It is the end of the school year and school districts around Mississippi are expecting major budget cuts.
The legislature voted recently to cut budgets across the board due to massive shortfalls from ill-timed tax breaks approved by voters a few years ago.
It is still continuing with Governor Phil Bryant choosing yet another huge tax break for big business over adequate funding for public schools, mental health and other vital state services.
Legislatures announced last month that they passed an unbalanced budget, in violation of the state constitution. On top of that, SB 2858, signed Friday afternoon, will provide tax breaks to larger corporations.
Meanwhile, Kosciusko School District budgets are to be slashed by $859,672. Since 2009, the last time Mississippi Adequate Education Program was fully funded, it has $9,237,966 less than required by law. Attala County Schools budgets are to be cut $391,537, which makes $4,229,122 since 2009.
Don’t get me wrong; I am 100 percent behind almost any measure that can be taken to stimulate the economy. However, if history has shown us anything, tax breaks given at the wrong time can have major negative impact on a state or nation.
Already, the tax breaks handed out in prior years are causing the state to take back millions of dollars allocated to schools for the current year, leaving districts scrambling to raid reserve funds and cut programs. This shortage could also mean more program cuts in the 2018-19 school year with the fear of even more budget cuts from the state.
This is the wrong time for Mississippi. The state does not have the money to adequately fund education, but it has plenty of money to shower corporations with tax cuts and other incentives.
We demand the best of our education system, but how can we expect that if we do not properly fund it?
–
Joseph Brown is the publisher and editor of The Star-Herald.
