As a lifelong resident of the great state of Mississippi, a 37-year veteran educator in public schools, a mother of public school graduates, a grandmother of two future graduates of Mississippi public schools, and an advocate for educators and students in public schools, I am raising my voice against the damage being done to our schools and Mississippi’s future.

Mississippi public schools have been underfunded year after year by lawmakers consistently using the excuse that the MAEP funding formula is “too complicated” and that no one truly “understands” it. I know that’s not true, and so do you. What is true? Underfunding public schools is a national trend and the “complication” issue is a red herring.

In 2015, legislators heard the voices of Mississippi voters when they approved a measure to make funding public schools a constitutional requirement. Initiative 42 received the popular vote. However, the legislative trick of inserting Initiative 42A on the ballot confused our voting public and kept the amendment from becoming law.

Suddenly aware that Mississippi public school supporters were out there and had made it clear that they wanted full funding of our schools, the enemies of public schools went to work finding another way to destabilize the public school system in our state.

On Tuesday, Jan. 30, the Senate Education Committee decided to pass one measure that will undermine the financial stability of school systems across the state for the foreseeable future and had earlier passed another that could eliminate experience and knowledge from our elected school boards (SB2400).

This column looks at Senate Bill 2623.

Senate Bill 2623, the “Voucher Bill,” passed Sen. Gray Tollison’s Education Committee. Under this measure, the potential loss to public schools from students’ taking taxpayer-funded vouchers to private, parochial, charter, church or home schools is conservatively estimated to be $97 million in the fifth year of its implementation with a whopping cumulative loss of $270,450,000 in years one through five.

So, legislators are proposing that rather than fund our public schools, they prefer to give Mississippi workers’ hard-earned taxes to private, parochial, charter, church or home schools — none of which must operate under the same public scrutiny as our public schools.

Mississippi’s Constitution explicitly prohibits public school appropriations from being donated to religious affiliated schools. Repeating: explicitly prohibits. When pushed on how this can happen in a state that allegedly reveres all things Constitutional, Chairman Tollison explained that the measure works around the Constitutional prohibition: the money will be given to parents, and thus there is no state control over how that money is spent. Under this scheme, we will give taxpayer money to parents with no control over how that money is spent! As much as $279 million may be disbursed with no accountability for those dollars.

Let’s get serious. State control over accountability for taxpayer funds is not the only transparency or accountability measure to disappear with this bill. Educational centers that receive funding will not be required to adhere to the common education standards adopted by education professionals both nationally and in Mississippi because there is no oversight to ensure that they are complying.

Let’s get more serious. Some want to support vouchers because they say the use of public funds for private schools improves student outcomes. This is simply not true.

• Voucher proposals do not require recipient education centers to adopt the academic standards, ensure the highly qualified teachers, or administer the assessments required of public schools.

• Vouchers threaten civil rights protections. Private, religious and home schools are not all fully covered by civil rights laws.

• There is no evidence that vouchers improve student learning. Every serious study of voucher plans has concluded that vouchers do not improve student achievement.

The truth is that when public schools receive the funding that they need to fill classrooms with highly qualified educators and the adequate resources needed for student growth, student achievement improves, schools become strong centers of learning for communities which in turn grow and prosper. Rather than experimenting with programs already found to make no real difference in student achievement, we should focus on ensuring that all students across the state have the tools for success — including full funding of public schools, smaller class sizes, more parental involvement, up-to-date materials, and high-quality teachers.

Here is the reality: We all know that Mississippi needs prospering, growing communities. Economic prosperity directly correlates with the quality of public schools in the communities. Quality public schools mean economic growth in Mississippi, pure and simple.

We’ve seen what’s happened in other states that swallowed this voucher hokum. It hasn’t worked. Mississippi, we’re smarter than this. Let’s not allow the voucher travesty to happen here. Rather, let’s honor our Constitution, our public tax dollars, our public schools where 90% of our students attend, and our future which lies within the halls of those public schools.

Let’s say yes to public schools and no to vouchers.

Joyce Helmick is president of the Mississippi Association of Educators.