Education funding
Made a 75th birthday trip to Smokey Mountains. As we were leaving home, decided to loop by Middle Tenn. State University and watch Kermit Davis Jr.’s Basketball team play Southern Miss. During half-time, a presentation was made to the university from the Tennessee Lottery. It caught my attention when they announced that the lottery had raised over $3 billion for education. I do not support a lottery, but that amount worked on my thinking.
Mississippi spends time every year talking about funding for various items. Education gets a large share of the talk. I have seen the salary of the state Superintendent of Ed. go from $40,000 a year to over $300,000. That has not moved the bar.
In 1965 the federal government passed legislation that gave addition funds based on numbers of poor a state had. Mississippi was a winner and has remained so.
The more poor you have the more federal funds you receive. Strange incentive. We have seen funding for Head Start, kindergarten, cooler rooms, teacher aides, master teachers, consolation of some districts and a few minor raises for teachers during the years since 1965. We have seen progress while the rest of the nation has not stopped to wait on us to catch up.
Riverboat gaming was to take care of funding.
The cry also is the federal law has never been fully funded.
Give me parents that are educated and take their children to some church and children that have self discipline, and I will show you success. The home must value education.
Mickey Burgess
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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