The House Education Committee, in a five-minute meeting on Wednesday, passed two Senate education bills before its leader announced that the panel would not meet again this session.

That means that the last school choice measure standing before the Legislature, a bill that would make it easier for students to transfer between public school districts, would be dead. 

“This is our only meeting that we will be having, from what I am understanding,” said House Education Committee Chairman Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville, at the conclusion of the meeting. 

The move, and Roberson’s wording, could indicate the House leadership is striking back at the Senate, which killed Speaker Jason White’s school choice bill.

The Senate Education Committee killed White’s omnibus education policy change bill — which included a program that would have allowed parents to spend public dollars on private school tuition — earlier this month. 

White, a Republican from West, had made school choice his signature issue this session. He lambasted Senate leaders at a meeting in downtown Jackson on Monday for their opposition to private school choice programs and called their decision to kill his bill after only 90-seconds of deliberation “theatrical.”

“I was told that this is the only meeting that we’re having for this session,” Roberson told Mississippi Today after his committee’s brief meeting.

He would not definitively say that this would be the House’s final move on school choice, which could mean interest in the governor calling a special session about school choice is gaining momentum. A special session, which can only be called by the governor, would allow Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to set the agenda and put pressure on lawmakers. Reeves has been an outspoken supporter of school choice.

Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, a Republican from Leakesville, said the House’s actions wouldn’t interrupt his committee’s priorities, and that he appreciated the House Education Committee passed two Senate bills at its Wednesday meeting.

Before Roberson’s announcement, the panel of representatives passed a Senate bill that would allow the Mississippi Department of Education to create a code of ethics for school counselors to follow — rather than a national, “ever-changing” code, said Republican Rep. Jansen Owen of Poplarville. The committee also placed the language in another Senate bill with a new math initiative, standards that build on the 2013 literacy act and financial literacy requirements for Mississippi students. 

“We’re just going to continue doing the work that we’ve been elected to do and charged to do … and try to keep our priorities alive and moving forward,” DeBar said. “Hopefully we can come together at the end. 

Roberson could change his mind, but if the House Education Committee doesn’t meet again, more than a dozen Senate bills are poised to die.