State Rep. Linda Whittington, D-Schlater an outspoken opponent of the charter school bill that came before the Mississippi House earlier this year, has been removed from the House Education Committee.
Whittington will replace former Rep. Tommy Woods, a Republican from Byhalia, as vice chairman of the Tourism Committee. Woods resigned from the House in July.
Whittington said she is happy to serve as vice chairman of the Tourism Committee but is confused by her removal from the Education Committee, where she had served since 2007. Whittington serves on five or six different committees at a time, she said.
She said Speaker of the House Philip Gunn informed her of her removal in an Oct. 22 letter but gave no reason. Gunn could not be reached for comment this morning.
Whittington said her removal will change the dynamics of the committee. Along with 15 other representatives, she formed a coalition against the charter school bill that came before the House in April.
The Mississippi Public Charter Schools Act of 2012 would have authorized a mirror agency to take control of public charter schools, rather than the Department of Education. The bill required only 50 percent of a charter school’s faculty and staff to be certified teachers — a change that, according to Whittington, would not only lessen the value of a child’s education but also decrease federal funding to the state.
The charter school bill went through the Senate but did not pass in the House. The House vote was narrow, according to Whittington.
Whittington said she was an organizer for the coalition opposing the bill, which was made up of 16 Democrats and Republicans.
“I gathered the names and cellphone numbers of the people opposed to the bill, and I called them every time there was a vote to make sure they showed up and showed up on time,” she said.
Whittington said that she had heard from other representatives that she would be replaced on the committee by someone who will favor the charter law. The House Education Committee members voted 16-15 to reject Senate Bill 2401.
She said her removal from the Education Committee ensures that the law will have a better chance of passing the House in 2013, since the coalition she helped to establish was relatively small.
Rep. John Moore, R-Brandon, chairman of the Education Committee, said Whittington’s removal from the committee had nothing to do with the charter school law.
“When someone resigns, all of the House members shift around,” he said. “Once you pull a member out, it creates a domino effect. It’s up to the speaker to make the decision. I was never asked for a list, and my consultations with the speaker were very brief.”
Moore said Whittington’s promotion to vice chairman of Tourism was “an honor, since she is a Democrat and the speaker picked her.”
“That is a critical committee for her region, the Delta,” he said.
Moore added that Whittington had been an excellent member of the Education Committee and that the two of them had a good working relationship.
Whittington said Gunn “can replace or remove anyone.”
Whittington said that she is not necessarily opposed to charter schools but was vehemently opposed to this particular bill because of the changes it would cause to funding.
“I strongly believe in public education. This was just not a good bill. I would never want to abdicate what the people want who vote for me,” she said.
Whittington gave the following example to explain her wariness towards the proposed public charter school law: If a charter school opened in Greenwood and all of the students left East Elementary School for the new school, the Leflore County School District would still have to pay to keep East open but might not have the money to do so.
“Because the money goes with the kids, and we already don’t have a good taxpayer base because of the economy here,” she said.
Whittington described cherry-picking, a fear common among those who oppose charter schools as another reason she worked hard to shut down the bill. “Cherry-picking” is the process of selecting students based on a set of criteria, as opposed to students being guaranteed admission based on where they live.
“I do believe we should focus on the child. We shouldn’t cherry-pick children. And then when those kids misbehave, they send them back to public school. That’s not what public education is about,” she said.
