair dealing it owes to Trinidad, the NCAA insists on considering the evidence in Trinidad’s case in an isolated, rather than comprehensive manner; interpreting its rules to impose requirements not contained therein; taking unreasonable if not irrational positions; and acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner in its decision-making and ruling,” the suit says.

Ole Miss’ arguments revolve around the fact that the 23-year-old Chambliss, although he has been in college for five years, has only played three years of college football because of that medical history.

“Trinidad first enrolled in Ferris State in the fall of 2021, but medical and physical incapacity prevented his ability to adequately train and condition and develop athletically,” the suit says.

After taking a redshirt his first season at Ferris State in 2021-22, Chambliss was held out in his second season for medical reasons.

“Obviously, Trinidad’s medical conditions, which rendered him incapable of competing in any game during these years, were beyond his or Ferris State’s control,” the suit says.

He played two more seasons at the Division II school in Michigan, leading the Bulldogs to a national championship before transferring to Ole Miss before the start of this season.

Chambliss completed 294 of 445 passes (66.1%) for 3,937 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions for Ole Miss (13-2), which set a school record for wins, including two after making the College Football Playoff for the first time. He ran for 527 yards and eight more TDs.

The Rebels lost 31-27 to Miami in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 8.

The NCAA, when contacted Friday, did not have a new statement, but referred to its statement from a week ago saying “This decision aligns with consistent application of NCAA rules.”

The NCAA said in that week-old statement that approval of such waivers requires schools to submit medical documentation from a treating physician at the time of a student’s incapacitating injury or illness.

“The documents provided by Ole Miss and the student’s prior school include a physician’s note from a December 2022 visit, which stated the student-athlete was ‘doing very well’ since he was seen in August 2022,” the NCAA said. “Additionally, the student-athlete’s prior school indicated it had no documentation on medical treatment, injury reports or medical conditions involving the student-athlete during that time frame and cited ‘developmental needs and our team’s competitive circumstances’ as its reason the student-athlete did not play in the 2022-23 season.”

Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter previously said the school will appeal the NCAA’s ruling.

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

It has been 25 years since I lived in Jackson, Mississippi, and whenever someone finds out I’m Jewish and from there, their first response is usually, Wait, there are Jews in Mississippi?

I am proud to always answer yes.

Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, and the loving community that calls it home, shaped me into the person I am today.

My family has been part of that community for decades. My grandfather and father served as temple presidents; my mom grew up in the community and later served as sisterhood president.

I have vivid memories of my grandmother walking up and down the aisles during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, asking people if they had somewhere to go and inviting dozens back to her house to make sure no one observed the holidays alone.

Beth Israel was where my parents were married. It was where my sister and I both became Bat Mitzvahs, where we formed our Jewish identity through religious school and participation in our small but mighty youth group. It was where my husband and I married.  

Last Saturday, Beth Israel Congregation was set on fire by someone who hates Jews simply for being Jews. Seeing the charred images of the library is painful. I have vivid memories of being in that library playing hide-and-seek, participating in classes and youth group meetings, getting ready for my wedding  and signing my ketubah in that room.

If I close my eyes, I can see the ark where the Torahs—now reduced to ash—once sat. I can see the books lining the walls that held our community’s history. I remember showing my children the plaques commemorating congregants’ milestones, including several from my own family, which have now been reduced to debris.

Growing up Jewish in Jackson made me a member of two diaspora communities – the Jewish one and the Mississippi one. In the aftermath of the fire, I have received messages from many people who are part of my Mississippi diaspora—some Jewish, mostly not—who have beautiful memories of visiting Beth Israel with me. 

For many of my friends, Beth Israel and my family were the only meaningful encounters with Jews they have ever had, and this fire has affected them in ways they did not expect.

This is not the first time Beth Israel has been targeted. In September 1967, the Ku Klux Klan firebombed the synagogue in retaliation for Rabbi Perry Nussbaum’s support of the Civil Rights movement. I grew up always knowing it was part of my community’s history.

What history books rarely emphasize is how that bombing brought the Jackson faith community together. In its aftermath, white and Black clergy were among the first to condemn the hatred, and members of the Jewish community played a significant role working secretly to help uncover the KKK bombings of the 1960s.

Last week’s fire was not an isolated incident. It is the most recent symptom of the dangerous rise in antisemitism facing Jewish communities across the country and around the world. Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, the European Jewish Congress reports at least 20 attacks on synagogues across the globe. 

Jews make up less than 2% of the U.S. population, yet we are the targets of roughly 16% of all hate crimes and nearly 70% of religion-based hate crimes, according to the FBI. American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report found that 56% of American Jews have altered their behavior out of fear of antisemitism, and 1 in 3 has personally experienced it. Each one of these statistics is a person — a mom or dad, a brother, sister or child.

