MS Legislature

“One of the things I know the Legislature doesn’t want to do is have this as a dictatorial formula – one that says you shall fund it every year.” Governor Phil Bryant per the Associated Press That pretty well sums it up. Late this afternoon on deadline day, the Senate Education Committee and the House Appropriations Committee took […]

The Senate Education Committee is expected to take up that chamber’s proposal for the MAEP rewrite next Tuesday. The House Appropriations Committee is likely to take up a “dummy” bill that could be amended to include its own version of a new school funding plan. Both are troublesome and need your urgent attention. It is

Yesterday we defined what a PRO-public education agenda looks like (see that here). Today we’ll show you what an ANTI-public education agenda might entail. You can find both lists on our web site – use them to let your legislators know how you expect them to vote on bills that affect our children and our public schools.

Happy New Year! Today, legislators gathered in Jackson to convene the 2017 Legislative Session. How will you know if your legislators are voting to support strong public schools? The Parents’ Campaign will make it easy! We’ll cut through the spin and tell you the truth about the impact each bill will have on your school and

Taxpayers will never know what is in the contract between our legislative leaders and EdBuild, the firm they have hired to recommend changes to the way Mississippi public schools are funded. After news organization Mississippi Today requested a copy of the contract, the House Management Committee voted to adopt a new policy that keeps all of its contracts, including

Tired of the legislative leadership selling out our kids and our schools to corporate profiteers? You aren’t alone! Last week, a group of Mississippi parents said enough is enough! Disgusted with a system that allows out-of-state groups hostile to public education to control our Legislature, some moms and dads from across the state have decided to fight

Following a lot of finger-pointing over who’s to blame for the corporate tax cuts that have blown a big hole in the state budget, the House voted 72 to 38 to allow Governor Bryant to take whatever he needs from the Rainy Day Fund to get the budget back in the black. But only for

Tomorrow, the Legislature will zip into Jackson to raid the Rainy Day Fund (RDF) again, using one-time-money to erase the remaining state budget deficit before Thursday’s year-end. Earlier this year, Governor Bryant withdrew a chunk from the fund and cut agency budgets (taking $9.7-million from the MAEP), hoping to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t enough. State coffers

Among the worst forms of government are those that use fear and intimidation to control the people and suppress opposition. House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson has now admitted to the Associated Press and the Daily Journal that Mississippi’s elected leadership drafted laws to retaliate against citizens – including educators – who advocated for a constitutional amendment that would have required adequate

The legislatively-induced state budget chaos continues… Today, Lt. Governor Reeves and Speaker Gunn announced that the state budget they rammed through the Legislature in the waning hours of the session was based on faulty numbers. It turns out that we can anticipate even less state funding than legislators were told when they blindly voted on budget-slashing appropriations bills and