Weeks after the death of his school choice bill in the Senate, House Speaker Jason White told a crowd in downtown Jackson on Monday that a special session to push the issue forward is “certainly not off the table.”

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has the sole authority to call a special session, and has vocally supported the House school choice proposal. But Reeves has not indicated he plans to call such a session, and White has stopped short of directly calling on him to do so. White’s bill barely passed the House even with the speaker pushing for it, and a substantial number of his Republican caucus voted against it.

School choice, policies aimed at giving parents more say over their children’s schooling that often divert state funds toward private schools, has been White’s signature issue this legislative session. The Senate Education Committee killed House Bill 2, the House’s omnibus education bill that included its school choice proposals, earlier this month.

A special session “would finally maybe drive this conversation a little bit more,” White told attendees on Monday at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum. “So certainly that would be an option. We’re not afraid of that option.”

A special session, which would suspend legislative deadlines and put more pressure on lawmakers, might be the simplest path forward for White with his school choice proposal. His bill received a lukewarm welcome in his own chamber and an even colder reception in the Senate, where it was killed after less than 90 seconds of deliberation.

White now only has a few options. He could try to insert his school choice proposal — education savings accounts, or ESAs, which give parents state dollars to spend on their child’s education however they wish — in a similar bill. 

READ MORE: The House’s education bill is dead, but school choice isn’t. What happens now?

But he admitted on Monday that not many viable options remain. 

“We’re currently evaluating vehicles that are available in the House that have come from the Senate that might be amendable, if you will, and not violate any of our rules and keep this conversation alive,” he said. “A quick look doesn’t show that many are available on that issue.” 

White spent the bulk of his time at the podium, nearly an hour, talking about his school choice agenda and disappointment in the media’s coverage and Senate’s stance on the issue. He said that he was surprised that the two chambers, elected by the same Mississippians, were so far apart on school choice and chalked it up to “leadership.”

Senate leaders, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, have made clear that they’re not interested in a program like education savings accounts that would allow public dollars to go toward private school tuition.

“We are disappointed that the Senate did not engage in real meaningful discussion and debate on the issues in House Bill 2 and instead opted for what can only be described as a theatrical committee performance to kill the bill a full month before the committee deadline,” White said. “There’s no reason for that … You have to read into some meaning there.”

He said the Senate Education Committee’s lack of discussion at the meeting about House Bill 2 was a “disservice to taxpayers, to parents, to students and future generations of Mississippi.” 

“We never said House Bill 2 was perfect,” he said. “We begged for the back-and-forth conversation and dialogue on the issue. But it does take two to dance or tango or whatever you want to say. The Senate had every opportunity to make that bill better.”

Many of the other initiatives in House Bill 2 have been proposed by the Senate in individual bills, such as a bill that would loosen regulations for students to transfer from one public school district to another. Referred to as portability or open enrollment, it’s a form of school choice. 

But White said Monday those Senate bills, including portability, were largely due to pressure from the House and a “reaction” to its education proposals. 

“Whatever gets them there, we’ll see where that gets us … but that doesn’t fix it,” he said. “The lieutenant governor, he’s made no bones about where he is on school choice. Again, that’s his business. He’ll face his voters, I guess, now he’s running for governor on that issue.”

Reeves’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the likelihood of the governor calling a special session over school choice. Hosemann has indicated he is considering a run for governor, but has not announced such a decision.

National school choice advocates descended on Jackson last week, encouraging the governor to call a special session, but Reeves has only called lawmakers into special session to deal with economic development projects and to pass a budget.