A group of Mississippi parents and teachers who are lobbying for predictable and equitable education funding may not get their way with the Legislature, but they win the award for the best name: Fed Up With 50th.
That, of course, refers to Mississippi’s ranking at the bottom of so many of the country’s economic and social measurements. The state actually has moved up a couple of places in some areas, but Fed Up’s point is well taken.
The question is what to do about it. A Fed Up With 50th press release last week said that when it comes to education funding, the Republican majority in the Legislature is moving through the process of changing Mississippi’s education funding formula too rapidly.
A public hearing was scheduled for today in Jackson, in which a proposal from the EdBuild consulting group was to be unveiled as a possible replacement for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
There’s little doubt that the existing education funding formula will be changed, most probably this year, to lower the definition of “adequate” to better fit the state’s recent budgets.
Since the state has fully funded education under the existing formula only twice in the three decades since it took effect, maybe it’s time to adopt something the Legislature will actually follow.
The risk for Republicans is that excessive tinkering with school money runs the risk of alienating voters.
What if, for example, the Legislature sets up a new formula that steers a little more money to prosperous districts and a little less to others?
Rural school districts with smaller tax bases — there are plenty of them in the Delta — deserve more assistance from Jackson than do wealthier districts. Small-town students ought to have a fair chance to succeed, and if a community’s tax base can’t provide the necessary resources for that, then the state ought to help out. Inequities like this are what led to the creation of MAEP in the 1980s.
Republican leaders say they do not intend to reduce public education funding, and they have mostly kept their word. Last week, Gov. Phil Bryant cut another $51 million from the state’s current budget because revenue remains slightly less than estimated. The main budget for K12 schools was one of the few areas that avoided a 1.5 percent cut from the governor.
It’s unlikely any significant changes to the funding formula will be suitable to education advocates and groups such as Fed Up With 50th. But right now, the will of the majority seeks change. Mississippi Republicans are determined to shrink government spending, and until the voters change their mind, that’s going to be the trend in Jackson.
Legislators may not cut education spending, but they’re not going to increase it by a large amount, either.
Fed Up With 50th is on more solid ground when its press release observes that passing a new education funding formula two or three months after it’s unveiled will not provide ample time for public review. There is no need to rush such an important bill through this year’s Legislature.
That may happen, though, putting more pressure on the Legislature to get it right and to be fair.
The Greenwood Commonwealth
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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