These troubling numbers highlight why antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem to solve. We need people to listen when we explain why antisemitic violence must be confronted clearly, forcefully and without hesitation. Our fear — rooted in generational trauma — of rising hateful rhetoric from all sides of the political spectrum is real and has consequences.  We need allies who refuse to look away and choose to stand up and take action.

That was apparent last May, when I was staffing an American Jewish Community event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., in which Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were murdered after leaving the event.

The event was devoted to how grassroots diplomacy can transform the Middle East through humanitarian aid and cross-cultural collaboration. Many of the more than 100 people there were not Jewish. But they came together in a time of need, unified in purpose and in hope. 

A few months later, a German journalist asked me how I can stay optimistic despite that horrible night. That wasn’t a question I have ever considered. Growing up Jewish in Mississippi has always meant that optimism is the only option.

Being a part of Beth Israel taught me many things, most importantly that community is an antidote to many of the problems of the world, that Jewish joy is always stronger than hate, and that showing up for people in their time of need is often the holiest thing you can do. Jews in Mississippi – and pretty much anywhere else, for that matter – need that help more than ever.

Bio: Alexis (Larkin) Schwartz, a native of Jackson, is the associate director at American Jewish Committee in Washington. She previously worked as a director at the Jewish Federations of North America.

Beth Israel Congregation Rabbi Benjamin Russell and Congregation President Zach Shemper expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support during Thursday night’s All-City Call to Prayer in Jackson, days after an attacker set the congregation’s synagogue on fire.

Jackson Mayor John Horhn and the city’s Inter-Faith Task Force featuring religious leaders across faiths and denominations led a crowd of Jacksonians through prayers and a call to action – an event that had been planned before the fire but took on new urgency after it.

The event, held at Thalia Mara Hall, allotted time for prayers and special remarks for Beth Israel. Jackson’s only Jewish congregation was a primary focus of the service after the early Saturday fire that destroyed part of the synagogue, which is the state’s largest.

Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, of Madison is facing federal and state arson charges in the attack.

“I wish I could say that this moment of our coming together in mourning and solidarity and hope and in friendship was unique, but unfortunately we have been here before,” Shemper said. 

“For us Jews, we have been here for literally thousands of years – between dark and light, hate and love, between being feared and accepted, between going and coming, between birth and destruction and rebuilding,” he said. “And we will always rebuild.”

Shemper told the story of a similar attack on Beth Israel in 1967, when the Ku Klux Klan bombed the building in retaliation for Rabbi Perry Nussbaum’s civil rights activism. In the aftermath, many non-Jewish people in the local community supported the synagogue and denounced the attack.

“Beth Israel is not brick and mortar,” said Russell, who spoke after Shemper. “Beth Israel is the people who gather, who pray, who learn, who argue, who care for one another. Wherever we gather, that is Beth Israel.”

Russell said the attack was meant to make members of Beth Israel feel like they didn’t belong, but the community has embraced them with love and solidarity.

“We are rebuilding trust. We are rebuilding connection. We are rebuilding with the knowledge that we do not do this work by ourselves,” he said.

To close, the rabbi offered a blessing to the crowd, who gave him a standing ovation.

After their remarks, the crowd huddled into small groups to pray for Beth Israel. 

The mayor and Derrick Johnson, national president and CEO of the NAACP, spoke before Shemper and Russell.

“It’s an indictment on our country, on our community, that there wasn’t a way for someone to stand in the gap, to turn him around, to make him inspired not to make that journey,” Horhn said of Pittman.

Horhn led the crowd in a prayer for a better Jackson, for healing and for the entire Jewish community.

“Help us build a Jackson that’s safer, that’s more respectful and more hopeful for everyone,” he said.

Johnson, who lives in Jackson, compared the fire at Beth Israel to similar hate-based attacks in El Paso, Texas; Louisville, Kentucky; and Pittsburgh. He said the common denominator between the attackers is that they were radicalized on social media platforms.

Johnson also said people need to push back against the current political climate. He said this climate was “germinating directly from the White House,” to which one unknown attendee called out, “It’s not coming from the White House.” Johnson did not acknowledge the response.

“Under no circumstance should we allow political platforms to divide us for an agenda that has nothing to do with who we are and who we should be,” Johnson said. “We must learn from our history, not repeat it.”

The night began with worship songs and ended with more prayers for the mayor, city and state officials, and for the state and city itself. At the end, faith groups were invited to adopt an area around their place of worship to do projects that would improve the community. The first workday will be Monday on Martin Luther King Jr Day.

If convicted on the state charge, Pittman’s sentence could be enhanced under a state law that punishes “offenses committed for discriminatory reasons.” The federal government did not immediately not charge him with a hate crime.

A federal affidavit alleges Pittman broke into Beth Israel early Saturday morning, doused the lobby with gasoline and set the building ablaze. 

