Mississippi Today
Bill increasing tax credits for private schools defeated at end of session
Legislation that would have increased the proceeds from state tax credits available to private schools died a quiet death late in the just-completed 2024 session.
The proposal to increase the tax credits available through the Children's Promise Act was defeated in the 52-member Senate with 21 yes votes and 16 no votes. Since the proposal dealt with taxation, it needed a three-fifths majority to pass.
Since 2020, private schools have been receiving money through the tax credits with limited state scrutiny or accountability, according to the Department of Revenue, which certifies schools that can participate in the program.
In response to written requests from legislators, the Department of Revenue recently reported, “DOR does not know how the funds were used.”
When asked the number of children served through the Children's Promise Act, DOR said, “This information may be provided with the original application but is not updated annually or maintained by DOR.”
In the original application, “DOR reviews the information provided and issues a letter ruling advising whether they qualify or not. The original request is covered under confidentiality statues.”
Under the Children's Promise Act, a person or corporation can make a donation to one of the private schools certified by the Department of Revenue and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to 50% of the donor's state tax liability.
The maximum a private school currently can receive through the program is $405,000 a year.
The program was initiated in 2019 and billed as a mechanism to provide additional money to non-profits that care for foster children. But a provision to provide tax credits to private schools was tucked into the bill.
Currently under the law a total of $9 million a year in tax credit money can be doled out to private schools.
Original legislation filed during the 2024 session by House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, would have significantly increased the amount of the tax credit money the private schools could have received. The original House plan would add another $6 million for the current year and then would reach a total of $24 million for 2025.
But in negotiations with Senae leaders during the final days of the session, an agreement was reached where the private schools would have been able to receive an additional $3 million, for a total of $12 million. But that compromise was voted down in the Senate. After it was defeated in the Senate, Lamar did not bring up the compromise for a vote in the House.
Under the current law, private schools are eligible for the tax credits if they educate:
- Children in the foster care system.
- Children who have a chronic illness or physical, intellectual, developmental or emotional disability.
- Children eligible for free or reduced meals.
Nancy Loome, executive director of the Parents Campaign, said technically if the school has one student with a speech impediment, for instance, it could receive the tax credit money.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
MAY 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.
In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.
“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…
“I gotta get out of these woods.”
She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.
“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”
In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.
Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.
Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.
“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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