Jackson Jambalaya

Well that makes it clear. Time to pack it up and move to Rankin County. They definitely have the most promising stats for our future children.

Not sure what you're looking at, 2:39, but from where I'm sitting Rankin County School District is underperforming by state standards.

If I'm a parent, and I am, I would want to be in Clinton just based on test scores.

Too bad I live in Rankin. The quality of life may be better than Clinton but the schools suck wind.

Unemployment rate for Hinds????

Clinton is Pearl with half the billboards. Overall, including extra curricular, you will not be able to top Madison Central District in the Metro.

The only thing currently blocking an utter, unearthly housing explosion in Madison County is the Canton Separate School District.

But, that presents a Catch-22. Such that district into Madison County District and you pollute the pond which results in unmarketable fish. So, in the long term....Pelahatchi anyone?

Not Pelahatchie. Pisgah. That's where several of the NWR zone parents are considering moving to.

This is not a joke. Overcrowding is a serious issue and so far nobody in the supes race is talking about it.

The kids east of Tommy's Trading Post go across 25 to Pisgah. That school has got to be crowded. But, taxes will take care of all that.

The issue for this discussion is which area is about to explode. It ain't Clinton and it's not Byram and doubtful that it's Rankin five miles either side of 25.

Livingston is going to fizzle like a weak fart and Madison has nowhere to go without growing into the Canton District. Ridgeland is land-locked and Jackson is less than inviting.

Either you water-down the pond through dilution and pollution or you build more private schools or you grow vertically. What are the other options? Sittin' around here discussing scores, failing schools and Common Core is wasting lots of time and energy and accomplishes nothing.

Every one of those discussions ends with the same summary and analysis as we got forty years ago.

2/3 of my county tax for Madison goes to schools. While I don't live in the Canton limits, unfortunately I am in their school district. There's a $33 million bond referendum the Canton school board has placed for a ballot vote March 31. For every 100K of property value this equates to an $89 increase...$102 per 100k if you own a commercial business. One of the things they want to offer is a Chromebook laptop for every high school student. I see that working out well... My neighborhood and others in this district will have to go to Canton to vote instead of our regular precincts which seems sneaky and underhanded. Hoping everyone remembers to vote and can find the precinct, this referendum needs to fail.

No amount of bond money or other money thrown at the Canton system is going to save it. How that system has avoided state-takeover defies logic and reason. the decision makers obviously have determined it would not matter who was running the system. It cannot succeed.

that it should exist in the first place is arguable. I can think of no reason. It's boundaries and demographics have done little more than carve out a perpetual, segregated system in the middle of a thriving, productive one.

But, as pointed out above, the alternative is to dumb down and water down the entire lake by pouring a polluted pond into the middle of it. And that will happen sooner rather than later. And when it happens Kenny Wayne Jones, The Blackmon Duet, Bennie Thompson and every other Tom, Dick and Harry will protest til the rafters rattle since all of the redundant positions in Canton are held by blacks.

3:14, MDE hasn't taken over the Canton Public School District, because it has maintained a D rating. They only take over districts that are F, with extremely poor test scores.

The legend on the Rankin County chart is wrong. The line identified in the legend as Rankin County Schools is actually the State Average. Compare the Rankin County scores/chart to the State Average line in the Hinds County chart.

It shouldn't be a surprise poverty percentage appears to be the major indicator.

That would be consistent with research worldwide.

Yet, somehow we expect those who haven't succeeded in life to teach their children a skill set for success they don't have. Worse that skill set doesn't include why and how not to have children they can't support either because they have to work at minimum paying jobs and are physically absent or they just don't know.

Educating girls is the most successful indicator for reducing poverty.

Those areas that make a concerted effort to reduce poverty have reduced the effects of poverty... poor educational performance and crime.

In most of the country, the number of children on welfare in 2010 was less than half what it was in 1970. What did they do that we didn't?

