Mississippi private school officials have said they would welcome receiving public funds from state taxpayers to help educate their students, but not if it means governmental oversight of their faith-based curriculum and their admissions requirements.

For some legislative supporters of providing public funds to private schools, the conditions being demanded by those private schools are OK. At least that seems to be the message, based on recent hearings at the Mississippi Capitol in advance of the 2026 legislative session.

“I don’t want to force our Christian schools to teach secular curriculum,” Rep. Jansen Owen, a Pearl River County Republican and co-chair of a House school choice select committee, said after an October meeting with the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools. ”I don’t want the state’s involvement to infringe on that in any way.”

Sure, it is highly likely many Mississippi legislators would support spending public funds on the teaching of “Christian values” and even campaign on that expenditure in their next election.

But what if the school receiving public funds was teaching Muslim values or Hindu values or Wiccan values?

What if the school accepted students only if they would pledge allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad?

Would it be OK with Mississippi politicians if the school taught tolerance and respect for LGBTQ people? What if the school allowed boys and girls to compete against each other in sports?

Would they support public funds going to those private schools?

Mississippi has a law preventing public schools from teaching diversity, equity and inclusion. Private schools are free to teach a DEI curriculum because they are, duh, private. But what if the private school teaching DEI was receiving public funds through vouchers, tax credits or some other scheme?

Many politicians also do not like the teaching of what is known as critical race theory or in general terms instruction on the impact of race on what happened in the past and what is occurring now. What if a private school wanted to construct its curriculum around the teaching of critical race theory? Would that be OK with Mississippi politicians who support providing vouchers to private schools?

Surely it would be.

After all, Mississippi politicians are known for their open mindedness. Look up the phrase open mindedness in Webster’s, and there is a photo of the Mississippi Legislature.

But such is not the case in Florida.

According to an article on the website of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, many Florida school choice supporters are concerned that Muslim schools are receiving public funds.

The article quotes Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, the former president of the state Senate, explaining that schools “‘that indoctrinate Sharia law should not be a part of our taxpayer-funded school voucher program.’”

Many Mississippi school choice proponents argue that the private schools receiving public funds should not be required to face the same oversight and rules and regulations of public schools.

When state Auditor Shad White, whose job is to provide accountability of the spending of public funds, was asked back in March whether private schools receiving public funds should be subject to governmental oversight, he said, “They are held accountable by the parents who choose to send their kids there.” 

So, if the private schools receiving those public funds want to teach “Sharia law” or the virtues of LGBTQ rights and the parents do not object, is that OK with politicians like Auditor White, House Speaker Jason White and Gov. Tate Reeves who all support passing a school choice bill during the upcoming 2026 legislative session?

If so, they are indeed open minded. We just didn’t know.