The fire destroyed the library and administrative offices, two Torahs and the synagogue’s Tree of Life. Several other Torahs were damaged. One Torah that survived the Holocaust and was in a glass case remained unharmed. Beth Israel is accepting donations for rebuilding efforts.

Pittman was arrested at a hospital in Jackson, where he was being treated for burn injuries.

Authorities say Pittman confessed after being arrested that he targeted the synagogue for its “Jewish ties,” and called Beth Israel a “synagogue of Satan.”

Pittman was released from the hospital Wednesday and is in federal custody ahead of his preliminary hearing in federal court next Tuesday.

The attack drew national and international attention. State, local and national officials have condemned the arson and antisemitism. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, has called on the FBI to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

Federal prosecutors have revealed a sprawling scheme to rig college basketball games while yielding big payouts to gamblers. A former Southern Miss player, Picayune native Mo Arnold who last played for the Golden Eagles in the 2023-24 season, is among 20 men charged.

According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, fixers started with two professional games in China before turning their focus to recruiting college players in America to participate in similar point-shaving efforts as recently as January 2025.

The indictment, which includes charges against current and former college players, coincides with multiple NCAA probes into sports-betting violations.

“We were made aware this morning of federal charges brought against a former Southern Miss men’s basketball player as part of a larger sports betting probe,” Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain said in a statement Thursday. “This news is disappointing to everyone associated with Southern Miss athletics. Integrity is important to anyone who loves college sports, and the university stands ready to assist in making sure incidents like these are removed from the competitive space in college athletics.”

Arnold, a point guard, played three seasons at USM, the best being his senior year when he averaged 6.2 points, 2.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. Southern Miss finished 16-16 overall and 9-9 in the Sun Belt Conference that season. Arnold also started 30 of 33 games in the 2022-23 season during which USM won finished 25-8 and won the Sun Belt regular season championship.

Here’s what to know about the latest case:

The types of bets that were flagged

Gamblers can bet on games with the point spread, a projected total by which one team is favored to win against another team.

Winning a bet on the favorite would mean that team won by more than the projected point spread. A winning bet on the underdog would require that team to win outright or lose by fewer points than the spread.

How this scheme allegedly worked

Prosecutors say players involved could manipulate a game, and therefore the bets related to it, by intentionally underperforming. Gamblers working with those players could then place wagers based on “higher degree of certainty” as to whether a team would cover or fall short of the spread, according to the indictment.

For example, the indictment charges former college and NBA player Antonio Blakeney with taking payments from two high-stakes gamblers to underperform while in the Chinese Basketball Association during the 2022-23 season.

In one such game in March 2023, Blakeney scored roughly 21 points below his scoring average and his team lost by 31. That covered the spread for the favored opponent so fixers could win most of their bets, according to the indictment.

Fixers later recruited college players to help ensure their teams failed to cover the spread either for the first half or an entire game, offering payments typically ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.

The college games that were impacted

According to the indictment, the scheme eventually involved more than 39 players on 17 Division I men’s basketball teams who manipulated or attempted to manipulate 29 games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Most games were in the regular season and involved teams at the mid-major level, though DePaul in the Big East had three games cited in the indictment (against Georgetown, Butler and St. John’s) from late in the 2023-24 season.

The indictment listed at least four postseason games impacted in March 2024: Robert Morris’ first-round game against Purdue Fort Wayne in the Horizon League Tournament, New Orleans’ second-round game against Lamar in the Southland Conference Tournament, and Abilene Christian’s two games (against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tarleton State) in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Other schools that were affected

Eastern Michigan, Nicholls State, Tulane, Northwestern State, Saint Louis, La Salle, Fordham, Buffalo, North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, Coppin State and Alabama State all had players who allegedly impacted games.

Four charged players competed for their current teams within the past week, however allegations against them don’t involve the 2025-26 season.

They are: Kennesaw State’s Simeon Cottle; Eastern Michigan’s Carlos Hart, with allegations tied to a previous stint at New Orleans; Texas Southern’s Oumar Koureissi, tied to his time at Nicholls State; and Delaware State’s Camian Shell, tied to his stop at North Carolina A&T.

Cottle, the preseason pick for Conference USA player of the year, is averaging 20.2 points and had 21 points in Wednesday’s win against Florida International. By Thursday, however, Kennesaw State had released a statement that Cottle was suspended indefinitely from all team activities.

Separately, Eastern Michigan announced Hart’s suspension from team activities pending the outcome of the case. Koureissi — who played for Texas Southern as recently as Saturday — no longer appears on the Tigers’ online roster, while the school responded to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment with a statement saying Koureissi “has been removed from the team.”

Delaware State didn’t immediately return an email from the AP requesting comment Thursday.

