Funding

Rebecca Sibilia of EdBuild presented her ideas for a student-centered school funding formula to a capacity crowd of observers this afternoon. The media was fully present, as well, and several decided to live stream the event due to the high level of interest. You can view video from The Clarion-Ledger here. Ms. Sibilia advocated a weighted system that provides every student […]

The House and Senate education committees will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 27, to hear from EdBuild about a possible revamp of the school funding formula. This meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in Room 216 of the Capitol. The leadership has said that public hearings will be held around the

Speaker Gunn and Lt. Governor Reeves held a press conference today to announce that they have hired a firm, EdBuild, to “examine” our state’s school funding formula, the  Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), saying, “More tax dollars are needed in the classroom…” We agree that the state has done a poor job of providing for our children’s

Politicians boast about providing “level funding” to schools, but that term is deceiving. All school districts are going into an ever-deeper budget hole, as flat state appropriations do not cover legislatively mandated cost increases that occur each year, such as the “step” salary increase state law provides teachers for each additional year of service. When each

This afternoon, Governor Bryant chose yet another huge tax break for big business over adequate funding for public schools, mental health, and other vital state services. Despite legislative leaders having just announced that they  passed an unbalanced budget – in violation of the state constitution – and despite being unable to pay the state’s bills, requiring deep cuts

As budget and tax-cut bills await Governor Bryant’s signature, a growing, bi-partisan chorus is warning of a looming budget crisis rivaling that seen during the Great Recession – a crisis manufactured by our Legislature through years of corporate tax cuts that the state cannot afford. Leaders who pushed through the tax cuts defend them as a way to “reduce the

Want to know how much corporate tax cuts are costing your school district? See how much your school district is getting for the coming school year (and how much it has been underfunded since 2008). In recent years, lawmakers have said they were doing the very best they could to make good on the Legislature’s decades-old promise

Last week, Governor Bryant announced that he is cutting public school budgets for the current year. Other state agency budgets are being reduced, as well. You can see here how much your school district will lose due to the cuts – all of which will be deducted from your district’s MAEP payments for May and June, the last

Legislators appear intent on making changes to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), the formula that determines the level of funding the state is required to send to public schools. In recent years, lawmakers have suggested a number of changes, almost all of which would reduce the amount called for by the formula. Following are some