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“I have really enjoyed PPS's training and what I have learned I can apply to my job. It helps me understand how to work effectively with parents. ”
-PPS PEP Graduate
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In Public School Proud

Why We Chose the Public School Path: A Family’s Experience

Recently, we’ve seen state legislators, congressional officials, and others celebrating and promoting the privatization of public schools, which they call ‘school choice.’ Well, I’m here to tell folks some of the many reasons why our family chooses public schools. I support public schools because I grew up in a community with a strong, high-quality public school district that not only provided me with a great education but also learning opportunities not offered anywhere else. For instance, my public high school in Mississippi offered an elective class called Medical Careers. Taking that class gave me the opportunity to earn class credit...
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In Press Release

Amerigroup Provides Additional Sponsorship to PPS

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS, February 3, 2023) Parents for Public Schools® was recently awarded a sponsorship from Amerigroup, a trusted health insurance provider that offers Medicare and Medicaid coverage. The $25,000 sponsorship will allow PPS to partner with public schools throughout Mississippi to improve health outcomes for students.  Due to this funding, PPS will develop a workshop focusing on the connection between healthy students and academic outcomes. Of this sponsorship, PPS National Executive Director, Joann Mickens, stated, “We are truly appreciative of the support we continue to receive from Amerigroup, a valued partner that has sponsored our work in...
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In Publications

Impact Report 2021 – 22

A message to our supporters The 2022-23 PPS Impact Report celebrates PPS’s continued commitment to advancing the role of families and communities in securing a high-quality public education for every child.  PPS chapters have done amazing work over the past year to support our mission. Through their hard work and dedication,  PPS continues  to have a powerful impact on our public schools and the communities where they are located. We look forward to the next thirty years of working to ensure that equitable and excellent public schools are available to every child.
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In Press Release

PPS Acquires New Director of Chapter Services

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS, January 25, 2022) Parents for Public Schools® (PPS) has officially announced Kylene Dibble as its new Director of Chapter Services. Having served as the Executive Director of Parents for Public Schools of Pitt County for more than 7 years, Kylene’s knowledge of public schools and connection to PPS will serve her greatly as a member of the National Office Staff. As the Director of Chapter Services, Kylene will be responsible for providing support and assistance to PPS chapters. She will also assist in managing the process of chapter creation and development. Additionally, she will work...
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In Joann's notes

School Board Elections – The Epicenter for Political Control 

School board meetings and school board elections are becoming frontline battlefields for the nation’s political division. School board decisions directly impact three of our most precious resources – our children, our public schools, and our money. School boards not only determine policy, they are also the community’s educational watchdog and, in rural districts, they may be overseers of the largest employer in the area. To a considerable extent, school boards also determine the level of difficulty for parents and citizens to navigate their local public school system and find a seat at the decision-making table, itself. This is where politicization...
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In Press Release

Hearing Update: Judge Rules Use of Public Funds for Private Schools is Unconstitutional

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS October 13, 2022) On Thursday, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin ruled that a recent law which would allocate $10 million of federal pandemic relief money to infrastructure grants for private schools is unconstitutional. This ruling by Judge Martin is a major victory for Parents for Public Schools, a national organization based in Mississippi with chapters in several states. Parents for Public Schools (PPS), represented by The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)-Mississippi, Democracy Forward, and the Mississippi Center for Justice, filed a complaint in June petitioning the court to prevent the State from...
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In Joann's notes

When Schools Are Underfunded, Children Suffer

A lack of equitably funded public schools is creating huge barriers for many of our nation’s students. Inequitable funding is creating huge barriers for many of our nation’s public school students. According to The Century Foundation, we are underfunding our, “K-12 public schools by nearly $150 billion annually, robbing more than 30 million school children of the resources they need to succeed in the classroom.”  The schools that are being robbed of much needed funding are most often those where Black and Latinx students make up most of the student body. Funding formulas directly impact the support for public schools. For...
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In National Statement

Supreme Court of the United States’ decision, Carson v. Makin

Parents for Public Schools, Inc. (PPS) believes that the recent Supreme Court decision in Carson v. Makin to give public funds to private religious schools doesn’t just crack the constitutional wall separating church and state, it punches a hole through which untold amounts of public tax dollars may flow drastically changing public education in America as we know it.   In addition to being unconstitutional, the Supreme Court’s decision rewards poor state leadership and fails to hold the state accountable for its constitutional duty to provide public education to all school-age children in the state.   If Chief Justice John Roberts could make recommendations...
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In Joann's notes

Action Required: Public Schools Must Be Safe Places to Learn

Class room with empty desks
In the 10 years since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, gun legislation in this country still has not changed very much. As schools prepared to end for summer break, Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old armed gunman, walked onto the campus of Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas and used an assault style rifle to terrorize the members of this public school for more than an hour. In his deranged state, Ramos ended the lives of 19 elementary students and 2 adults. In its destructive aftermath, families were shattered, a community was left with unanswered questions, and a nation mourned the loss...
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In Press Release

Mississippi Parents Sue to Stop $10 Million in Public Funds from Going to Private Schools

Share Tweet Share (JACKSON, MS, June 15, 2022) Today, Parents for Public Schools, Inc. (PPS), represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi, Mississippi Center for Justice, and Democracy Forward, filed a lawsuit to stop Mississippi state officials from using public money to fund private schools in violation of the Mississippi Constitution. The suit, filed in the Chancery Court of Hinds County, Mississippi, argues that the Mississippi Legislature violated Section 208 of the State Constitution by appropriating $10 million to private schools. The State Constitution requires that taxpayer money must be spent only on public “free schools.” Specifically,...
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