In a statement Thursday, Buffalo athletic director Mark Alnutt said the school will continue to cooperate with investigators.

“We believe these to be isolated incidents,” he said, “that in no way reflect the values and core ethics of the Division of Athletics or our men’s basketball program.”

What the NCAA has done about sports-betting concerns

In a statement Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker said enforcement staffers from college sports’ governing body have opened sports-betting probes into roughly 40 athletes from 20 schools in the past year.

Eleven athletes from seven schools were ruled permanently ineligible, while 13 others from eight schools failed to fully cooperate in NCAA probes, with none competing today.

News of those cases has dripped out over the past year.

For example, the NCAA banned three players in September for betting on their own games at Fresno State and San Jose State.

In October, the NCAA announced three former Eastern Michigan players refused to cooperate with its investigation. Two of those, Da’Sean Nelson and Jalen Terry, are defendants in the unsealed indictment.

A month later, the NCAA announced sanctions against six more players, a list that included two defendants — former New Orleans players Cedquavious Hunter and Dyquavion Short — from Thursday’s unsealed indictment. Hunter, nicknamed “Dae Dae,” later said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he participated in point-shaving.

Later in November, the NCAA ruled former Temple guard Hysier Miller permanently ineligible for placing dozens of bets on Owls games, including some against his team, during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

And in December, the NCAA said former San Francisco player Marcus Williams gave information about his stats in upcoming games during the 2024-25 season to a player from another school who was betting on his performances. Williams reached a negotiated settlement to close the case and had no remaining eligibility.

___

AP Sports Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.

After perhaps the most intense vote-whipping he’s done as House speaker, Republican Jason White prevailed on a major school-choice bill, but only by a razor-thin, two-vote margin, with the future of the legislation uncertain. 

Despite the heavy lifting and House Bill 2’s passage after a four-hour debate, the final vote count could have been tied if every member had voted. 

The 122-member House passed the school-choice bill by a vote of 61-59. Fifty-nine Republicans and the chamber’s two independents voted for the measure. Seventeen Republicans, though, joined all of the chamber’s 42 Democrats to oppose it.

Two House members — Republicans Price Wallace of Mendenhall and Clay Deweese of Oxford — did not vote. 

Deweese was marked present on the House’s roll for the day. Wallace was marked absent. 

After the House concluded its four-hour debate on the school choice bill, Deweese, as chairman of the Appropriations C Committee, immediately presided over a roughly hour-long budget hearing to hear testimony from the Division of Medicaid. 

After the committee meeting, Deweese told Mississippi Today that he was “unavailable” to vote on the school choice bill. When asked why he was unavailable, he didn’t answer the question and walked off into a suite of legislative offices where the public isn’t allowed. 

He did not respond to a separate follow-up question asking how he would have voted on the measure if he were available. 

A legislative tactic that lawmakers can deploy is what’s commonly called “taking a walk,” or leaving the chamber and not voting on a bill. Often, this is a way to avoid drawing the wrath of legislative leadership or voters back home.

The two-term lawmaker represents Lafayette County, which contains two A-rated school districts. Oxford School District Superintendent Bradley Robertson penned an opinion essay for Mississippi Today in October arguing against school-choice legislation. 

Wallace, on the other hand, was not seen at the Capitol on Thursday and was marked absent on the roll. Wallace, a farmer, later told Mississippi Today that he didn’t take a walk. He was repairing some broken farm equipment and could even supply a picture of what he was trying to fix. 

Wallace said if he had been present at the Capitol, he would have voted against the school-choice measure. 

Whenever a speaker puts their full weight behind a policy, it’s long been the realpolitik that House members can gain the speaker’s favor by voting with the leader. Voting against a speaker can get a member demoted, or back-benched or make it difficult to pass their own legislation. 

In the Mississippi House, the speaker wields enormous influence by helping control which bills die and which ones become law. He also decides which members lead committees and can remove them as leaders.

Last year, White removed Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, a Republican from Picayune, as the leader of the House Drug Policy Committee.

White never said why he yanked her from the committee, but the Pearl River County lawmaker said it was because she pushed back against White over disagreements on legislation that sought to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. 

While the House debated the lengthy bill on Thursday, Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, a Republican, told Mississippi Today the Senate still doesn’t have the votes to pass a robust school choice package, as the House is pushing.

He also alluded to moves by House Republican leaders to finagle over votes in Wednesday’s committee meeting, such as asking some members to skip the meeting instead of voting no.

“The Senate position is what we passed, and I’m going to support the Senate position,” DeBar said. “I’ve got votes on a single bill, I’m not twisting arms or asking people to walk. I’ve got the full support of the Senate. When the House bill gets here, if it gets here, we’ll deal with it in due course.”

After the vote, White told reporters that he is not pressuring House members to vote a certain way and said arm-twisting was something previous House speakers would do.

