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  • Mississippi
  • Spencer D. Stone (bio) and Joshua A. Money (bio)

Schools in Mississippi are primarily funded through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP). This program covers teacher salaries, textbooks and materials, operational costs, transportation, special education, vocational services, gifted education, and alternative education. In 2017, the state appropriated $2,461,918,612 for the MAEP program.1 Educational spending makes up about 22% of the entire state budget if federal funds are included.

FUNDING PRIORITIES FOR P-122

  • • Provide teachers and students the resources they need to be successful.

  • • Keep public dollars in public schools.

  • • Maintain high standards.

  • • Give parents reasonable, fair, and objective measures.

  • • Provide every child a high quality early learning experience and strengthen teacher education programs and teacher licensure.

CHANGES TO FUNDING FORMULA FOR P-12 AND/OR HIGHER EDUCATION

  • • HB 1502 was the appropriation bill for FY 2018 it did not include a section on MAEP funding and level funded other items from the previous year.

  • • There were two bills to rewrite the MAEP formula – HB 1294 and HB 2607. Both died on the calendar.

  • • There were rumors throughout the year about a completely new funding formula that was being developed by the legislature; however, it never saw the light of day. They simply cut the MAEP funding from the previous year. [End Page 272]

PRESSING STATE ISSUES AFFECTING P-12 AND/OR HIGHER EDUCATION FUNDING

  • • There were several bills proposed to divert public funds to privateschools. All of them failed, but this trend has been going for many years.

HB 1703 Tax Credit Scholarships (Vouchers) & SB 2947 Tax Credit Scholarships (Vouchers)

Tried to allow tax credits to businesses and individuals that donate to an organization that would provide scholarships to private school students. There would be no cap statewide on credits allowed.

  • • SB 2585 Tax Deduction Scholarships (Vouchers) would have provided a $5,000 tax deducation for private school tuition or home school experiences there was no proposed statewide cap.

  • • The legislature created the Mississippi Achievement School District which would absorb schools that had consecutive Fs on their state grades. The state Board of Education asked for $250,000 to develop a model for this plan.

  • • HB 1046 Expand Dyslexia Vouchers Expands availability of dyslexia vouchers to students through 12th grade in special purpose schools.

EXCLUSIVE TO P-12: FORCES DIVERTING FUNDS FROM TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS

  • • The legislature passed SB 2858 which granted corporations tax breaks. This will strip $416 million per year from state revenue. The K-12 Appropriation for FY 2017 (HB 1634) underfunded MAEP by approximately $7.6 million from FY 2016.

  • • SB 2161 allows for any student to cross school district lines to attend a private school, and the funds will be paid from the student's home district.

P-12 Per-pupil expenditure $5,364.16

Allocation of State dollars and percent of the State Budget for P-12 and HE:

$2,633,356,762 , or 22.421%

$3,179,519,552, or 27.018%3 [End Page 273]

Spencer D. Stone

Spencer D. Stone is a Graduate Student at the University of Alabama.

Joshua A. Money

Joshua A. Money is a Graduate Student at the University of Alabama.

Footnotes

1. http://www.lbo.ms.gov/misc/FY17_BudgetBook/intro-bbook.pdf.

2. http://www.msparentscampaign.org/component/content/article?id=1441.

3. http://www.lbo.ms.gov/misc/FY17_BudgetBook/intro-bbook.pdf

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