Jackson Jambalaya

Mississippi stereotypes are outdated, and every day we are proving the country wrong about what they think of Mississippi. Education is a good example of this.

In 2011, Republicans finally took control of our state legislature, and since then, more generationally transformative legislation and investment have been done for education than ever before. In 2013, Mississippi took a common-sense look at how we were teaching our children with the ‘Third Grade Reading Gate.’ Foundationally, reading proficiency is vitally important for a child’s overall education. Not just in reading class, and not just to have good grades in elementary school. It is vital for their lifelong success.

Since then, we have changed the Student Funding Formula and fully funded education for the last two years in a row for the first time in decades, and additionally, we provided a historic teacher pay raise. When the entire country shut down during COVID, we issued over 400,000 devices to every child to continue learning. We have an accountability formula to inform parents of the quality of their child’s school. We have not backed down.

But somehow, despite the years of hard work and investment by you, the Mississippi citizens, parents, students, educators, voters, and our communities, national news decided to call it the “Mississippi Miracle” as if we just shot to 16th in the country from 49th overnight by chance. No miracle. Just hard work, funding, and accountability.

There is much more room to grow. The Mississippi Senate recognizes this and is completely laser-focused on continuing this path of growth. After all, the #1 goal of education – is education itself. Sounds simple. Common sense is what got us to 16th, and common sense is what can get us to first.

We need to give our teachers another pay raise, and this time include our Community Colleges and Institutions of Higher Learning. We need to take the same common-sense approach we took in teaching reading for our 3rd graders and extend it to 8th grade. Our retired teachers need a cleaner ‘return to work’ policy, so they can come back to teach without complicating their retirement benefits. So much has been done for our special needs children, but they still have a lack of resources and deserve more. Parents should not be restricted to a district if their child has been accepted into another district. Failing districts should not be tolerated.

None of this works if students are not even in school. Mississippi’s chronic absenteeism rate of 27.6% is debilitating for these students. We want to invest in more School Attendance Officers, raise their salaries, and ensure they, the parents, and the educational community are hands-on with each child whose attendance is falling behind.

But back to common sense. These policies are and should continue to be shaped by the people whose children are affected and those who have dedicated their lives to ensuring every student has a prosperous future.

As we prepare for another session of hard debate, long hours, and bills that impact so many, the Mississippi Senate is motivated and focused on good education policy and continuing and expanding this so-called “Mississippi Miracle.”