“I think pressure comes to bear from voters and politics, not from a heavy hand in leadership,” White said.

The Mississippi House narrowly passed a major public-education overhaul Thursday after four hours of debate that centered on school choice — but also invoked President Trump, rifles and shotguns, the Psalm of David, pimps and meth addicts and even sexual innuendo.

The bill, authored by Republican Speaker Jason White, passed 61-59. Seventeen Republicans broke with White and voted no, and two Republicans did not vote.

The razor-thin margin is likely not the homerun that White wanted to see in his chamber, after his months-long campaign to expand school choice in Mississippi. The slim passage puts the bill’s future in doubt, with the Republican Senate leadership vowing to kill it, or at least the parts that would spend tax dollars on private schooling.

School choice refers to a collection of policies that give parents more power over their children’s education. But opponents argue that in doing so, public money is siphoned away from the public education system into private schools or the highest-performing public schools.  

White has been at the center of efforts to broaden school choice policies in Mississippi, one of the few states in the Southeast without an expansive program. The drive has, in large part, come from national conservative groups and the Trump administration.

Rep. Jeffrey Harness, Democrat from Fayette, acknowledged that pressure during the floor debate. 

“I know y’all have to do everything that Donald Trump tells you to do,” he said. “I mean, if he tells you to jump off a cliff, you’re gonna jump off a cliff.”

The crux of the divide in the House is ideological, representatives made clear on Thursday.

Democrats, led in dissent by House party leader Robert Johnson III from Natchez, said they believe the state’s public-education system should be rewarded for its recent success and that school choice would harm public schools, which must accept all students. In contrast, House Republicans said that parents, not the government, deserve the ultimate say over where and how their children are educated. Republican Rep. Celeste Hurst of Sandhill, in an unconventional opening, introduced the bill — estimated to cost the state $162 million overall and headlined by an education savings account program that would send public dollars to families to pay for private school tuition — by acknowledging its 446-page length.

“The opponents have called it gargantuan,” she said. “I have even heard the word ‘girth’ tossed around. And I get it, it’s really hard to embrace something that you can’t quite get your arms around … what’s also big is the issue we’re trying to address.” Others during the hourslong debate snickered as they used girth and similar innuendo.

And before the debate unfolded in earnest, Republican Rep. Jansen Owen of Poplarville, one of the authors and White’s right-hand man in the school choice push, was brought to tears.

“Supporting school choice doesn’t mean turning backs on public education. It means opening our eyes to the reality that every baby is unique and every baby is different,” he said, before turning away from the podium to gather himself.

There were recurrent themes throughout the floor discussion, including accountability, transparency and fears over resegregation. One major portion of the bill changes current law to remove the veto power of a home school district if a student wants to transfer out. The other school district, however, retains its power to accept or deny a student.

Johnson argued that idea was antithetical to public schools by definition. 

“If I live in a county, I can go to school in that county,” he said. “And if I show up at that school ugly, dirty, rambunctious, crazy, I don’t care what it is — they have to take you. That’s what public education is.”

House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, who represents Starkville, brushed off concerns that the public-school transfer provision would result in a concentration of high-performing students at the most well-resourced schools, causing rural, struggling schools with lower-income tax bases to lose students and, subsequently, close. 

Some Democrats likened it to the segregation of schools in the 1950s. 

“These schools that you’re talking about are going to close anyway,” Roberson refuted. “That’s the road they’re on.”

Lawmakers also took issue with private schools accepting state money, while adhering to their own standards, not public school standards. 

Rep. Bob Evans, a Democrat from Monticello, said there were no penalties in the bill, but Owen disagreed: If schools fail to educate students, their parents can send them elsewhere, he said. 

“Let me ask you a question: If little Johnny’s momma is on crystal meth, and little Johnny’s daddy is a pimp, can you tell me how they (are) gonna be able to choose that little Johnny is getting the right kind of education services when that’s not even on their plate?” Rep. John Hines, a Democrat from Greenville, asked. 

“I hope little Johnny has a good grandmomma,” Owen responded.  

A handful of amendments offered by Johnson and Rep. Omeria Scott, a Democrat from Laurel, failed on the floor Thursday, including one presented by the latter to require a specific Psalm for the provision of the bill that permits school boards to create policies that allow prayer at the beginning of the school day. 

While the House debated the lengthy House bill, Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, a Republican from Leakesville, told Mississippi Today the Senate Republican majority does not support the House bill. Senate leaders have already passed a public-school transfer bill, filed legislation that mirrors portions of the House bill and made clear they don’t plan to entertain an education savings account program to spend tax dollars on private schools.

He also alluded to moves by House Republican leaders to finagle votes in a Wednesday committee meeting, such as asking some members to skip the meeting instead of voting no.

