Governor Barbour yesterday submitted to the Mississippi Legislature his budget recommendations for the 2009 fiscal year. His budget reflects the cautionary approach to spending he urged legislators to employ in anticipation of low revenue collections.
The governor’s budget calls for a $2.5-million increase over current year funding to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. That good news is due in large part to the tireless efforts of The Parents’ Campaign members during the 2007 Legislative Session.
While Governor Barbour’s budget also includes modest increases for education improvement initiatives, it does not fully fund the initiatives called for in the Quality Education Act of 2008. You can see the Governor’s budget recommendation at Gov_Budg_08.pdf.
The Parents’ Campaign will continue to work with Governor Barbour and the Mississippi Legislature to invest every available dollar in education improvement initiatives that will better the lives of Mississippi children. Your assistance will be critical to providing legislators the constituent support they need to make the difficult choices necessary to move Mississippi forward.
Mississippi has suffered hard financial times as long as any of us can remember – largely due to an undereducated populace. One thing is abundantly clear: economic prosperity for our state will never precede a high quality public education system. If we are ever to move Mississippi off the bottom of national rankings, we must invest in serious education reforms at a level that can make a difference.
