A delay might be just what is needed for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
Revision efforts on key legislation for a new school funding formula died last week when legislative leadership decided that the bill didn’t have the necessary votes to advance in the process.
And the bills shortfalls are easy to see.
As previously covered, transparency was the biggest mistake from legislators, but more than that, the bill did not put a direct focus on the welfare of all involved. Like most states, public education is the largest fund item in its budget, requiring more than $2 billion in tax support. However, MAEP is billions of dollars behind formula requirements after years of underfunding.
Last year alone Kosciusko School District was underfunded $859,672 bringing its total shortfall to $9,237,966 since 2008. Attala County School District faced a $391,537 in state funding last year with a $4,229,112 total since MAEP was last fully funded. During this period of annual losses for schools, state revenue has increased significantly and the share of the state budget allocated to the MAEP has shrunk.
However, the biggest problem that I have found with the proposed program from Edbuild is that it shifts much of the funding from a state level to a local level. This shift is coming at a time when many communities in Mississippi are broke. The shift really hurts school districts in high poverty areas, because they would have to see a significant tax hike, while those in lower poverty areas might not see as big of a jump.
The funding formula should focus exclusively on the welfare of public schools, students, teachers and their effective impact and not on creating advantages or opportunities for private schools siphoning away taxpayers’ funds, as echoed by Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton.
Another funding formula is not expected to come before the legislator this session, which ends in March. However, a special session could be called by Gov. Phil Bryant. But when one is proposed, it must see bipartisan support or else we will be in the same situation again that we are in now.
As someone whose entire education from primary to college was under state education, I am a big proponent of public education and it is the primary purpose of all states to fund it. With the major proponents of tax credits for private education or the advent of charter schools, getting the formula right to fund public education is vital.
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Joseph Brown is the editor and publisher of The Star-Herald. He can be reached at jbrown@starherald.net.