“The Senate position is what we passed and I’m going to support the Senate position,” DeBar said. “I’ve got votes on a single bill, I’m not twisting arms or asking people to walk. I’ve got the full support of the Senate. When the House bill gets here, if it gets here, we’ll deal with it in due course.”

But White on Thursday after adjournment denied any heavy arm twisting of House Republicans. He told reporters that he asked his members to vote ‘yes’ on the bill, and that pressure has come from their constituents and “politics,” not House leadership.  

And if the Senate kills his bill, White said senators will “answer to the voters” and suggested that Gov. Tate Reeves would call a special session to reconsider school choice expansion. 

“ I’m hopeful and optimistic that we can find some common ground,” he said. “The same people that voted for these representatives, voted for those senators, and I just can’t believe we’re that far apart.”

DeBar said he plans to call a committee meeting next week to handle noncontroversial bills. He plans to have his committee consider whatever version of House Bill 2 passes the House, but did not say when that would be. 

“My preference is to bring the bill up as is and not have amendments made to it because I think the committee needs to consider the bill in its totality and make a decision on how they want to move forward with it,” he said.

House Democrats outlined their plans moving forward at a press conference on the Capitol’s second floor steps immediately after adjournment.

“We hope the position of the Senate remains steadfast on this issue, and we’ll continue to talk to them and encourage them, along with everyone else in the House and Senate,” Johnson said. 

The bill was held on a motion to reconsider, a procedural motion that could bring more debate or another vote on the bill before it could move to the Senate.

Staff writer Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.

Mississippi’s former welfare director testified Wednesday that a leadership program at the heart of a criminal case against former WWE wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. was done in accord with a federal faith-based initiative during the first Trump presidency.

John Davis, the former Mississippi Department of Human Services director awaiting sentencing for his role in the brazen welfare heist, has repeated this refrain multiple times during the four days he’s held the witness stand so far in the DiBiase trial.

In fact, when answering how he first met the wrestler, Davis described attending a 2017 meeting at the Governor’s Mansion, where he said Gov. Phil Bryant discussed new faith-based initiatives on the federal level. Davis said DiBiase’s brother, Brett, was there, and told the governor how his dad’s Christian ministry called Heart of David could be involved. Their dad is famed professional wrestling heel Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase, who delivers his testimonial about overcoming temptations during his time with the World Wrestling Federation by recommitting to Jesus.

Davis’ explanation provides some context for his communication with the DiBiase brothers, which was laden with references to God and scripture. “You are God sent,” Teddy DiBiase said in 2017 in one of his earliest messages to the welfare director. 

Davis frequently told the brothers, “I love you” and “God loves you,” though on Wednesday, Davis testified that he messaged many people in that manner, including the two nonprofit directors that funneled grants to the wrestlers.

The DiBiase family secured a total of nearly $6 million in federal grants through Davis’ agency, the majority coming from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Teddy DiBiase is facing 13 criminal counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, theft of federal funds and money laundering. Brett DiBiase pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the scheme; the father was not charged criminally; and all three DiBiase men are facing a civil lawsuit brought by the welfare department to recoup the funds. 

MORE TRIAL COVERAGE:

DAY 6: Wrestler carried out welfare-funded workshops in broad daylight, defense testimony asserts

DAY 5: Welfare director texted wrestler who was his high-paid aide about ‘money bags,’ testimony shows

DAY 4: Feds ask disgraced former welfare director ‘million-dollar question’: Why? Loneliness and love

DAY 3: Wrestler’s multimillion dollar ‘self-help curriculum’ helped crack open a wider welfare scandal

DAY 2: Opening statements in welfare scandal trial paint former director as villain who doled out millions over infatuation

DAY 1: 83 witnesses could enter the ring in Mississippi welfare scandal trial

TRIAL PREVIEW: Ex-WWE wrestler faces feds in first – and potentially only – criminal trial in Mississippi welfare scandal

TANF funds are meant to alleviate or prevent poverty through a number of possible ways – direct cash assistance to help families care for children in the home; the promotion of job preparation, work and marriage; reducing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and the formation or maintenance of two-parent families. Auditors questioned tens of millions of dollars worth of purchases under this program from 2016 to 2020. 

When prosecutors asked Davis last week about why his agency transferred TANF money to Heart of David, Davis said it was part of the faith-based initiative that “the governor wanted us to do.”

The scope of services in one of Heart of David’s subgrant agreements included several items geared toward young people, including trying to “increase the number of adolescents who live a life of servanthood” and “strengthen attitudes and expectations towards community, family and their US citizenship.” The second agreement was more pared down, with Heart of David agreeing to “establish a network of partnerships, services and resources throughout Mississippi communities for faith-based and self activities,” according to a forensic audit.

