Mother Teresa said, “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable; be honest and transparent anyway.”
Of course we don’t expect elected officials to be as righteous as Mother Teresa, but if their goal is to serve constituents, honesty and transparency do not make them vulnerable – it makes them effective, admirable leaders.
Transparency continues to be a major problem with the Mississippi Legislature during its quest to revamp the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), which sets the funding for local school districts.
Last week it was realized that taxpayers may 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. Statewide news organization Mississippi Today, along with multiple other media outlets, requested a copy of the contract recently. However, after that request, the House Management Committee voted to adopt a new policy that keeps all of its contracts, including that of EdBuild, hidden from the public.
According to a reporter who was present at the meeting, the vote was 6 to 3, with Representatives John Hines, Willie Perkins and Jerry Turner voting against it with the Senate Rules Committee expected to vote on a similar policy this week.
The first question one must ask is, “What are they hiding?” There is no real reason to keep the amount that the legislature is paying EdBuild for this project a secret. The taxpayers have the right to know.
Necessary components that need to be included are establishing an objective, formula-driven base student cost that keeps pace with inflation and considers increasing demands on districts. The formula also needs to ensure that school funding is based on what schools need and avoid subjecting school funding to political whims.
The most vital piece of the puzzle is to ensure that children in low wealth communities have funding that is on par with the funding in higher wealth communities.
This is a complicated issue, but is extremely important to ensure future growth of the education system in Mississippi. Funding for our public schools should be sufficient to allow Mississippi students to compete well with the children of every other state and country.
Joseph Brown is the editor and publisher of The Star-Herald. He can be reached at jbrown@starherald.net.
