Children's Promise Act: Tax Credits for Private School Donations

This scheme of subsidizing private education with public funds is happening in a big way in Mississippi. In 2019, the Legislature passed the Children’s Promise Act, a bill providing tax credits for donations to agencies that provide services to foster children. The bill was presented and voted on in the 2019 session without disclosure of a separate statute within it that provides tax credits for donations to private schools. The measure has been renewed each year along with increases in allowable tax credits. Legislators now shift $9-million in taxpayer funds annually to unaccountable private schools through the program. Private schools can receive up to $405,000 in public funds per school each year, with no restrictions on expenditures and no reporting requirements. The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools makes clear they prefer these unrestricted funds over traditional vouchers.

In the 2024 and 2025 Legislative Sessions, the House repeatedly proposed significant increases in these taxpayer-funded subsidies to private schools, passing measures that would have more than doubled subsidies to private schools with no corresponding accountability or oversight. The House efforts to increase private school tax credits consistently were defeated by the Senate. The program remains funded at $9-million annually.

See list of private schools that received these taxpayer-funded subsidies in 2022.

See list of private schools that received these taxpayer-funded subsidies in 2023.

See list of private schools that received these taxpayer-funded subsidies in 2024.