Mississippi senators have voted to revise the state’s education budget formula that has been in place since 1997 but has only been fully funded twice. The proposed change would fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program for the third time in the state’s history, providing a $181 million injection into school budgets. The bill passed without debate, but it is uncertain whether the change will survive in final negotiations between the House and Senate, as Republican Governor Tate Reeves opposes it.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar, both Republicans, argue that the proposal would end a 16-year period of underfunding and help public schools cover basic expenses.
The proposal would change the way the state Department of Education calculates the base student cost, the funding level deemed necessary to provide an adequate education to one student. It would also raise the percentage cap that determines how much local school districts are responsible for paying. Four school districts in the state would be unable to cover the cost of teacher pay raises enacted last year with these changes, but Senate leaders have pledged to help cover those costs for this year.
The Mississippi Adequate Education Program was enacted by a Democratic-controlled Legislature in 1997 over the veto of Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice. It aims to provide each district with enough money to meet midlevel academic standards and was created in response to equity-funding lawsuits filed in other states that challenged the level of funding being spent in poorer districts compared to wealthier ones. Republicans have controlled both chambers of the Legislature since 2012. In 2017, Reeves, who was then lieutenant governor, and Gunn led a failed attempt to replace the formula with a new plan that would have linked money more explicitly to the needs of each student.
Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents’ Campaign, a public education advocacy group that has long pushed for MAEP funding, supports the formula changes alongside a commitment to fully fund public schools this year. “Importantly, the Senate’s plan leaves intact the formula for the base student cost, which is the primary determinant of school funding, it enhances the equity provision of the MAEP, and when fully funded, will significantly increase funding for public schools statewide,” Loome told The Associated Press on Monday.
