Empower Mississippi

Empower Mississippi is a Mississippi lobbying group that supports private school voucher programs in the state.[2] The group is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) political advocacy organization with an affiliated political action committee (Empower PAC) and 501(c)(3) arm (Empower Mississippi Foundation).[3][4] Empower Mississippi has "successfully pushed a number of education reform policies through the Mississippi Legislature."[5]

Empower Mississippi
TypeNonprofit
PurposeSchool choice advocacy
Location
President
Grant Callen[1]
Websiteempowerms.org

Activities

Empower Mississippi is an independent, nonprofit advocacy organization. The group has worked to expand educational options in the state.[6][7] The group's first activity was to support the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act in 2013, which provides vouchers of up to $6,500 for educational savings accounts for parents of students with disabilities. Empower Mississippi's PAC has spent money in Republican state legislative primaries, seeking to elect candidates the group views as more likely to pass legislation expanding opportunity for Mississippians.[8][9]

Since 2015, the group has been an influential lobbying force in the state, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to conservative state legislators.[2] In 2015, Empower Mississippi's PAC supported challengers who unseated four Republican House incumbents in DeSoto County.[2] Empower Mississippi targeted the incumbents, including Republican representatives Wanda Jennings and Pat Nelson, because they opposed school choice measures backed by Empower Mississippi.[10][11] Empower Mississippi's PAC spent approximately $300,000 on 18 state legislative primaries in 2015.[11] From 2015 to 2019, Mississippi Lietenant Governor Tate Reeves received $45,000 from the group; in 2019, Reeves supported a successful last-minute amendment to a state budget bill that appropriated $2 million for the state's Education Scholarship Account private school voucher program.[2]

Empower Mississippi supported a 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court of Mississippi which upheld the constitutionality of the 2013 Mississippi Charter Schools Act, which allows students who live in failing school districts to apply to attend a charter school.[12]

See also

References
  1. Wolfe, Anna (November 19, 2014). "MAEP's Moral Center: Mississippi's Education Enigma". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  2. Kayleigh Skinner, Larrison Campbell & Bobby Harrison (March 29, 2019). "Despite opposition, Legislature wraps up session by approving $2 million in voucher funding". Mississippi Today.
  3. "Our Story". Empower Mississippi. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  4. Hampton, Paul (February 19, 2015). "Kittredge leaves Mississippi State Auditor's Office". Sun Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  5. Harris, Bracey (June 11, 2017). "Empower MS ramps up school choice crusade". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  6. Long, Robert Lee (July 17, 2015). "Empower PAC Targets Races". DeSoto Times-Tribune.
  7. Maxey, Ron (July 15, 2015). "Campaign contributions questioned as DeSoto legislative races heat up". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  8. Amy, Jeff (July 4, 2015). "Challengers face Republican incumbents in DeSoto County". SF Gate. Associated Press. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  9. Maxey, Ron (July 21, 2015). "Empower Mississippi Has incumbents in line of fire". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  10. "Challengers unseat 4 DeSoto County state GOP House members". Commercial Appeal. Associated Press. August 9, 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  11. Royals, Kate (August 5, 2015). "DeSoto incumbents unseated by PAC-supported challengers". The Clarion Ledger. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  12. Kellogg, Bob (September 25, 2019). "Court upholds charter schools in nation's poorest state". One News Now. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

Further reading
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