Mississippi News Backers, a non-profit organization that supports a program that allows Mississippi families use public funds to send their special-needs children to private schools, hope to expand this program. The Mississippi Education Scholarship Account (ESA), was created by the Legislature in 2015. Students with special needs can apply for the program to receive $6,500 annually from the state to go to private schools. To expand the program, lawmakers have filed two bills in the Senate and House. Since its inception, Republican leaders have praised it. They argued that parents are the best people to help their children and should be allowed to enroll them wherever they want. “I believe we should expand the options available for the children in this state,” Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) said last week during a rally on “school choice” at the Capitol. At the same time, Lt. Governor. Lt. Gov. These funds can be used for tuition, textbooks, curriculum supplies, tutoring, and other similar purposes. The program is currently only available to students who have an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, that has been in place for at least five years. School districts create an IEP to help students with special needs and disabilities. Both bills allow students to receive a diagnosis from a psychologist or doctor in order to be eligible for the ESA program. Rep. Carolyn Crawford (R-Pass Christian), who was a strong supporter of the original bill, wrote the House bill. This bill would allow children to be eligible for ESA scholarships if they are adopted, in foster care, or if their sibling is a student currently receiving an ESA scholarship. Unused funds can be transferred to the next year. Currently, ESA applications must be completed by hand and sent via mail. Both the House bills and the Senate bills would establish an Office of Educational Opportunity in the department to oversee the program and allow applicants to submit their applications online. A detailed legislative report was published by a state watchdog in December 2018. It stated that the program needed more oversight and accountability. The House bill would require this office to work with an outside vendor in order to “develop, administer, and maintain a system for parents participating students to access ESA programs payments, renew applications, denials, and locate information pertaining ESA program participation.” It would also include a phone application and online portal that would allow users to submit payments or applications using their phones. The Senate version, which was filed by Gray Tollison (R-Oxford), the education committee chairman and Senate pro-tempore senator, would have similar eligibility requirements but open up the program to all students. The program must be open to all students. Not everyone agrees that expanding it is a good policy decision. Nancy Loome, executive director at The Parents’ Campaign, a public school advocacy group, said that “we think this is a terrible concept.” Loome stated that she believes public funds should be used to benefit the public good. Loome stated that public funds should be used for the public good.