Like most districts, the Lowndes County School District and the Columbus Municipal School District have been underfunded by the state over the past five years.
According to an Associated Press study released today, LCSD has been underfunded by $14,243,706 between fiscal years 2009 and 2015. For CMSD during the same time period, that number is $13,448,998.
The districts are not alone.
Since 2008, legislators have spent $1.5 billion less on education, the AP reported, and the likelihood of continued underfunding is high as estimates state Mississippi could come up $280 million short of fully funding its school systems next year.
The shortcomings with Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding — a formula lawmakers approved in 1997 in an attempt to equally distribute educational funding across the state’s public school systems — affect different districts in different ways.
Unlike some, LCSD has not been forced to cut staff, programs or materials, thanks largely to its robust local tax revenue. In fact, spending in the district has increased over the past five years, including $27 million in new facilities and upgrades.
“We’re fortunate in that respect,” Lotis Johnson, the district’s business administrator, said. “Unlike most districts, our local tax revenue is higher than the money we get from state and federal sources. We’ve done much better (than most) because of the local tax dollars. Going into the past five years, we started off strong and we’ve improved our spending. But we’ve been wise with our money, too, and that’s important.”
According to the AP report, just 43.9 percent of the district’s funding came from the state for the 2013-14 fiscal year.
The arrival of numerous industrial developments in the county has strengthened the millage value of the district’s ad valorem taxes while the district has received an additional $6.85 million in in-lieu fees from the county’s new industries. With more and more of the revenues moving from in-lieu payments to the much more lucrative ad valorem taxes, the district’s financial outlook is bright.
According to Greg Andrews, the county’s tax assessor, local tax revenue, not including the $6.85 million in yearly in-lieu fees since 2011, has risen from $13,659,360 in 2009 to $15,087,330 this year.
Approximately 47 percent of CMSD’s funding in 2013 came from the state. The city school district’s tax revenue dropped from $13,538,550 in 2009 to $13,042,260 this year.
How has the drop, coupled with the state’s underfunding, affected CMSD?
“Hard decisions must be made each time the amount of funding is reduced and the costs of educating children increases,” Superintendent Dr. Philip Hickman said in a statement. “The quality of a good education is inextricably linked to funding but the district is charged with the responsibility of educating its students regardless of the available funding.”
LCSD’s strong financial status has prevented Lowndes County from making some of those hard decisions.
“Over the past five years, we’ve changed curriculum and staffing, but not because of finances,” Dr. Robin Ballard, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the district, said. “We haven’t lost any teachers through attrition, for example. The changes we have made have been made to improve what we are doing. We’re fortunate. I know it’s not like that in a lot of districts.”
For the past three years, LCSD — which serves roughly 5,200 students — has earned a B (high-performing) rating. No school in the district rated below a C.
Meanwhile, CMSD — which serves 4,552 students — has had a D (low performing) rating for each of the past three years.
‘Big Three’ spending binds lawmakers hands
Lawmakers’ inability to fully fund MAEP has yielded at least one lawsuit and incited calls for an amendment to Mississippi’s constitution guaranteeing 100 percent funding. However, state Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, says legislators’ hands are tied due to increasing costs associated with the state’s correctional system, Medicaid and debt service.
Chism’s district includes a portion of Oktibbeha County.
In 35 states, educational spending is still lower than levels prior to the 2008 economic downturn, the AP reported. Mississippi’s per-pupil rates — $7,926 in 2010-2011 – were already among the nation’s lowest marks, its report states.
“I think we’re making great strides to fully fund MAEP each and every year under the circumstances,” Chism said. “Yes, we’re still suffering from the recession, but (MAEP) wasn’t fully funded but one time before then…it’s my hope that we will have it funded over the next two or three years. However, we can’t do it this year since we have other things we have to pay first.
“(The Mississippi Department of Corrections) is a blank check – it usually depends on how many people we have in the system,” Chism added. “(MDOC) has to be paid, and it’s usually a deficit appropriation. What money we may have had that exceeded projections will have to be used to pay that. The other we have to pay up is Medicaid. Again, we’re something like $200 million short. Nobody, besides those three (including state debt service), gets everything they want. With those three, whatever they cost is whatever they cost.”
While Chism acknowledges the struggle to fully fund MAEP, he guaranteed the Legislature will not increase taxes to help outpace increasing costs. A tax increase and an unwillingness to provide tax breaks to companies looking to invest in Mississippi could hamper future economic development opportunities and hurt existing businesses, thereby cutting revenues and leading to even larger educational funding issues, he said.
Also, a constitutional amendment for such a funding mandate, Chism said, could prove detrimental to the state in context of its balanced budget requirement.
“Let me warn the constituents: If (MAEP) is the fourth thing that has to be funded – no ifs, ands or buts about it – community colleges, Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning and public safety will not be funded at their current levels,” he said. “We’re not raising taxes, and why would you not offer tax breaks (for economic development and enticement)? If you want to compete with Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana, you better have them or you won’t get (development). If you’re going to play, you have to pay.”
Dispatch reporters Sarah Fowler, Carl Smith and William Browning contributed to this report.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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