Funding

The decisions legislators make on corporate tax breaks have a direct impact on the level of funding our children’s schools receive. Special legislative favors, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks granted to corporations over the last few years, are shrinking state revenue. Legislators now propose to solve their self-created […]

Initiative 42 was a citizen-led effort to amend the Mississippi Constitution to give each child the right to an adequate public education. The amendment was defeated narrowly in the November 2015 state election. See certified election results. Post-election message from Nancy Loome  “Yes for 42” video What is Initiative 42? Printable handouts Sample ballot See more on

Mississippi’s Legislative Budget Committee met Monday and made it official: the state isn’t taking in as much revenue as was estimated when legislators adopted this year’s budget back in the spring, so budget cuts could be on the table in the coming months. Why? Largely because of corporate tax cuts that the State Legislature has passed

Thank you to the wonderful volunteers all across Mississippi who fought so hard for our children. You are my heroes! Although Initiative 42 did not pass, the vote was very close, despite voter confusion due to the intentionally convoluted ballot. There is all kinds of speculation about why the vote came down as it did. Here’s

Our children need your vote today – on Initiative 42 and for an education-friendly Legislature. Their futures depend upon it; can they count on you? Do you know how to mark your ballot in favor of Initiative 42? Two steps are required. First, you must vote to amend the constitution (FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER), then you

Many of us have had our mailboxes and living rooms flooded with deceitful ads that attempt to manipulate us with false threats and unfounded claims about Initiative 42. Here’s the truth – Initiative 42 does exactly what it says it does and nothing else. Take a look at the actual wording of the amendment on which you

Will Initiative 42 hand new authority to a judge?  No, of course not! If you remember your high school civics class, you already know the answer. Judges have had the authority to rule on the constitutionality of any legislative action, including school funding, as long as Mississippi has been a state. Our system of checks and balances,

Can you believe the lengths to which some politicians will go to deny our children adequate education funding? Apparently, state leaders weren’t satisfied with tampering with the ballot title and the “official” state fiscal analysis – or with manipulating the official ballot to gain an advantage in the election – or with railroading through the

Last week, Judge Singletary ruled against former Governor Musgrove and the 21 school districts that sued the state for the amount their schools have been underfunded since 2008. In his decision, Judge Singletary agreed that schools should be fully funded but also said that current state law allows the Legislature to skirt that responsibility. So does