[6][7] According to legislator Horace Harned, "We felt that this [desegregation] would destroy the effectiveness of our public schools and that we must act to oppose and, if possible, reverse this unconstitutional decision to preserve our sovereignty.

Governor John Bell Williams attempted to provide state tuition assistance, tax credits and text books to fund all-white academies.

[5] In 1970, the Oktibbeha Educational Foundation's tax exempt status was revoked after it declined to provide the IRS with documentation that the school had a racially nondiscriminatory admissions policy.

The parents asked for an injunction blocking payments under a Mississippi program that provided tuition grants for intellectually disabled students to attend private schools.

[13] In 1999 Oktibbeha County school board member Allen McBroom did not seek reelection so he could enroll his son in Starkville Academy.