HB 1, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee late yesterday, would slash over $1-billion in revenue from our state budget. It also would reduce the amount of lottery money going to the Education Enhancement Fund, which has been used to pay for pre-k and teacher supplies.
Meanwhile, state revenue is shrinking on its own. Halfway through the budget year, state collections are $81-million below the estimate on which appropriations for the current year’s budget were based and $104-million below revenue collections at this point last year.
Teachers need a pay raise, and public schools will continue to need resources sufficient to provide the high-quality education we expect for our children (see more below). Also of note is an unfortunate provision written into the new school funding law that allows lawmakers to use a lower (prior year) base student cost in any year that revenue declines. It makes no exception for declines caused by intentional acts of the Legislature, such as massive tax cuts.
Our concern always is that legislators provide funding sufficient for all of our children to have strong public schools. It is up to our lawmakers to determine how to ensure that ample state revenue is available to meet those needs. That’s their job.
Legislative leaders have expressed a desire to help Mississippi children in low-performing schools, a priority we share. While their school choice proposals would harm the overwhelming majority of those children, who would be left in further diminished schools, there are long-proven policy measures that would help ALL children in under-performing schools. A state investment in these areas would be a real difference-maker:
- State funding for public school facilities in communities with a weak ad valorem tax base
- State-funded high-quality pre-k (sufficient to serve all 4-year-olds at or below 200% of the federal poverty level)
- Dedicated literacy and math coaches (not shared with another school)
- Literacy support in grades 4-8
- Significant salary supplements for teaching in a low-performing school (minimum of $10,000 salary supplement)
- High-quality after-school programs (tutoring, homework support, etc.)
If we have funds sufficient for a tax cut, certainly we have funds sufficient to ensure all our children an excellent public education and our teachers salaries and benefits competitive with neighboring states.
Ask your legislators to ensure that resources will be available this year and into the future to continue Mississippi’s march toward excellence for ALL Mississippi children. Together, we’ve got this!
