Jackson Jambalaya

I don't disagree that our educational system has been underfunded.

But, it is our educational structure that needs to be overhauled if those funds are to be efficiently spent.

We have a population smaller than many cities in this Nation and yet we have more schools and administration at every level of education than any of those cities.

Worse, there is woefully little co-ordination and co-operation even within counties to take advantage of economies of scale or work together to create programs that will benefit all the students.

We don't utilize those in our population that have advanced degrees in various subjects. Our universities and junior colleges do not use advances in communication technology to provide courses via that technology to schools who don't have someone in their communities who can teach a foreign language or teach advanced mathematics.

Each educational school and institution has become it's own fiefdom and the differences in quality are appalling even when operated under one system.

We duplicate at the university and community college level and there , again, we find competition rather than co-operation.

The focus is not on educating every student as best we can but on an unhealthy competition for state funds with the students as the casualty and tax payers having to pay for duplication.

Imagine the tax dollars saved if commonly needed goods and services were contracted state or county wide! There would also be an increase in those competing for these larger contracts!

Unfortunately, our legislators on both sides of the aisle believe that it would be political suicide to reform our systems. Too many have benefitted from the status quo.

The ugly truth as many, if not all, of the suppliers know, is that many of our schools have more than they need to maintain and improve and at fiscal year's end are buying anything and everything to use up their budgeted dollars while other schools go begging for basics.

Zero based budgeting and economies of scale to purchase in bulk at cheaper prices would help.

Finding ways to allow Masters level and PhDs without teaching certificates to be fast tracked or allowed to teach just their subject part-time would help.

It's past time to think outside the box and stop the same tired old arguments about education we have always had.

(D-whole foods)??

Cecil, please comment on 11:19 and include the more money philosophy as suggested in your piece.

Thanks

11:23 am Whole Foods is in his district in Jackson.

There are some( KF is just being funny) who seem to think only Democrats and or " Yuppies"( if you identify with Phil's out of on Duck Dynasty refers those who don't wear camos and sport beards and have manicured lawns) go to Whole Foods.

Cecil actually gets GOP crossover every time he runs as he is fiscally conservative with tax dollars and his own and can comprehend financial documents.

Try to stay on point here. This is not about Whole Foods, Cecil Brown or political affiliation. It all boils down to one word and that word is found in 11:19's post. FIEFDOME.

Take the money you have been given, spend it responsibly, show us how it has been used; when you come back we will consider giving you more! Until us can show some responsible spending, you do not deserve more!!!

Just answering a question, 12:55 pm and you're right , education discussions shouldn't be partisan, but those who wish to maintain the status quo or benefit from changes they wish to make, have made it such.

When we discuss charter schools, for example, no one ever mentions that few places in MS can support a charter school. And, by their nature, tend to reach a very small number of children except in largely populated areas that can have multiple charters. Students are most often selected by lottery and that is because there are always more that want to be in a charter school than there are spots.

We have to maximize our limited resources in this state. We have to try to find hope for our bright children who have no hope.

I wish we had a scholarship fund started by our wealthiest former and current successful residents that would be like the Hope scholarship in GA.

If our children could enter school knowing with certainty that if they maintained a B average , they could go to college, it would be easier for them to resist the drug dealers and criminals who want to rob them of a future. It wouldn't matter if their parents couldn't make ends meet.

We say our children are our future but I wonder if we mean it.

How does Georgia fund the Hope scholarship? I thought it was taxpayer funded. I agree we should have a similar program.

2:25 hope is funded entirely by the Georgia lottery. I doubt Mississippi will be getting one if those anytime soon.

"I wish we had a scholarship fund started by our wealthiest former and current successful residents that would be like the Hope scholarship in GA. "

I thought Georgia's Hope Scholarship program was founded with proceeds from their state lottery.

I think most of us agree that too many of our schools are underfunded, HOWEVER, the question is how is the money available used? One obvious money-waster is the administrative cost of too many school districts. That sacred cow is apparently untouchable. The MEC should take the lead and Cecil should join in addressing this. We are asking the taxpayers of the poorest state in the nation to subsidize waste while asking for more sacrifice.

I would be completely 100% in favor of a state lottery if it was used to fund a program like the Hope Scholarship for any Mississippi student who graduates from high school with a B average and chooses to attend a Mississippi 2 or 4 year college.

So, get after it Cecil! He comes from a district that would not oppose a state lottery if it was dedicated solely to a college scholarship program, so he would not really be risking anything by leading on this issue.

