JACKSON — Former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove made a new round of arguments Tuesday in his lawsuit that seeks $240 million that 21 school districts say they have been shortchanged by the state in the past few years.
The state attorney general’s office is defending legislators’ budget decisions.
Hinds County Chancery Judge William Singletary ruled against Musgrove and the school districts in July, but he later agreed to hear new arguments.
“We’re here today arguing that you got it wrong,” Musgrove told Singletary on Tuesday.
Musgrove said Singletary should have looked at the “plain language” of a bill that legislators passed in 2006. It said the state would spend three years phasing in full funding for a school budget formula known as the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. Then, starting with the fiscal year that began in July 2009, the bill said legislators would fully fund MAEP.
“We contend that is not ambiguous,” Musgrove said. “It is very clear on the face of its language.”
Assistant Attorney General Harold Pizzetta repeated Tuesday what state attorneys had argued earlier — that one group of legislators cannot put a budget obligation on future legislators.
“I think we have heard all these arguments before,” Pizzetta said after Musgrove spoke.
Singletary agreed with the state’s arguments in his first ruling. He did not say if he would issue a new ruling or let his first one stand.
“I’ll get you something as soon as I can,” Singletary told attorneys Tuesday.
He ruled in July that Mississippi legislators are not obligated to fully fund MAEP every year. He based his ruling, in part, on a second law enacted in 2006, which said how state money would be split among school districts if funding fell short.
Musgrove has already said he will appeal Singletary’s first ruling to the state Supreme Court.
Musgrove, a Democrat, helped push MAEP into law when he was lieutenant governor in 1997; he was governor from 2000 to 2004. The formula is designed to give school districts enough money to meet midlevel academic standards, but it has been fully funded only twice. The last time was during fiscal year 2008.
Among the districts suing the state are Jackson Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district.
A separate debate over school budgets is taking place because two proposed constitutional amendments that deal with education funding will be on Mississippi’s Nov. 3 ballot.
More than 100,000 people signed petitions to put Initiative 42 up for a vote. It would require the state to “provide for the establishment, maintenance and support of an adequate and efficient system of public schools,” and would allow people to file a lawsuit in chancery court if funding falls short. Supporters of Initiative 42 have opposed Musgrove’s lawsuit. They have argued that the lawsuit could put millions of dollars into the former governor’s pocket rather than ensuring more money would go to schools.
Measure 42-A was put on the ballot by legislators who oppose the citizen-led proposal. It would require the Legislature to “provide for the establishment, maintenance and support of an effective system of free public schools without judicial enforcement.”
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