One of our most tenured representatives, Tyrone Ellis, has submitted a bill, HB984, to develop a partnership school jointly controlled by the Starkville-Oktibbeha County School District and Mississippi State University.
It is intended to create what is basically a pilot school for 6th and 7th graders that would become a cutting-edge model educational learning and teaching center benefiting both groups and the state.
Our newest representative from our newest district, Rob Roberson, District 43, has proposed a school-related bill, HB993 as well. Except for Section 1, the language is exactly the same, and I do mean exactly the same. To the uninformed (that would be me) it appears that Mr. Roberson (or someone on his behalf) copied Mr. Ellis’ bill precisely with the exception of the first section and the bill’s title.
Why?
This paper has also reported Rep. Gary Chism from District 37 intends (there is no record of a bill being filed yet) to file a bill to delay the effort for funding the school. I would guess that delaying is tantamount to torpedoing the project.
Why?
If he is truly wanting to support the school, then I can’t see why he wouldn’t also join with those who are undeniably more centered on Starkville and Oktibbeha County than he is. Because he both lives and works in Columbus, it has always been perceived rightly or wrongly that Oktibbeha is an also-ran on his tote sheet.
Since the bills are numbered sequentially as they are submitted, it isn’t a stretch to determine that Rep. Ellis filed his first, Roberson second and Chism’s hasn’t made it to the altar yet.
I don’t understand the sausage-making of the Legislature, but it appears to me it wouldn’t have taken too much effort for our representatives to have gotten together on this one. Duplicative efforts tend to make the entire process look counterproductive, silly and ineffectively partisan.
Just because one representative for our area is a Democrat and the other two are Republicans doesn’t justify the level of disconnect that appears to be the case in filing the exact same bill with an apparently technical exception. Or a third bill that undermines the school altogether.
I would think the desire to put your name on a bill for whatever purposes is equally satisfied by a joint introduction and to a reasonable person, the optics of it are so much better.
The substantive and seemingly technical difference between Ellis and Roberson appears to be the requirement by MSU for a 99-year lease on the land where the partnership school would sit. If that is required for getting the buy-in of the Board of Trustees for the Institutions of Higher Learning, so be it.
That 99-year lease difference is included in the Senate bill, 2392, the original consolidation bill from 2015, submitted by Sen. Gray Tollison (R.-Oxford). It has been amended to include the partnership school project for 2016. Makes me think it must matter and Rep. Ellis got it right in his bill.
The newspaper report of the difference Chism offers is a funding structure in two budget cycles. Delay is often death in legislative actions whether local or state. I would think if he had a persuasive argument for that option these differences wouldn’t be insurmountable. Perhaps the intentions of our public servants aren’t quite in sync.
To me the partnership school is an economic development tool. It can be an immediate one for Oktibbeha County and Starkville and with a successful trial period, it could potentially affect the entire state.
This school has great potential.
Our new consolidated school district and therefore our region is inevitably enhanced by the possibility of having a university-focused program of public education based on learning and teaching.
If MSU has its way it will lead the way across the nation in making rural districts the target for this type of program. According to the statistics from MSU, 50 percent of the education districts in the nation are rural and would be benefit.
This school is the testing ground for Mississippi’s education future; it is groundbreaking and it deserves the support of the entire Legislature, particularly our local legislators.
So, gentlemen, how about you guys get together, lose the measuring sticks and put up a bill that gets this one done and in the books for the future of our community and our state.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.