Funding

Privatizing and “profitizing” public education? That is exactly what the voucher bills debated in the 2014 Legislative Session were intended to do – and they had “disingenuous” and “unintended consequences” written all over them. House Bill 765, defeated by the House of Representatives on the last day of the session, was very broad, allowing private

At the Mississippi Economic Council’s 2014 Capital Day event, Speaker Philip Gunn was unequivocal about his support for an across-the-board teacher pay raise and said it will be on the agenda in the House of Representatives this session. While he supports merit pay, Speaker Gunn was clear that he also supports an increase in the

Lately, the airwaves have been abuzz with talk of funding the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), the state law that promises our children resources sufficient for an adequate education.Here’s the bottom line: the recession is over. State revenue is back to 2008 levels, which was the last year that the MAEP was fully funded. It’s time for the Legislature

State leaders, frustrated by Mississippi’s perennial placement near the bottom of education rankings, have taken to saying that they want to “fund what works” in education. The implication is that they want to move away from the per-student funding provided through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) and instead simply fund their pet education programs.

Prior to the “Great Recession,” support among legislators for adequate school funding was strong. The formula, passed into law in 1997 and phased in over a number of years, was fully funded for the first time in 2003. Four years later, bolstered by strong constituent support, Governor Haley Barbour, in his 2007 State of the State address, declared

Passed by the Mississippi Legislature in 1997 (see history below), the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) is a law that provides a formula that is designed to ensure an adequate education for every Mississippi child – whether that child lives in a “wealthy” community or a “poor” one. It is designed to provide schools the

Mississippi schools have been underfunded by more than $1.2-billion in the last 6 years. The failure of our Legislature to provide our children adequate school funding has denied them access to the high quality education afforded children who reside in states that invest well in their schools. Here’s what our children could get with adequate school funding…  More Advanced Placement offerings          $44,200,000 

Prior to the 2011 election, The Parents’ Campaign asked candidates for the Legislature and statewide offices about their willingness to commit to full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program as required in state law. Here’s what the members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) had to say… Tate Reeves, Lieutenant Governor, Chair of