Jackson Free Press

This afternoon Gov. Phil Bryant signed SB 2161 into law. The bill amends the Mississippi Charter Schools Act of 2013 to allow students who live in C, D and F districts to cross district lines to enroll in charter schools.

Currently, the only two charter schools in the state are open in the city of Jackson. Jackson Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Sharolyn Miller said today at a public hearing on public education funding held by the Black Legislative Caucus in conjunction with House and Senate Democrats that charter schools billed JPS's local tax contributions $565,000 for the 221 JPS students enrolled this school year.

“The law requires that for every child who goes to a charter school who lives in Jackson, we have to send a certain amount of dollars to fund charter schools," she said at the hearing this morning.

Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for the Jackson Free Press and the Hechinger Report. Email her at [email protected].

In just three weeks, the dreams of 253 college football stars will come true. They'll will be lucky enough to hear their name called during the 2016 NFL Draft.

The NFL released the names of the 25 prospects that will be in attendance at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre in Chicago for the draft April 28-30. Ohio State University ties the 2012 University of Alabama record for the college with the most invites, but plenty of prospects from our state will be there, as well.

Highlighting the list is University of Mississippi offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, who is projected to go in the top few picks. Tunsil could be the No. 1 overall pick if the Tennessee Titans don’t choose cornerback Jalen Ramsey out of Florida State University.

Tunsil has all the skill you want in a left tackle to protect your quarterback for the next decade in the league. He won’t last long, and,I believe he will be gone in the first five picks of the draft.

Rebels fans might not have to wait long to hear the next UM player off the board. Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell is expected to be off the board quickly. He might be picked as high as sixth by the Baltimore Ravens, but he shouldn’t last any longer than the 15th pick of the Los Angeles Rams.

Treadwell is considered to be one of the two top receiver picks. If he isn’t the first receiver off the board, it will more than likely be Will Fuller out of the University of Notre Dame.

While much has been made about his lack of speed, the fact that he doesn’t have sprinter speed didn’t stop Treadwell from coming back from a broken leg, which he suffered last year, to be one of the most productive receivers in the nation. He has a big body; he knows how to use it to shield defenders, and he has strong hands. He competes for the ball, and when it is in the air, he goes and gets it.

The final Rebel to get an invite is defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche. A ton of speculation surrounds Nkemdiche as he heads into the draft.

There are questions about off the field issues, disappearing at times during games, his conditioning and so forth. What is not in question, though, is when he plays at his peak, he is a top five pick.

Will a team take him on his potential over his production or will his red flags force him to slide down the draft board? It seems highly unlikely that Nkemdiche will slide out of the first round, but stranger things have happened in the draft.

One lone Bulldog out of Mississippi State University will be in attendance for the draft. Defensive tackle Chris Jones will represent MSU, and where he could land is a mystery.

Seven other defensive line prospects were invited to the draft besides Jones such as …