Jackson Jambalaya

There is nothing to indicate any changes are to come. A sad situation with no plan. This is yet another example of a unit being only as good as its leaders.

But JPS produces a product that justifies the premium...

Wonder why the huge difference in amount for special education grants from the Feds.....

The reason JPS is struggling is because we still haven't finished spending a gazillion dollars in debt to rebuild downtown.

Get downtown completed and Jesus will return to set up his new earthly HQ in the King Edward.

Seems difference is racial makeup & poverty level. So draw what conclusions you will from that

Kingfish,

I want to correct a point on Special Education federal grants. The totals you have are for Department of Education grants overall, not just Special Education grants (which are near even by the way as the SPED Cluster). The total of note to look at is Title I expenditures. JPS is north of $14 millions whereas Desoto is approximately $3.3 million.

Also of note, the 2009 PERS matching contributions are as follows: $18.1 million for JPS and $13.3 for DPS. DeSoto Schools employs around 3,400. I wonder how many are employed by JPS while educating the same number of kids.

Well, I THINK, what people in Jackson Public Schools would say is that when you have so many more students in poverty, and so many more requiring "special" education, and that type of thing, it drives up the cost of education. At least that's always been what the government schools have said about how inexpensively private schools have historically educated kids compared to government schools -- the private schools have a bunch of "easy to educate kids." -- like I'm sure they would say about DeSoto County. At least I think that's what they would say. If that's the case, maybe we can't afford to educate every single student.

6:15 AM, you are right. I took it out as I realized what I did. Was comparing the cumulative federal pass through dollars. Thanks.

Poverty level is the key difference. The data is consistent (and not just in MS): educating children living at or below poverty level is more expensive. You only need look at MS and our being 50th in education performance and 50th in economic performance to see demonstration of this fact.

So JPS already spends $56 million more than Desoto. How much more should they spend? $75 million? $100 million?

WHY is it so much more expensive to educate a child simply because he is from a poor family?? The reason, of course, is because there is no support from the drop-out mother or (especially) the "baby-daddy". Yet we continue to enable and perpetuate these "families" when we force the more disciplined and therefore, more successful, taxpayer to support them. If our federal government is going to force us to provide birth control for promiscuous college students, we should also require sterilization after the second pregnancy of any habitual welfare recipient. (Note, I said HABITUAL welfare recipient to distinguish from those who need TEMPORARY support due to layoff, catastrophic illness or death of the primary wage earner...stuff like that...which is the INTENDED purpose of federally funded welfare programs.)

The instructional cost per student is less money that I paid for private schools 10 years ago in both districts. I don't know what the tuition is now. But, add to that also, that I paid for books and uniforms and activity fees and school trips and depending on activities, parents pay for band instruments and cheerleading outfits, etc.

Private colleges are also more expensive that state colleges so where does anyone get the notion that private education is less expensive?

Does DeSoto have magnet schools? JPS does and how are magnet schools different from charter schools and it that affecting cost?

How are the sports programs different? How old are the school buildings and how much maintenance is involved. Jackson hasn't built a new school in some time.

Does JPS have smaller classrooms or more teachers or more administration?

And,yes, the poverty level is huge. So is the fact that one is 98% black and the other 61% white. Still, the wealthiest students from that area attend private schools in Jackson or go to boarding school. Their parents get an apartment here. So...what's up with that?

There are also huge differences in poverty in rural areas vs urban areas. Poor children in rural areas often fair better for a number of reasons too lenghty to list here.

Look, the problem is that there is more than one way to go about charter schools, there are many details to be considered and those promoting this bill didn't do their homework ahead of time. They got elected and put in the bill the next day. It takes more than 4 months to lay a good foundation for an workable structure to pull this off well. This will be implemented willy nilly and so we won't get what we will pay for and I doubt those passing the bill even know what it will cost to set this up.

This isn't how one goes about making good decisions that actually solve problems.

