Governor Bryant has announced his budget recommendation for Fiscal Year 2015, the budget that will be decided in the coming legislative session.
Governor Bryant’s budget underfunds the Mississippi Adequate Education Program by $284.5-million, despite significant increases in state revenue and a $295-million surplus at the end of the 2013 budget year.
This budget demonstrates that our children’s education ranks at the bottom of Governor Bryant’s priority list. The governor recommends increasing state spending by more than $282-million, but not one penny of that goes to our children’s schools through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP). Instead, Governor Bryant is urging more investment in prisons and in a “Governor’s Strike Force” for policing activities.
I believe the Legislature is more in tune with the people that they represent and will, therefore, place a higher priority on public school children than is reflected in the governor’s budget. The governor’s budget robs Mississippi children of the decent education promised to them in state law through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
The governor’s Executive Budget Recommendation is not binding and is seen more as an indication of the governor’s policy priorities than as a true budget guide.
