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.”