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Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday said he would consider calling a special session on school choice and a teacher pay increase if legislators can鈥檛 come to an agreement over the next four weeks. 

Republican House and Senate leaders have bickered over raising teacher pay and  鈥� policies that often allocate state funds to families to pay for private schooling 鈥� since the start of the legislative session in January.

Despite the discord, Reeves told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that both issues remain a priority for the Republican governor. 

In fact, he said the two issues should be 鈥渢ied together.鈥� 

鈥淲e should give teachers a pay raise, and we should also give parents and kids more options to give every child in our state an opportunity for success,鈥� Reeves said. 

But that鈥檚 a strategy House Speaker Jason White, who has led the school choice charge at the Capitol, has publicly opposed.

鈥淣o one in the legislature is tying school choice policy to a teacher pay raise,鈥� White wrote on social media in December. 

A major issue for a special session is the fact that school choice expansion failed in the Senate and barely passed the House. Even with White deeming it his No. 1 issue, many of his GOP caucus members voted against his school choice bill and it鈥檚 unclear whether he could keep a majority vote together even in a special session.

Reeves has never called a special session, which would suspend legislative deadlines and put more pressure on lawmakers, over a policy issue. He has only called lawmakers into a special session to deal with economic development projects and to pass a budget when legislators last year failed to agree on one.

However, he hinted that could change if lawmakers don鈥檛 reach a compromise on school choice soon, in part because of his lame-duck status.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have much time left,鈥� said Reeves, who is in the penultimate year of his second four-year term as governor. 鈥淎nd so on items that are incredibly important to me like rewarding our teachers, like getting more options for our kids 鈥� those are the kind of things that I am very, very interested in the Legislature getting across the finish line.鈥�

Reeves said that it would be premature to make a decision yet, given the mercurial nature of the session. Just last week, the House , after House and Senate measures died. 

鈥淣othing is dead in the Capitol until it is dead, dead, dead,鈥� Reeves said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e continuing to have good conversations with members from the House and the Senate, and we will continue to do so.鈥�

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