Poverty is the greatest now in Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Alabama, Louisiana, and with Mississippi ranking the very worst of the states. A map of the worst counties in the US is also instructive.

But, rather than try to fix it, why don't we just bitch and let those who need to think themselves superior use race as the cause and ignore that some of those counties don't have a racial component like in West Virginia or Tennessee.

Doesn't matter if Canton cant be fixed. They are still quietly (very quietly) planning a $33 million bond vote(to be paid for mainly by homeowners that do not have children that attend Canton school). And chromebook laptop for every student? How long will that last? How many will be stolen, sold, destroyed, etc? And voting will take place at one school that just happens to be in one of the most dangerous, high-crime areas in the City of Canton. If this effect you then yu need to go to city hall to vote there with absent vote.

I laugh at people that move to rankin for "good schools". If you want the best education, Clinton or Madison would be the obvious choice. Clinton continues to outperform by every objective measure. Most white people really want "okay" schools that are mostly white. Rankin does have giant crosses tho

Most dangerous part of Canton. That's funny. They have two stop lights in the whole town right?

The bond issue vote will be district wide in the precincts with in the canton separate school district.........That district was created back in the 50s or early 60s by white folks to keep from being put in the county school district.....they ultimately shot themselves in the foot int he end.

I live in canton and what really astonishes me is that you have people that sit on the canton school board that have never ever had kids in canton public schools. Their children were sent to private schools.

8:46. Parts of canton are as bad as anywhere in Jackson Even more so if you are Hispanic and are being targeted by thugs and the police do NOTHING.

8:43 is right on the money.

what does 2 lights in the town have to do with anything? if you live or work in canton then you know to stay far away from nichols school and the apartments. drugs shootings rapes murders all the time in that area. and that is where the voting is gonna be.

@ 8:43 - 100% agreed

One could make a lot of correlations about the data presented here. I agree with 8:12, that most people in poverty don't have the skill set to set their kids down the right path. However, there are many problems at play. How many of these kids are born out of wedlock? How many have teenage mothers? How many have never known traditional family household or even their father?

Are morals the issue here? - maybe.
Can religion fix it? - unlikely.
Could personal responsibility and pride be the answer? - likely.

It is obvious, to me at least, that government entitlements aren't fixing this particular issue.

Based on another article on JJ, Madison schools appear to have the funnest moms. If I were a kid, I would want to go to Madison also. Funnel parties at a different house every night. And no blacks at the Walmart. ACT scores be damned.

10:00:
True, but look at the swill they're drinking.

Hey Clinton how much does a car tag cost?Madison? Taxes are lower over here, especially if you live in unincorporated brandon.
Another note:
If you go to the kidscount website and read about ACT scores coming out of HS then that is why I think Rankin County has them both beat. The snapshots that Jambalaya posted were of elementary scores and demographics. Hard to make a decision based on 3rd graders only.

anybody seen any pineapples in madison lately?

12:32PM - Car tags in Madison (city and county) are about as low as anywhere. Property taxes are higher in Madison partly because there are no apartments in the city and far less in the county, relative to Rankin, which is something most Madisonites gladly pay for.
It would be nice if we could keep Madison/Rankin competition friendly.

12:32PM - Might want to check the kidscount website ACT numbers again.

2013 Composite Scores for Graduating Seniors

Madison County - 21.3
Rankin County - 20.1

Clinton - 21.2
Pearl - 19.2
Canton - 15.5

http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/Map/3801-act-scores-for-graduating-seniors?loc=26&loct=2#10/any/false/36/132/10231/Orange/

So what's the deal with Pisgah schools anyway? A lot of the desirable land in Rankin County/Rez area is in that school district now. Are Rez people really migrating there?

@4:38- yes.

I send my kids to private school but if I had to do public I would choose pisgah out of all the rankin county schools.