Dear Cecil: You are a democrat. You have no say anymore about policy in the great state of Mississippi. Why do you continue to blabber? No one cares what you Libtards think or say. You want to be heard then switch political affiliation. Till then.....yea you know!

Education in Mississippi is not underfunded. Education in Mississippi is under-managed. Almost everything about the education empire in this state is poorly managed.

That includes everything from district lines to fiefdoms to physical plants to planning to implementation to school board structure to equipment management to transportation to hiring and retention to nepotism to power and influence to dietary to security to discipline to outcome expectations.

And all the Cecil Browns of the state do is harp and moan and strut and throw grandiose bullshit plans against the delapidated walls hoping something will stick and the Clarion Ledger will print his idiocy.

Dear 4:58,

At least I am willing to put my name on what I believe. Like most blowhards, you are a coward.

F**k all of you teatards @--- and I mean that in a "good christian" way.

You were a waste of not only an education for which you contributed $0 to for yourself, obviously, but were and STILL ARE a disappointment to your parents and to your wife, for many other reasons in addition to your lack of education.

If you are a female TeaBagger of the teatard variety, then you were too stupid to know any better when you got knocked up and married your bagger fool cousin. If u are a bagger and single, don't marry and don't procreate, please. But I digress.

The Hope Scholarship that you dimwits are discussing is in TN, and it is fully funded by lottery proceeds from the State. It might be in other states under the same name, but we fund & operate it here for our own residents, even when baggers in adjacent states try to steal funds that got away from them due to a meth and vodka habit.

That's why we Tennessee residents laugh at those ignorant schmoes down in Desoto County that are always getting caught trying to get TN car tags and then cheat to get our scholarship dollars for their seven inbred kids that all favor their momma's brothers.

You baggers stay like just you are, country rednecks and stupid, because you all provide examples for us to use to motivate our kids who sometimes need reminders of the long-term value of an education.

Somebody has to be the last-place state in education, and you help drag MS down to keep it #50 by your efforts of asshattery. Those of you baggers with a decent education either relocated to MS or have no employees that require an education. So be sure and vote to cut education, okay? Keep all the kids undereducated because that way your pitiful barefoot, homeschooled heathen with six toes on each foot and a lazy eye on their gourd head won't be so far down in the 90th percentile, even in MS, like they are at present. I love reading these comments. Thanks to a friend down here in Rankin County for introducing kingfish via twitter. He was probably scared I'd find it on my own anyway, and think of him as "Wonna them Libruls", just because he's got some sense and values education for his kids and his employees. It's creepy to know how you people think. I just feel sorry for the folks that don't subscribe to your idiocy but have to stand next to you rednecks at the polls, because I'm sure you stink as bad as you spell, and that I have witnessed for myself right here.

Man, I wonder how those not-public schools do it.

4:58 says "You [Democrats] have no say anymore about policy in the great state of Mississippi."

Dear 4:58, please go tell that to your idiot candidate, Chris McDaniel. The Senate election couldn't have been decided by us because we "no longer have a say about policy" here.

Maybe if he were as enlightened as you, he would shut up about us Democrats and do what the rest of Mississippi (both Democrat and Republican) have been praying for him to do - quit whining and go home.

7:12 pm The Hope Scholarship is in GA ( maybe Tenn has followed) and is now funded by lottery.
Look it up.

And, if you are well educated ( which I doubt given your inability to write well), you failed to educate yourself on civility and manners.

Education im MS is underfunded which makes the inefficient use of resources even worse. Cecil is right about how we stack up compared to other states. Do, again, please look it up.

And, when you do, try hard to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges and not apples to oranges when comparing figures.

Isn't it true that Mississippi spends more per student on education, pro rata, given it's state resources, than most every other state? How can that be termed under-funded?

Will you 'under funding harpies' please post a list of what could be provided in our schools if funding were magically increased? And please don't include more laptops for teachers and white Fords with the district ID painted on the rocker panel. Omit trips to Destin and Golden Moon as well.

2:11 am That's just not true.
Oklahoma and Iowa with similar populations spend 2-3 times more. Alabama spends more than twice as much as we do but isn't twice as large.

My source is 2012 Census and us.gov on data. What's your source?

2:11 am Oh where to begin? You obviously haven't been in a public school in a long time!

I won't even go into repairs and maintenance, but a leaking roof and sweltering room is a distraction in the classroom!

