Jackson Jambalaya

it would be interesting to see administrators salaries for these districts....

what is crystal clear is that JPS's woes aren't linked to the students who attend but the structure of the school system

So Canton and JPS are the most expensive and worst districts. Is it time to discuss the elephant in the room?

Incompetence breeds incompetence. If there's one thing an incompetent administrator cannot stand, it's a competent teacher who challenges the system, rocks the boat and who advocates and expects change. Ask me.

The sad part about this is that the JPS district will never be taken over by the state. Unless there is a black governor with the balls to do it. And neither of those will happen in our lifetime.

7:58; What do you mean by 'structure of the school system'? The 'structure' is no different than the 'structure' of any large system. It's the administrative incumbents within the structure who are the root of the problem. And that won't change.

JPS's biggest problem is the parents of their students. If the parents don't care about receiving an education, then the students don't care either and that results in low scores and high dropout rates. Administrators and teachers cannot make students and parents care about receiving an education.

Unfortunately school districts are employment agencies in far too many places- JPS is certainly one of them.

Thing that surprised me most about this was IEP students. I always heard that the districts like JPS had more special ed kids, which therefore cost more money, and that was the reason they spent more. Obviously that isn't true.

Not just the administrative salaries, it would be interesting to see the administrative structure (central district offices as well as each school). How many assistant or deputy superintendents does the district have? How many Director of (fill in the blank) positions, and are these positions really necessary?

In fact, this would be interesting information to have regarding all 152 public school districts in Mississippi.

9:55 the problem is many don't have parents. They may "stay" with an older woman, and sometimes a man, but they don't parent.

What surprises me is that ANYONE is "surprised" by this information. Hell, give them all raises I say!!!!

Agree 10:47 re:parents. As further proof, go to a PTO meeting in private or parochial schools. Standing room only. Go to a JPS one. Damn near empty.

This is what happens when we have social programs that reward procreation. Parents? No, just making babies so we can get a bigger check and more SNAP benefits.

So much for the "Great Society."

Ummmm. How about someone pointing out all majority black school districts are rampant with corruption and are failing? Or can we not state the obvious in this politically correct society?

JPS has their own police department. I'm sure that costs a lot of money. They also have a ton of buses that carry kids to Montessori, APAC, IB, etc. I'm sure there are other big expenses that urban schools have.

@10:43 All of that and more is readily available. I should know, I wrote the code that produced those numbers.

I think I have to file a request for the salaries though with MDE.

Which Department Head will you file it with?

It's foolish not to distinguish funds by source. Much of the Federal money is Title I, and is district/ student socioeconomic status specific. The DeSoto comparison is apples to oranges because much of school funding is tied to demographics, but not in the way you want it to be.

I don't doubt that JPS is administration heavy.
I don't doubt there are inefficiencies.
I don't even doubt there's some politically created" jobs and promotions to administrative levels of teachers to increase salaries.
But, I'd also like to see how their maintenance costs compare to that of the other systems listed.
Rankin and Madison have new schools. They are likely having to have roof, plumbing and electrical work on a regular basis just to keep operating.

Oh, for Heaven's sakes. Now, as anticipated, along comes 5:59 to take us back down the proverbial path of separate but unequal. They failed because they had used books. They failed because they had leaking windows. They failed because their busses were outdated. They failed because the teachers attended HBCUs. They failed because the blackboards had termites.

Get off your ass, 5:59, and drive out 20 Westbound and look at the physical plant of the Bolton school. Take a look at that fine, brick, prison-looking huge structure up 49 North from Medgar.

Then look around this nation at the better-performing schools with much worse facilities than those you imagine make up JPS.

Here's your 'fallacy alert' cap!

hey 5:59, JPS had a $150,000,000 bond issue a few years ago that was supposed to take care of all of that. Wonder where that went - perhaps their 'minority' contractors.

I can testify to any judge that JPS pays high salaries to top level administrators. Many of them got their position through family relationships or just "relationships". So many are not qualified. The Supt brought his crew from Tennessee and is paying them huge salaries. One of them is a "minister" in Tennessee and is not at work several days during the week because he has to drive back to TN to preach. School administrators are not heavily paid and have not received a raise in 8-9 years. Some of them are not qualified, but not over paid. Many teachers in the district are simply not good teachers. You can talk about parenting, but the parents send the best they have to the school everyday. JPS is robbing the kids of the education they need to help them break the cycle of poverty! Huge problem that is not solved by money!