JACKSON — In a legislative rarity, there won’t be any late-session negotiations over Mississippi’s K-12 education budget.
There also won’t be any possibility of more money for the schools, as the Senate voted Tuesday to send Gov. Phil Bryant a $2.5 billion school spending plan for fiscal 2016, which begins July 1.
House Bill 1536 will increase funding to schools by $109.9 million, and will represent the most state tax revenue ever spent on elementary and secondary education — something that leaders were already pushing as an election-year bragging point Tuesday.
It will still leave schools $211 million short of the amount demanded by the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, a state funding formula that was put into law in 1997 and designed to provide enough money to deliver a midlevel education.
Senators voted 31-20 to reject an amendment by Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, to increase funding by another $25 million and pledge to reach the full funding under MAEP by 2018. State law demands full funding, but lawmakers routinely ignore the mandate.
“You’ve got a bird in the hand, an opportunity to fund it at this level, this historic level,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Buck Clarke, R-Hollandale, urging senators to pass the bill without going to conference.
Senators said the last time they and representatives haven’t had to iron out school spending in the closing days of the session was during Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove’s administration about 15 years ago. Even then, although they finished early, they negotiated in conference.
“This is unusual, a Senate appropriations bill coming out that early, but we look forward to receiving it,” said Bryant, a Republican.
The number would top the $2.47 billion in state money that Mississippi put into education in fiscal 2008, the last time it fully funded the formula.
“I’m proud to say classrooms across Mississippi will receive more money this year than ever before in the history of our state,” Lt. Gov. Reeves said in a statement.
“Republicans have made increased education funding, focused on putting more money in the classroom, a priority.”
Of additional money, more than $40 million would fund the second year of a teacher pay raise. Another $10 million could fund a pay raise for assistant teachers, if lawmakers agree on an additional bill.
Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton, said K-12 is getting the lion’s share of increased funding this year — “the big-pawed lion.”
“Is it all we can do? I think it is at this point,” Burton said.
Bryan, though, disputed that more money couldn’t be found, noting Senate plans for a $555 million tax cut over 15 years. “For the life of me, I don’t see how we can sit here and talk about tax cuts in these years,” he said.
Schools are still falling behind inflation. Lawmakers would need to provide $2.68 billion in 2016 to equal 2008 funding after inflation.
The cumulative funding shortfall since 2008 is $1.5 billion through this year. In 2013, schools statewide had 2,000 fewer teachers than in 2008, though the number of students stayed flat. About 80 percent of Mississippi’s 146 school districts have raised property taxes since 2008, and many say they can’t afford to buy new books, buy buses or repair buildings.
The struggles have sparked a lawsuit seeking payment of the shortfall by districts represented by Musgrove, as well as a proposed state constitutional amendment to mandate “an adequate and efficient” system of schools.
“Today’s vote shows that this Legislature doesn’t care if Mississippi stays on the bottom by starving our children’s schools of necessary funding,” said Patsy Brumfield, spokeswoman for pro-amendment group Better Schools, Better Jobs. “This Legislature will never keep its 18-year-old promise to fully fund our schools.”
Online: House Bill 1536: http://bit.ly/19wXmeu
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