New superintendent: Private schools receiving public money should be held to public education standards

Lance Evans, the state’s new superintendent of education, said if private schools receive public money they should be held to the same standards as public schools.

“I am going to be very clear — I am a public educator,” Evans said Monday in response to a question about vouchers during a lunch meeting of the Mississippi State University Stennis Institute of Government/Capitol Press Corps. “Bottom line — never doubt that. I support public schools.”

But if the Mississippi Legislature adopts some type of voucher system to send public funds to private schools and it is upheld by the courts, Evans said he would follow those guidelines.

But he said if that should happen, “My goal is to make sure every student has a quality education … I do believe if one single dollar of public money goes into a private school, then every single child in that school has to be subjected to the same assessment of every single student in public school. What I will tell you — that is not just the opinion of Lance Evans. That is the opinion of any superintendent you talk to, any principal.”

If the private schools receive public funds, they also should be mandated – just like the public schools – to accept all students interested in enrolling despite any issue that might make the child more costly to educate.

 “We all have to be held to the same measure. That is the bottom line,” Evans said

Evans, a Mantachie native who previously served as superintendent of the New Albany School District in Northeast Mississippi, was selected in December by the state Board of Education as Mississippi’s superintendent of education. He was confirmed by the Legislature during the 2024 session in April with no dissenting votes, replacing Carey Wright who resigned in June 2022.

Evans assumed his new duties in July.

In recent years as surrounding states enhanced their school voucher programs, there has been growing pressure on Mississippi’s Republican-dominated Legislature to do the same. Those exerting the pressure, though, have made no attempt to change the state Constitution that states clearly that public funds are prohibited from being directed to private schools.

Evans did not address the constitutional language.

While reiterating he would work within the parameters established by the Legislature, he stressed, “make no bones about it. You can write it anywhere you need to write it.  I am a public educator, every day, 365 days a year.”

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