To echo 9:24... You can throw money at problems all day, but lifestyle and family structure play the larger role. I suspect the "children in single parent households" statistic would be more telling if it were applied to each district individually instead of to the entire county. It's almost certain we would see a positive correlation between single parent households and poorly performing districts. Unfortunately, that's beyond the scope of the schools to correct.

What makes people think if the test scores are high in a school district that their child is one of the students who's making them high? Your "D" student sitting next to an "A" student doesn't make your child have anything but a "D". An "A" student can thrive in any school district. My "A" child is doing extremely well at JPS in accelerated math classes.

And to the people who want to keep their children from going to school with black children, are you going to not let your kids go to college? I graduated from Ole Miss, and there are all kinds of minorities on that campus. If you name a minority, they are there. So you had better get your children used to seeing other races of people, or intolerance will keep perpetuating.

I laugh at people that move to rankin for "good schools". If you want the best education, Clinton or Madison would be the obvious choice. Clinton continues to outperform by every objective measure. Most white people really want "okay" schools that are mostly white. Rankin does have giant crosses tho

This comment hit the nail on the head. Clinton is far ahead as the highest performing district in the metro, but it's ratio of brown to white is about even so we go to Madison and Rankin because those schools are really better when you consider extracurriculars and stuff, right? Another great example is Ridgeland high which was hailed as a great place to send your kids when it was built but is now to be avoided because we're concerned about our kids being safe or having bad influences there. We know what's changed in the ten plus years that school has been open that now makes it undesirable. I could say the same thing about Byram. All that to say, there's usually a factor outweighing test scores in parents minds.

The next topic will be "my right to send my child to whatever school I wish" because my baby is entitled to a 1st class education. Will your child be able to live the average life style of his classmates? That being costs to belong to clubs, athletic groups, various sports camps and class trips that require parents to attend weekly planning meetings. How willing are you as a parent to be a chaparone or regular classroom helper for your little ones. Pisgah, NW Rankin, Brandon and Madison schools aren't used as dumping grounds for our children. Think about what you wish for.

For the guy confused about Pisgah schools, nobody is flocking to that side of the rez in order to attend. Look at the housing starts over there. Wait! There aren't any. These kids are riding busses and driving old Trans Ams....not Volvos and BMWs.

Time to close comments?

Anyone ready for the Rankin County bond issue. Go back and look at the bond issue from 4 years ago that bombed at the polls:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2011/07/rankin-county-school-district-wants-169.html


Out of 169 million dollars, 30 million dollars was for absolutely nothing.. This was not for any line item purchase. When asked they said inflation costs and administrative construction costs. They also put athletic expenditures into major projects like mclaurin. So by looking at this piece of crap budget they released to the public why would someone vote for 1/3 of their money to be spent on athletics? Why in the world would someone vote for TURF in a recession?

So what does the school board do when the bond issue is killed? They spend money on athletics:
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/02/10/rankin-brandon-football-stadium/23181195/

Northwest Rankin Schools on Vine Drive are overcrowded and the high school is 30 years old. Period. The development of two major malls and massive development between old fannin road and grants ferry, the expansion of Mill Creek, the explosive growth of 6 flags over jesus(Pinelake), and Castlewoods expansion east, has put them in a spot. So the fight between Rankin and pearl over some back roads students was just a show. I bet they now welcome pearl to take some of those students off their books.

My point in all of this is Why invest in a football field that costs 5 million dollars when only 300 students out of 2000 actually use it?

Football team 100 people
Soccer team girls and boys 40 people
Band 100 people
Jrotc 20 people
cheerleading 25 people

If each of us really cared about academics you would see that spending this amount of money on a stadium is ludicrous when you have students in portables (manufactured homes repurposed for classrooms).

Boosters can pay and actually mow some grass if they care this much about athletics.

On a separate note: The schools in rural north and north east rankin county are desirable because the student to faculty ratio is 15 to 1.

Rankin county is just frustrating but at least I don't get shot taking out my garbage.