By By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
Jan. 31, 2001
Students who live outside the city limits but inside the Meridian Separate School District could get to choose whether to attend city or county schools under a bill approved by the House Education Committee.
The bill attempts to rectify a lack of representation of which some parents have complained. Since they live outside the city limits, they cannot vote for mayor or councilmen who appoint school board members, yet they still pay school taxes. They have complained they have no school board member to represent their interests.
Robinson said Feb. 8 is the deadline for the House to act on its own bills that have been referred to the full House by committee.
He said the bill addresses a problem statewide.
If the bill becomes a law, affected parents who wish to have their child transferred to a county school must be granted the transfer. Money generated for the district's budget by that student would then follow, Robinson said.
The bill still has a long way to go.
He credited state Rep. John Reeves, R-Jackson, chairman of the subcommittee to which the bill was assigned, as bringing it up this year.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@themeridianstar.com.