State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement and report.
Mississippi spent a higher percentage of public education money outside the classroom and on administrative expenditures than almost every other state in the South in the last 10 years according to a new report released today by State Auditor Shad White. The report also shows Mississippi spent a smaller portion of money inside the classroom than most other southern states during the same time.
The report found that, if Mississippi spent money inside the classroom at the same rate as the southern state that spends the highest percentage of its budget in the classroom, teachers could see an annual increase of $250 million into their classrooms. As a point of comparison, the $1,500 teacher pay raise signed into law in 2019 cost $77 million per year.
The Auditor’s report used information from the United States Department of Education to compare spending across all southern states.
Analyses of outside-the-classroom spending show Mississippi spent a higher percentage of money outside the classroom than any of its border states and other similar states. Mississippi also spent money on administration at a higher rate than any border or other similar state. Mississippi’s outside-the-classroom spending percentage is fourth highest among all 17 states across the South.
Looking inside the classroom, Mississippi is spending a lower percentage of its budget inside the classroom than it did ten years ago. Mississippi has ranked last among its border states for the percentage of spending inside the classroom each year since 2006 and ranked fourth-worst among all 17 southern states for the percentage of education funds spent inside the classroom.
The report recommends education policy leaders in Mississippi eliminate unnecessary regulations contributing to the increase in outside-the-classroom spending and that districts focus on reducing unnecessary administrative spending and salaries.
“As a graduate of Mississippi public schools myself and the son and grandson of Mississippi public school teachers, I know it’s important to make sure as many of our state public education dollars make it into the classroom as possible,” said Auditor Shad White. “This report shows we can learn something from the states around us when it comes to putting those dollars into teacher salaries and the classroom.”
In April 2019, the Auditor’s office released a report showing administrative spending had risen faster than instruction spending in Mississippi public schools over the last 10 years. Inflation-adjusted spending on administrative salaries has also increased over the last ten years, while spending on teachers’ salaries has decreased. Both reports can be found online at the Auditor’s website.
Kingfish note: Wyatt Emmerich to explode in 3...2...1....
31 comments:
It's a good thing we made the bold move, as a state, of electing a real champion of change. Everyone relax and allow Tate Reeves to usher us in to four more years of doing just fine.
Yikes!! But the all-powerful State Association of School Superintendents will kill any notion of cutting non-teacher overhead. Our schools are employment machines. Not educational!
At least this state is #1 in something....my salary as compared to others in my position!!!!!
Get back to classroom expenditures, lawmakers!
shad got this one right yet again. millions spent each year on gold brick, do nothing administrators and superintendents , while the in the trenches classroom teachers go without.
Example: we just had a 2% increase in school taxes in Rankin County when the number of students has decreased What has increased is the number of employees in the County office.
Some things are consistent with the plantation state mentality. Social/political clout outweighs the dire needs of the masses who are not in the "loop". Advocacy for children, especially poor children, is practically non-existent so the distribution is skewed towards those already in control. This is where leadership is needed. But alas, with leaders like the Tater, poor school children won't be on the back burner, they won't even be on the stove!
No doubt you'll never hear Mississippi's leftist media outlets tout our state being Top 5 in administrative spending.
"One school district under new leadership, for instance, recently conducted a review and found nearly $1 million in administrative waste."
Shame, shame, dirty shame. Everybody knows your name.
The first step should be combining school districts, especially those in rural counties. No need for 2 sets of administration to run a few schools over a whole county. See The Delta for example.
welcome to information that the portion of the population with a brain knew 10 to 15 years ago......"but my **(insert any elected office here)*** says he is all for spending money on education"
"The report recommends education policy leaders in Mississippi eliminate unnecessary regulations contributing to the increase in outside-the-classroom spending and that districts focus on reducing unnecessary administrative spending and salaries."
THIS.
Every year Phil and Tate have offered up some feel-good nonsense that must be done in school (and waste vast amounts of time) - and someone has to oversee all of the nonsense.
Someone, anyone, please tell me when exactly was it that we started holding schools responsible for student failure? There was a time when the class clown, the hood, the lazy student failed and no one questioned why. We all knew why and it sure as hell was not the fault of the teacher or the school. Kids come to school today with no respect for authority or for each other, unmotivated, undisciplined and if they don't excel we point the finger at the school. Please, someone tell me when did all this change?
While I do agree administrative spending is out of control (consolidate districts and cut the director’s salary!!), I don’t believe this reporting is fair/accurate. All of the outside-the-classroom expenses aren’t truly outside-the-classroom. The buildings, maintenance, and other expenses necessary to even HAVE a classroom should be shared to some degree. Also, percentages can be extremely deceiving. I mean, $60 of $100 is 60%, but $60,000 of $100,000 is also 60%. Percentages likely aren’t drawing the whole picture. Are the facility needs/repairs and maintenance exactly the same across these states? Also, does MS fund its education budget in the same manner as all of the other states? I’m not a huge fan of comparisons that aren’t identical... too many variances possible.
I agree something needs to change, but I don’t agree with throwing more money at an issue. Before I get attacked, let me clarify that my daughter is a teacher and she absolutely deserves a significant pay raise. However, I believe there is A LOT of cleanup that needs to be done and a lot of fat trimmed before we just started throwing more money at education. The more money that’s given will just cause the department of education to move the ball declaring even more is needed. It’s a never ending cycle.
I don’t believe this reporting is fair/accurate.
Maybe so but you don't make the case that is isn't.
next governor after tate's 8 years...
and its the REAL reason tuition is going up in colleges and universities...
