TUPELO — Mississippi schools could lose about $53.9 million in federal education money, according to a report released by the National Education Association, if Congress doesn’t stop a package of budget cuts scheduled to take place Jan. 2.
That total includes more than $15.2 million in Title I aid, money given to help schools with students from disadvantaged backgrounds, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports. Nationally, more than $1.1 billion could be cut from the $14.5 billion program.
The cuts are part of the so-called fiscal cliff , a package of tax increases and federal spending cuts that will occur Jan. 2 if lawmakers don’t act to avoid them. Among the cuts are 8.2 percent reductions in most programs funded by the United States Department of Education.
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