Funding

In August of 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Education Jobs bill which generated $98-million for Mississippi schools.  The purpose of the bill was to supplement state education funding, which had been cut dramatically in most states due to the recession. Education Jobs funding flows directly to school districts on a reimbursment basis and […]

Federal Stabilization Funds are federal dollars that were appropriated to states as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Some of these dollars flowed to school districts in the way of competitive grants, but the largest part of the Stabilization Fund flowed to states to help them maintain the higher of

The Mississippi Department of Education and the State Board of Education presented to the Legislative Budget Committee K-12 education’s budget request for the coming fiscal year.  Each year, the Legislative Budget Committee is tasked with crafting a budget recommendation to be used as the baseline for the legislative budget negotiations that take place during the legislative session.

On Tuesday, August 31st, Governor Barbour issued a statement saying that the leadership of the House and Senate had agreed with him not to send to school districts the $82-million that had been promised them in HB1059.  The money was contingent upon action by the U.S. Congress to give states Medicaid funding relief.  Congress did its

Governor Barbour issued a statement this afternoon indicating that the leadership of both the House and Senate have agreed to carry forward to the next fiscal year, FY2012, the approximately $130-million in state funding that state leaders have estimated will be freed up by the FMAP legislation recently passed by the U.S. Congress.  The Mississippi Legislature passed

Today Governor Barbour presented his revised budget recommendation for Fiscal Year 2011, the coming fiscal year.  He is recommending that the Legislature reduce significantly the funding levels for K-12 education, asking that the House and Senate strip over $160-million from the level of funding that they adopted for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) just before adjourning

Governor Barbour has frequently referred to budget cuts as “belt-tightening” for state agencies and school districts. That sounds pretty harmless – until you know what “belt tightening” really looks like in Mississippi schools. 75 – 85% of any school district’s budget is made up of personnel costs: salaries, retirement, and insurance benefits. Teachers are employed

The following is one school district’s explanation of how it has been affected by budget cuts. Based on the current budget cut of 8.2% our district will be reducing our budget in the following areas: We have not filled the following positions that have become open due to illness, retirement, death, etc.:  middle school math

Governor Barbour, in his annual State of the State address, reiterated his desire for the Legislature to grant him additional authority to make cuts to the current-year budget.  He is requesting authority to make cuts, at his discretion, up to 10% of state agencies’ budgets.  Current law allows him discretion in making cuts up to 5% of

Mississippi law requires that the State of Mississippi operate within a balanced budget, and it expressly prohibits the state from running a budget deficit. State statute further requires that, when revenue comes in 2% or more below projections, the governor take actions to bring the budget into balance. This law provides the governor, as the State Fiscal