In the first report detailing the misspending, the State Auditor’s 2019 MDHS Management Letter, the authors explain that TANF rules allow states to direct funds to faith-based organizations as subgrants, but they must include restrictions on explicitly religious activities. Auditors found that grant agreements between DHS and Heart of Davis did not feature such restrictions.

In October 2017, about four months after DiBiase began working on his first welfare-funded contract to create a leadership development program, he received an invitation to visit the White House from Jay Strack, a motivational speaker and then-member of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board. The letter, shown to the court Wednesday, referred to DiBiase as “one of the best and brightest the nation has to offer.”

In 2018, Trump signed an executive order establishing the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which stated that the administration wanted faith-based organizations to compete on an equal playing field with others for federal funding.

The same year, Trump signed the Family First Prevention Services Act, which Mississippi leaders vowed publicly to adopt and set up committees to carry out. The Act aimed to prevent family separations by allowing states to use child welfare funds on items that a family may need to keep a child safely at home. DiBiase sat on the state advisory council for the state’s Family First Initiative. Churches and faith-based organizations were part of the approach to coordinate prevention efforts across sectors. But the state didn’t submit its plan under the Act to the federal government until years after the scandal led to the effective dismantling of the initiative. 

As part of DiBiase’s work with the welfare department, the agency recorded him delivering what were supposed to be weekly inspirational messages to DHS staff – the people who work on the ground level to administer federally-funded assistance to needy Mississippians. He called the mini-lectures “Tuesday Turnaround.”

“We’re going to enhance our culture. We’re going to create a community and a family that is about growing, that is about loving, because if we can love ourselves and love each other, then we can love our clients at a greater level,” DiBiase said in one of the videos.

DiBiase went on to tell the story of Shamgar, an Israeli farmer who slaughtered 600 Philistines using an ox goad – “a stick with a nail on it,” DiBiase explained – and delivered Israel.

“Now this is in a book I read; I can’t talk about it. You know, I ain’t preaching,” he said in the video. “So what’s the lesson there? Just a simple farmer, right? Who picked up a stick with a nail on it and he delivered a nation. How awesome is that? Here’s the lesson. Start now. Ok? Use what you got. Do what you can. We know that we have issues in our offices, maybe the printers aren’t working, maybe somebody’s got a negative attitude. But that doesn’t mean you have to have a negative attitude, does it? You could respond in love. The printer doesn’t work, I’m sorry. Guess what? There – somebody – don’t let that affect you.”

Wednesday was a short day of trial, with U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves announcing after lunchtime that he had matters to handle in other cases. He paused the proceedings until Friday, when the defense is expected to continue its cross examination of Davis.

The criminal trial of DiBiase may be the only one to occur within the larger Mississippi welfare scandal. 

At one point while Davis was speaking on the witness stand this week, seven blocks away, Attorney General Lynn Fitch and various volunteers were bundling suitcases, part of a partnership with Focus on the Family. The evangelical Christian parachurch had donated 1,350 satchels for some of Mississippi’s roughly 4,000 foster children. 

The organization’s concept is that when children are neglected – the most common reason being poverty – or abused, and are taken from their families by state child protection officers, they often don’t possess any belongings, or if they do, they use garbage bags to carry the items. 

Laurie Todd-Smith, a former Bryant adviser, came to Jackson to promote the program. She now serves as deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development in Trump’s Administration for Children and Families, the agency that oversees TANF funding nationally. 

Each suitcase they planned to pass out to foster children contained a teddy bear and a Bible.

“I think Mississippi, of all the states I visited and all the states we’re working with, we are particularly a very faith-filled state,” Todd-Smith said during a Tuesday interview with Supertalk, a Mississippi radio network that received $600,000 in welfare funding during the scandal. “And I just feel so proud that we’re visiting a church today that the churches are engaging in this issue.”

The Mississippi Board of Education has authorized a takeover of the Wilkinson County School District because of its severe academic challenges. 

State officials also have serious concerns about the district’s financial health. Wilkinson schools’ full financial picture isn’t clear, officials said, because district officials have not submitted a financial audit since the 2023 fiscal year. The district did indicate a $1.7 million deficit in its budget outlook for the 2025-26 school year.

“We don’t have a choice,” state Superintendent Lance Evans said at a state Board of Education meeting Thursday. When a district hits rock bottom, he said, the state has to act. 

The board appointed Lee Coats as interim superintendent of Wilkinson County schools. Coats recently served as the assistant superintendent of Holmes County Consolidated School District, which the state took over in 2021.

Without intervention, there could be a “continuation of an inadequate educational environment, thereby denying the students enrolled in Wilkinson County School District the opportunity to learn, to excel, and to obtain a free and appropriate public education,” Paula Vanderford, chief accountability officer for the state Department of Education, said during the board meeting.

