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Hall Pass - October 8, 2025

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Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics



Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving  school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy. 

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

  • On the issues: The debate over reading gains in Mississippi 
  • School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
  • Nebraska becomes first state to elect to participate in federal private school choice program
  • Extracurricular: education news from around the web
  • Candidate Connection survey

Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas!

On the issues: The debate over reading gains in Mississippi 

In this section, we curate reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues school board members deliberate when they set out to offer the best education possible in their district. Missed an issue? Click here to see the previous education debates we’ve covered.

Unlike elementary students in most states, Mississippi’s 4th-graders have increased their reading scores over the last decade on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), a federally mandated standardized test known as the Nation’s Report Card. In 2013, Mississippi ranked #49 in 4th-grade reading. In 2024, it was ranked ninth. The gains even appear to have extended to the lowest-performing students—Mississippi was the only state in which the reading scores of the bottom 10% of 4th-graders increased between 2013 and 2024. 

The results have generated much conversation in K-12 education policy circles over the last few years, with some in the media dubbing the phenomenon the “Mississippi Miracle.” In 2024, NAEP reading scores in nearby states like Louisiana and Tennessee also compared favorably to national averages. 

But are the gains real—or an illusion? And what lessons, if any, can other states learn from the Magnolia State?

Journalist Kelcey Piper argues that Mississippi’s NAEP scores are the result of specific policy choices. She identifies three she says help explain why students are outperforming their peers in states with more per-pupil funding, like California: adopting a statewide phonics-based reading curriculum, training teachers how to teach with it, and holding schools and students accountable for the results. Piper says that Mississippi’s experience shows that state education leaders, rather than individual districts, need to drive reforms.  

Writer and academic Fredrik deBoer argues that NAEP scores are not enough to conclude that Mississippi’s model actually works. DeBoer says there are many past examples of states and cities that reform advocates like Piper have put on a pedestal, such as Texas in the 1990s under then-Gov. George W. Bush (R), only for later research to undermine the core claims. DeBoer says Piper’s essay exemplifies a smug, idealistic attitude common among those reformers that ignores hard realities and tradeoffs. 

Illiteracy is a policy choice | Kelsey Piper, The Argument

“Mississippi improved its training through a 2013 law mandating that elementary school teachers receive instruction in the science of reading. It also sent coaches directly into low-performing classrooms to guide teachers on how to use material. ‘Mississippi started with teacher training. Tennessee and Louisiana added teacher training in different years,’ Karen Vaites, founder of the Curriculum Insight Project, told me. Without the training, the effort to find and buy high-quality curricula can go to waste. 

“The third pillar is everyone’s least favorite, but it’s equally crucial…Accountability, of course, means standardized tests, requirements that students master reading before they are advanced to the fourth grade, and rankings of schools on performance. Accountability is no fun; when there aren’t active political currents pushing for it, it tends to erode. But it’s badly needed.”

There Are No Miracles in Education | Freddie deBoer, Substack

“The odds are very, very strong that eventually it’ll turn out that students in Mississippi and other ‘miraculous’ systems are being improperly offloaded from the books or out of the system altogether and this will prove to be the source of this supposed turnaround. That’s how educational miracles are manufactured: through artificially creating selection bias, which is the most powerful force in education. ...

“Mississippi’s supposedly miraculous results require confirmation in multiple ways. One, there has to be longitudinal (as in, following specific students, not cohorts) and truly independent verification testing, which means no participation by state education officials at all; a rise in SAT, ACT, and similar third-party tests to provide concurrent validity; a widespread and, again, fully independent audit of the administrative practices involved, with an emphasis on looking for students who have left the system, been moved into special education, or have otherwise found themselves off the books; and, most importantly, time. Time for fraud to be slowly revealed, time for more cohorts to pass through, time for stress testing and the inevitably performance attrition of this kind of ‘miracle.’ I’m sorry, but the data we have currently does not come close to validating Mississippi’s methods.”