Our public school system is in trouble but we won't solve the problems until we restructure. This is like adding another story to a building with foundation problems.

8:11am - You have many many valid points, in particular, the willy nilly way the charter school bills are being passed. Did any legislator research successful charter schools before writing and passing the legislation? Why would they abandon teacher certification when it is well-documented that most successful charters only hire teachers from the highly acclaimed Teach for America program?

On the point of the high number of SLD students enrolled in JPS, it is a well-known fact within school systems that mothers who want to receive aid for their children will coach their children on how to act/respond prior to the required administered test that qualifies them for the gov't check. Also, many children in special education classes are placed in special ed classes due to their behavioral problems and not because they lack the capacity to learn.
Given this parental coaching to get a check consideration, is it any wonder why most, if not all, low-poverty children are placed into special needs classes? It is not the child's fault; it is the fraudulent parents who want this gov't handout at the risk of their own child being needlessly labeled as special needs. Please keep in mind that there certainly children with true learning disabilities who truly need and deserve special education. Those deserving special needs children are not the target of my opinion and nor are the disabled/physically handicapped children.

THIS IS THE FOURTH YEAR RUNNING THAT THE SENATE HAS PASSED A CHARTER SCHOOLS BILL.

Pull your heads out of your asses that this legislation is "willy nilly" or rushed or ill considered.

The facts don't support the force fed Parents' Campaign and PPS spin y'all are barfing up.

11:23am what evidence do you have to show that different systems were considered and that there is a consensus on which will work best for MS?

If the debate / hearings were more than shallow, it certainly wasn't reported.

What evidence do you have that Republicans in the Senate did no due diligence over the last four years?

5:20 pm the bill itself . Did you read the abandonment of teacher certification?

And , the addition a special certification for masters and PhDs to teach their speciality would have been a nice " tell" that someone studied successful programs.

Those familiar with education ( as opposed to being in the public school system) know what should be there and isn't.

The Republican apparently see educators as the enemy and can't tell the difference between those who are lobbying and those who have no dog in the fight but do have expertise in the field.

11:19; Don't think for a minute that your cheap shot at all public school teachers/employees went unnoticed. Your lame remark re 'as opposed to being in the public school system' attests to your professional arrogance and renders (at least for me) the rest of your comments irrelevant.

Go public March 19, 2012 11:19 PM. Put up your own website, communicate your credentials, come back here with a link, show Mississippi what you've got.

Shadowfax, my apologies if that is how you read it.

The fact is there is validity to examining bias, it is human for those in an existing system to resist change and it's rather obvious that some people think this is a clash between biased points of view.

I intended it to mean " if you reject the opinions of those currently in the public school system because you see them as biased" then " why not look to those who are not biased?"

8:46 AM I am not Don Quixote and the proverbial horse is out of the barn. IF there had been interest in the legislature for what " those with no dog in the fight" but with expertise and experience thought, they would have been invited into " the four year process". The research and researchers and professors who have weighed in are not hard to find...unless you are only looking to reinforce your existing point of view ( on either side). States which have charter schools have tons of information that is unbiased.

Do YOU know if there will be minimum qualifications for students who will be tested ( and how) or will there be just a lottery? Who will set geographic boundaries and are there enough students within existing geographical boundaries? Will charter schools require parents to pay for some things and if so, what? What is the target age group priority? Will there be parent interviews as part of the process? How far out do parents have to apply?

These aggravating details can make a huge difference in how well a charter school works in different locations. You see, the " market" you are serving matters. One size does NOT fit all. Has anyone bothered to learn enough about the existing market to know how many parents would participate in a charter program and WHERE the most interest is? HMMMM? Seems to me that is the FIRST thing anyone should have looked into.

You don't have to publish this comment but I couldn't find anything about the report that came out on the discipline in Jackson Public Schools this past year. The school board was presented with some information and I was surprised to not seen any info on your site.