March 2015

Update from the Capitol

The House and Senate have taken final action on one of the bills we have been watching. Several remain on the calendar; the deadline for an initial vote is tomorrow. Still awaiting action Charter Schools – SB 2300. The conference report would allow open enrollment within counties. This provision would permit students, even those in […]

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Calls Needed on Open Enrollment for Charter Schools, Another Tax Cut Effort

The conference report for SB 2300 has added a provision to allow students to cross district lines to attend charter schools. Though the location of charter schools remains limited to school districts that are underperforming, this provision would allow students in any district, including those rated A, B, or C, to cross district lines within a county to

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More State Funding Available

The Legislature learned today that it has more money available to spend on state services. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee met this afternoon and revised the revenue estimate for Fiscal Year 2016. This revenue estimate is what next year’s budget (state spending) is based upon. The committee acknowledged an additional $30-million that can now be added

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More Money Available for MAEP, FL Charter Lobbyist Backing Voucher Bill

Voucher Bill Pushed by Florida For-Profit/Virtual Charter School LobbyistThere have been plenty of clues that the voucher bill being pushed in the Mississippi Legislature is not really about helping children with special needs (as it has been framed). Yesterday, voucher supporters tipped their hand further when a tweet from the Florida lobbyists who were in our state last year pushing virtual and

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Something to Celebrate

How about that? Taxpayers spoke, and legislators listened! Today, the tax-cut bill that would have eliminated $555-million from state coffers and made it nearly impossible ever to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) died in the House of Representatives, thanks to 52 representatives who chose our children over tax cuts. See that vote here. Our children, and we parents, owe a tremendous

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House Defeats Tax Cut Plan, But Leadership Pushing to Overturn Vote

You did it – now let’s make sure it sticks!   In what might be the most important vote of the 2015 Legislative Session,52 members of the House of Representatives chose our children over tax cuts.  These courageous women and men rejected the Senate plan to strip $555-million from state coffers, a plan that would have

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Senate Chooses Tax Cuts Over School Funding

Well, friends, we got our answer… In today’s debate over corporate tax cuts and adequate school funding, a majority of senators chose tax cuts. They passed a bill containing $550-million in tax cuts, which would remove enough revenue from the state budget to ensure that the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) is never fully funded and that colleges, universities,

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Will Your Senator Stand Up for Public Schools This Week?

Many legislators fail to take into account, when voting on the K-12 budget, that the state salary schedule they passed into law requires districts to give each teacher a small salary increase for each additional year of service. That same salary schedule also requires an additional bump in pay when a teacher earns an advanced degree and

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