School board update: filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications

In 2025, Ballotpedia will cover elections for more than 30,000 school board seats. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on covering the country’s more than 80,000 school board seats.

Nebraska becomes first state to participate in federal private school choice program

On Sept. 29, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) issued an executive order directing state agencies to prepare to participate in the nation’s first federal school choice tax credit program, which is set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2027. 

Pillen’s order makes Nebraska the first state to officially opt into the program. Pillen said, “This program is a game-changer for Nebraska students and their families, generating funds that will help send students to the school of their choice.”

The program was included as a provision in the federal budget reconciliation bill—known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4. When the credit goes into effect, it will allow individuals to write off up to $1,700 in donations to qualified Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). Those SGOs will then distribute the funding to eligible students for K-12 educational expenses, including tutoring, public school extracurricular programs, and private school tuition.

The scholarships would be available to families making up to 300% of the region's median income. States must opt in to participate in the program, though donors in states that do not join the program can still send money to SGOs in other parts of the country. Participating states must submit an annual list of designated SGOs to the U.S. Treasury. 

Before the program can take effect, the U.S. Treasury will use the rulemaking process to develop and issue regulations governing implementation, including eligibility and oversight.

Although this is the first federal program providing eligible students with government funding for private K-12 expenses, 34 states have adopted similar school choice policies. Those include vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs), and tax-credit scholarships. In 18 states, all or nearly all K-12 students are eligible to participate. According to EdChoice, an organization that advocates for private school choice programs, roughly one million students participated in a private school choice program at the end of 2024, representing about 2% of the total K-12 public school student population. 

Sixteen states do not have any private school choice programs. Of those, 12 have Democratic trifectas. 

Of the 23 states with Republican trifectas, Nebraska and North Dakota are the only ones without a private school choice program. But for a short time in Nebraska, that wasn’t the case. 

In April 2024, Pillen signed LB 1402, which was designed to appropriate $10 million in state funds for private school scholarships to qualifying schools and students. The program was set to begin in the 2024-25 school year. However, Support Our Schools Nebraska, an organization that opposes private school choice policies, collected enough signatures to place a veto referendum to repeal LB 1402 on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot. The Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA), the state’s largest teachers union, endorsed the referendum. 

Nebraska residents ultimately voted 57-43% to end the program. 

In his executive order joining the federal tax credit program, Pillen wrote, “The Teachers’ Union (NSEA) stole these opportunities for students in poverty to receive educational opportunities…”

NSEA President Tim Royers said, “Today’s decision by Governor Pillen undermines the clear will of Nebraska voters, who just rejected state-level vouchers at the ballot box. This federal program is a backdoor voucher scheme that diverts public resources into private systems without accountability or limits.”

Although Nebraska is the first state to officially join the federal tax credit program, Republican lawmakers in North Carolina tried unsuccessfully to claim that spot over the summer when they passed HB 87. The bill would have opted the state into the program and required the State Education Assistance Authority to establish accreditation criteria for SGOs and publish and maintain a list of the state-certified organizations to fulfill the federal program requirements.

On Aug. 6, Gov. Josh Stein (D) vetoed the bill, saying, “Cutting public education funding by billions of dollars while providing billions in tax giveaways to wealthy parents already sending their kids to private schools is the wrong choice.” However, Stein said he intended to opt the state into the program if the U.S. Treasury clarifies that states can restrict the scholarships to public school students to defray the costs of after-school programs and tutoring. 

The North Carolina Legislature could vote to override Stein’s veto. On Sept. 19, six of the 10 members of North Carolina’s U.S. House delegation sent a letter to North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R) and Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R) asking them to override Stein’s veto: “Thank you for your commitment to expanding school choice in our state. Overriding Governor Stein’s veto will reaffirm the General Assembly’s role as a leader in creating opportunities for students to succeed and prosper.”