The school district has been rated F under the state’s accountability system for each of the past two years, state officials said. State accountability data shows that both Wilkinson County Elementary and William Winans Middle School are also failing. Wilkinson County High has a D grade.

The Wilkinson County district has the second-lowest graduation rate in the state. The district also has the state’s lowest proficiency rate in math and science as well as the second lowest proficiency rates in English and history, state education officials said. 

Those are just some of a long list of academic concerns state education officials mentioned Thursday.

Enrollment in Wilkinson County schools has also dropped by about half since 2019, and is now 648 students — a number that prompted state board Chairman Matt Miller to question whether the school district should be consolidated into another one.

Consolidation is not yet the top question for state education officials. The immediate first step of the takeover, Evans said, is for state officials to do a full audit of the Wilkinson County’s personnel and finances. Under the takeover, Wilkinson County’s school board is abolished and its superintendent is removed. 

Wilkinson County is the second school district the agency has taken over in less than three months.

The state Board of Education voted on Nov. 14 to take over Okolona schools for financial reasons, marking the district’s second time under state control in 15 years. Okolona schools officials had notified the agency on Oct. 30 that it could not make its November payroll. 

Dozens of other school districts across Mississippi could also be in financial trouble. The current finances are unclear for 47 school districts that are behind on submitting completed annual financial audits to the state Department of Education.

On Thursday, the state Board of Education unanimously approved a temporary rule that, among other things, spells out consequences districts will face if they fail to submit annual audits on time, starting with the March 31 deadline. Those districts will be designated as high-risk, face “enhanced monitoring” from the state education department, and their accreditation could be downgraded for with multiple outstanding audits.

At a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on Wednesday, Evans said there is limited funding available to help provide technical assistance for additional school districts taken over by the state: $4.8 million. Since taking over Okolona schools, the agency has already spent $1.5 million. Evans asked lawmakers for additional funding for next fiscal year.

“It doesn’t take long to eat through that,” Evans said of the agency’s emergency fund. “One district that’s in serious trouble can completely wipe that out.”

For now, the state runs six school systems, called districts of transformation: Noxubee County, Holmes County, Humphreys County, Yazoo City, Okolona Separate School District, and now Wilkinson County. The latter two districts are also the first districts the state has taken over since gaining the authority in 2024 to take over a school district for academic or financial reasons without the governor first declaring a state of emergency.

On Thursday, state Board of Education officials touted Tunica County School District as a success story. The district was placed in a district of transformation in 2015 and is now rated a B, the highest grade among school systems in the Mississippi Delta. 

This story has been updated with additional details.

The Madison man accused of setting fire to Mississippi’s largest synagogue has now been indicted on a federal arson charge. 

The federal indictment returned Wednesday does not mean Stephen Spencer Pittman is facing a new charge, only that a grand jury has confirmed federal prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed with prosecuting the 19-year-old for burning the Beth Israel Congregation temple. 

Federal and state prosecutors have not announced how they will collaborate on Pittman’s court cases. His attorney, federal public defender Mike Scott, could not immediately be reached Thursday.  

In state court, Pittman is facing a charge of first-degree arson. Earlier this week, a Hinds County Circuit Court grand jury indicted Pittman on that charge and recommended his sentence be enhanced under a Mississippi law punishing “offenses committed for discriminatory reasons.”

The federal government has not filed hate crime charges against Pittman and it was not immediately clear whether those are being considered. He also has not made an initial appearance in state circuit court, nor has one been scheduled, according to a court administrator.

Pittman is being held in federal custody, though it was not immediately known where. 

If convicted, Pittman’s federal charges carry a punishment of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The federal charges against him were released earlier this week in an affidavit from an FBI agent that alleged Pittman broke into the northeast Jackson synagogue before dawn Saturday, doused a lobby in gasoline and set it on fire. Later that day, he allegedly confessed to law enforcement that he targeted the synagogue for its “Jewish ties.” 

The blaze charred parts of the synagogue, left smoke damage throughout and destroyed two Torahs. The fire was set in the same part of the one-story brick building that Ku Klux Klan members bombed in 1967 because the congregation’s rabbi supported civil rights. 

The Hinds County indictment did not include a photograph of Pittman. Federal authorities also have not released a photo of him.

Pittman is scheduled to return to federal court for a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Federal investigators quickly identified Pittman – a former high school and community college baseball player –  as a person of interest, according to the affidavit filed earlier this week, which included text messages he allegedly sent to his father in the course of setting the fire Saturday. The father pleaded for his son to return home, the affidavit says, but Pittman “replied back by saying he was due for a homerun and ‘I did my research.’” 

Pittman is alleged to have confessed to his father, who later contacted the FBI and provided GPS data showing Pittman was at the synagogue early Saturday morning. 

The son “laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them,” said the affidavit from Nicholas Amiano, an FBI agent in the Jackson division.