@1:55- I did give a few of my reasons. It talks in percentages... that’s not an accurate depiction of actual dollars spent. Like I said, my example of 60% can mean many different dollar amounts. Also, the designation of expenses is heavily-weighted outside-the-classroom. I believe any expense accrued to actually have a physical classroom should proportionately be assigned inside-the-classroom. I also believe where budget dollars comes from is important to paint a fair picture. Do all of the included states have the exact same means to their budgets? (One obvious point is that most of our real estate is valued cheaper respectively, so we in turn pay less school tax overall.) Are all of the facility needs equal? I truly get what the report is trying to demonstrate, but based on the skew of the data they are basically showing that MS teachers earn less. Didn’t we already know that??
I agree MS has huge issues within the realm of education budgeting and spending; but this is no more than a lipstick-on-a-pig kind of picture to make current and future leadership look invested. Until they consolidate districts and start truly trimming fat, nothing will ever change.
@2:24 your 'reasons' are beliefs and conjecture but do not render the reporting unfair and/or inaccurate. Because you don't care for how the information is presented (or is it the messenger?) it appears as if you'd rather have no data (lipstick-on-a-pig) to consider at all.
@2:24 did you miss the part where they compared Mississippi to other states? We score poorly when the percentage of inside/outside the classroom spending is compared across several states. Obviously, we're doing something wrong.
@2:07 PM - that would be because of the government (i.e. us) guaranteed readily available student loans, many of which the taxpayer (us) will end up making whole.
The amount MS pays for public education (MAEP) barely covers teacher salaries/benefits in most districts (source: MDE/annual appropriation bill). The remainder of public education costs are covered by local taxes. Not sure how much more "in the classroom" you can get with the state contribution. If you have a problem with administration costs, that's a conversation for your local municipality and school board.
@2:50- I stated there are issues and change is needed, but not by throwing more money at problems.
Why is it so difficult for you all to understand the fact that a higher percentage spent of a lesser budget does NOT automatically indicate more money is needed? It means we didn’t spend our lesser budget wisely. (Which is basically what the advice offered in the report says.) Again, until we consolidate districts and cut fat, nothing will improve. Automatically giving more money is NOT the answer!
Also, @2:50- the comparison (or true lack there of) is EXACTLY my point. Unless all factors are equal, the comparisons between states are pointless.
@2:49- I enjoy considering data, but I am also wise enough to know that all data can be manipulated. This data is not sufficient because it doesn’t show me the actual budget dollars and amounts spent per category. It doesn’t detail for me the differences in budget receipts and needs for dollars spent. My neighbors and I likely all spend different percentages of our income on our households. That alone doesn’t prove that the poorer household is misspending the most money, or that they automatically need more money to outperform all others financially based on percentages.
Waller provided LESS and many of you bought it without question.
Dude is running for governor already. "As the son and grandson of Mississippi public school teachers...".
This is not exactly auditing which he is really charged to do, but I guess somebody has to ring this bell because the legislature sure won't.
https://www.djournal.com/news/mississippi-ranks-no-for-score-gains-on-national-assessment-of/article_20d64b13-673c-5aca-b8d7-c99a9cc24244.html
We as teachers have worked our asses off. Our growth shows we are doing something right, even if we are working for minimum wage or less, depending on the month. We are number one in the nation for growth. I’m proud of Mississippi teachers and I’m even more proud of our kids.
Conservatives are on record for wanting the education funds to go the teachers and classrooms.
Most people agree with this novel idea.
Liberal/progressives seem to have no problem with education funding going to the overpaid administrators.
It makes me sick at the start of every school year to see teachers begging for basic classroom supplies like damn kleenex and sanitary wipes.
I hope our great State Auditor, Mr. Shad White stays on top this issue until it's resolved in favor of the kids and their teachers.
The report clearly notes, "All states in this report were compared using the same definitions of inside-the-classroom and outside-the classroom spending."
And, percentages are probably the only reasonable way to make comparisons when the budgetary dollar amounts are very different (i.e., MS education budget vs GA or FL).
As has been discussed on this blogsite many, many times, JPS is a clear example of a top-heavy educational system.
And the band played on...
The school district i live in is a small 4A district. Two years ago, it had one individual in the district who made more than $100K a year. The Superintendent. They now have five individuals who make more than $100K a year. In two years. All Superintendent cronies, brought in from the outside. Also, wasted $600K on a "leadership program" for the students. Coincidentally, some funds from that "leadership program" funneled back to the Superintendent. Administrative waste and corruption in Mississippi school districts is widespread
at 1:17 PM Great question! When poor, poor, POOR Mississippi suddenly realized it wasn't economically growing at all, and was actually shrinking (around 1990) the bullshit "leaders" saw "education" as merely a jobs program to keep the state from unraveling. Now it's a massive slush fund for the state government to play with and HIDE billions to use for their particular need du jour to give a family member a fat salaried job they're not even qualified for. WHERE on earth is Shad White, the State Auditor? Covering for them, you can bet on it.....his educator parents he brags about have warned him not to open those books....or they'll come after him. He's got a family now.....so he's SOLD his soul to the corrupt Mississippi machine. He's just another bullshit artist pretending to care about Mississippians and their money....fraudster like the rest of them.
at 7:15 PM Your hard work is commendable....but you're a fool. You play the game and look the other way - not reporting the attendance fraud and other improprieties. You also sold your soul to the corrupt education complex while cheering how you care about the children. Same song, different verse.
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