A veto override in North Carolina requires a three-fifths supermajority vote in both chambers: 72 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate. Republicans currently hold 30 seats in the Senate and 70 in the House. The House and Senate will reconvene on Oct. 20. 

North Carolina, which has a divided government, is one of the 18 states that operates a universal private school choice program. 

Governors in a few other states have weighed in on the federal tax credit program. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D), and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) have all said they will not join the program. New Mexico and Oregon have Democratic trifectas, while Wisconsin has a divided government. On the other hand, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) said the state would participate in the program. Tennessee has a Republican trifecta. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said he wanted to see the state opt in, but would need to wait until the U.S. Treasury releases more guidance before committing the state one way or the other. Virginia has a divided government, and gubernatorial elections in November. Youngkin is term-limited. 

Bookmark Ballotpedia’s page tracking state participation in the federal tax credit program to stay on top of future updates. 

Extracurricular: education news from around the web

This section contains links to recent education-related articles from around the internet. If you know of a story we should be reading, reply to this email to share it with us! 

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Today, we’re looking at survey responses from two Washington candidates running for election on Nov. 4. 

Jennifer Heine-Withee and Lorri Sibley are the two candidates in the race for District 1 on the Battle Ground Public Schools school board. Heine-Withee said she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Southern Oregon University in 1992 and listed her campaign slogan as “Prioritizing students, not the union.” Pastor’s Picks endorsed Heine Withee. Sibley said she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University in 1997 and a medical degree from City University in 2004. Sibley listed her slogan as, “Building a Brighter Battle Ground.”

Battle Ground Public Schools is located near Vancouver, in southern Washington. It is the 27th largest in the state, with roughly 12,000 students. 

Here’s how Heine-Withee answered the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?” 

  • “Education excellence. Children should be reading at grade level when they enter middle school. If a child is not reading at grade level at the end of third grade, the district needs to work with parents over the summer to get them at grade level by the time they enter fourth grade in the fall. There also needs to be more time spent on teaching math. Volunteers in the classroom and math tutors for students who are behind would help improve math scores.
  • Transparency and improved communication. Parents should not be kept in the dark about what is going on with their students at school. Schools should never be keeping information from parents about their child. We also need more parental involvement in curriculum adoption. And the district needs to utilize more avenues of communication with the community, such as the local paper, social media, and the reader boards outside of the schools.
  • Fiscal responsibility. We need to look at possibly eliminating programs and curriculum that are not required and do not help improve test scores. There also needs to be serious consideration of reducing administrative staff since a major part of the budget is personnel costs. I also believe an increase in volunteers and community involvement will help improve education while reducing costs.”

Click here to read the rest of Heine-Withee’s responses. 

Here’s how Sibley answered the question, “What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?” 

  • “Funding is the #1 challenge. Levies historically make up 14% of total funding. With this year’s double levy failure, BGSD is now projecting a budget deficit over $14,000,000. Without a new levy, alternative source of funding, or additional reductions in spending, BGSD’s reserves will not be sufficient to meet 2026-2027 expenditures. Where can the additional cuts be made without dire consequences? Between aging structures and new housing developments, the district has no choice but to plan for the future.
  • Community support and distrust in BGSD creates a dark cloud over the district. Communities are sharply divided. We need to engage families and adapt to their priorities to build support and trust across the community.
  • Safety and well-being are also central to my platform. I understand that students can only excel academically when they feel safe, secure, and supported. That’s why one of my main goals is to ensure that our schools are not only places of learning but also environments where students feel confident and safe. Whether it’s ensuring physical safety or emotional well-being, my goal is to create an atmosphere where both students and staff are able to focus free from distractions. As a teacher in the trenches, I saw the needs of many students not being met due to disruptive behaviors. We need more behavioral supports in all of our schools - from primary through high school.”

Click here to read the rest of Sibley’s responses. 

If you're a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey.

The survey contains over 30 questions, and you can choose the ones you feel will best represent your views to voters. If you complete the survey, a box with your answers will display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our sample ballot.

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