But, it's what doesn't exist in terms of tools and equipment. The science labs in many schools don't have enough basic lab equipment. The libraries are inadequate so that makes assignments for book reports a challenge. The art departments could use supplies and teaching pottery isn't possible nor is teaching graphic arts. There isn't music equipment other than what we can get donated and some schools don't even have a band. Teachers are buying their own school supplies so kids will have enough pencils and paper and composition books. We don't have enough overhead projectors.

Do this. Go to our poorer,older public high schools and junior highs and then go to Prep or JA or St As or St Richards. Tour Hinds Junior college and then visit Natchez's junior college branch.

Then we'll talk.

Please see Table 12 in this report from the U.S. Census: http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/11f33pub.pdf.

Mississippi ranks #9 in the amount of total spending that goes to general administration, but we only rank #31 in the amount of total spending we send to the classroom. If Cecil Brown is victorious, how can we ensure the extra money goes to the classroom and not the the MS Dept. of Education or school districts?

11:23 am Whole Foods is in his district in Jackson.

That isn't correct. Cecil's district has been moved. He no longer lives in his district. Cecil lives in Bill Denny's house district now.

Correct! MDE needs to review the expenditures to see that they increase towards the end of the fiscal year greatly. Reason? because the mentality is....to use up every cent or you will lose your money. There needs to be oversight. No one questions the submissions of their office/equipment needs....it's just approved. It would be beneficial if schools were given a pre approved vendor list maybe from the state agency contract database. If pre approved vendors are not loaded on the state agency contract list that could supply the schools then this needs to be looked into and added. Because basically schools have the authority to pick and choose who they want to purchase items from and may be overspending. If pre approved vendors are not listed and it is a special item, 2 or 3 quotes need to be required for every office supply and equipment need. The schools need to be mandated to purchase from the vendor with the lowest price or a justification if it is a sole-source item. Give this direction to the schools and provide them with a pre approved vendor list (with the vendors already checked out by the state to have the best price)--spending is out of control.

11:07 - Bill Denny did indeed gerrymander Cecil out of his district. The Speaker stripped Cecil from his Education Committee chairmanship and even from the education committee itself. But that doesn't stop Cecil from really caring about the welfare of the children's education in Mississippi.

My source is the table posted at 8:58 and many prior articles in the Clarion Ledger. I have no idea how much of that total is spent on admin and how much goes to chalk, pegboards, floor wax, workbooks or air conditioning.

What is the total percentage of Mississippi's annual budget that's spent on education and how the hell do any of you think we can spend more of it on education without a dramatic tax increase?

What Cecil-The-Frown-Brown needs to advocate and enter his retirement years working on is reducing the redundancy in districts and duplicative expenses that could be cut by more than half. When was the last time we heard any democrat advocate a 50% reduction in districts?

And secondly, he could advocate and fight for reducing the hundreds of 'department heads' at the State Department who have no department.

And third, he could lead the charge to eliminate per diem payments to legislators who return home ever night and rolling that money into the education budget. Wait for that to happen.

4:06/2:11 In the tables that include administration and divide total costs by per child, we are still underfunded. Underfunded is underfunded.

If you don't want tax increases, you can do a number of things like a lottery. We could have better designated certain revenues to education like gambling revenues.

I'm the one who suggested we need systematic reform.

That you bring up administrative costs to me only suggests you weren't really reading my posts.

We are having a circular discussion where we are stuck on money vs reform or on band aids like charters or, once upon a time, home schooling, which helps some children but not enough children.

I understand we are living in a world of blurbs and sound bytes where everything becomes " either/or" and all discussions are in black and white. But, complex problems don't have simplistic solutions and one has to become well informed on the annoying details.

Some people now, including McDaniel, are arguing against public education. That would be a disaster as it was having public education ( when the system was better) that was primarily responsible for advancing this Nation. We need a highly skilled workforce again to compete.

And, worse, no one wants to listen to unbiased educators or looking at states making real progress or at the countries out performing us.

Everyone becomes their own " expert" . If a person is well educated , a person knows that experiential/anecdotal information is most often misleading and unreliable. It can point you to things to research but it should NEVER be the sole basis of opinion and certainly not decision making!

@ July 6, 2014 at 11:19 AM and
@ July 6, 2014 at 6:32 PM

Excellent comments. Appreciate when I see someone just speak the truth. Very refreshing.

"no one wants to listen to unbiased educators"

People whose paychecks are entirely dependent on this process are "unbiased"?!?

You just blew what little credibility you had with that statement.

Although my kids go to a private school I pay sky-high school taxes in Madison (the great schools do keep up the property values, FYI). I guess that makes me an "unbiased taxpayer".