The Mississippi Department of Education issued the following statement.
The Mississippi State Board of Education today placed the Okolona Separate School District into a District of Transformation due to serious financial impairments that threaten the district’s ability to provide students with an adequate and stable educational environment.
The determination was made in accordance with state law and based on multiple factors, including:
- Ongoing insolvency
- Failure to make payroll
- A pattern of fiscal mismanagement resulting in the absence of sufficient funds to maintain minimum operations and support interventions
- Failure to maintain adequate internal controls
- Failure to comply with Process Standards 4 and 5 of the Mississippi Public School Accountability Standards, 2025
Under the statutory authority established during the 2024 legislative session, the State Board of Education has the authority to place a school district into a District of Transformation for financial reasons if the State Board determines that the school district is impaired with a serious lack of financial resources. Under the new statutory framework, only the State Board of Education is required to make the determination, and the Governor need not declare a state of emergency for the board to place a district into a District of Transformation for financial reasons.
As a District of Transformation, the Okolona Separate School District is now a state-led school under the supervision of the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and the State Board of Education. The MDE will appoint an interim superintendent to lead the district and work to ensure continuity of educational services for all students in the district during this transition.
“This was a difficult but necessary decision to protect the educational interests of students in Okolona,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Lance Evans. “The financial challenges facing this district have reached a point where state intervention is required to ensure students continue to receive the education they deserve.”
20 comments:
Dimocrats
But I bet that the administrators have nice govt. cars and attend lots of conferences, but probably not in Paris.
Why does Okolona even have its own separate school district? Consolidate.
Agree with 7:09, the whole county is a tiny suburb of Tupelo, all 2,500 residents.
The school district was previously taken over in 2010. It would be interesting to know why it’s not part of the county school system.
Tupelo is in Lee County and Okolona is in Chickasaw County. This county has a population of about 17,000.
Madison County School District has a Dodge Charger. Nice looking car but why a charger?
It's really quite simple. Take THE most accomplished school district and copy/paste to the least. Hell...a two-five year experiment should be worth it. I mean...the lowest of the low have best opportunities of being ditch diggers at best, right? Why not?
And if it works...keep pasting!
@ 1208....The same reason Madison Co School District has a nice fleet of $80,000 4wd pick up trucks that are decked out. We can't have our public servants going to Kroger and Popeye's in anything less.
It’s time to consolidate multiple school districts, not just this one. Push these school administrators to the private sector.
Is MDE going to honor all those “hooked-up-brothah” contracts?
I bet that the administrators have the latest iPhones and iPads paid for by the taxpayers.
Time to consolidate! There are too many school districts in this state as is.
6:27 is right. To the point, why does any government employee have a vehicle?
1:45 I guess nobody ever told you. The district, wherever it is, has almost nothing to do with the performance of the students. It starts at home, and that's the biggest void in the lives of underperforming students.
On a positive note, Okolona beat Faulkner in the high school football playoffs last night. We don’t need no reading, writing and arithmetic.
Who is mismanaging funds? Someone is accountable!
What's crazy is that a year ago they non-renewed the District's business manager because of complaints that she was too strict.
JPS could benefit from state takeover as well. When don't give a shit resides at the top, what else can you expect for the rest?
@November 14, 2025 at 10:01 PM-
While recent laws might prohibit it, I believe there are Districts that cross county boundary lines, such as Baldwyn School District (straddling the line between Prentiss and Lee counties), Lamar County School District extending into Pearl River, and Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District.
A bigger concern of mine is that the 'interim superintendent' that must be assigned will turn out to be the repetitively-recycled, retired failure from the Canton Separate District.
We have the yellow-strip on Phil Bryant's back to thank for the non-decision regarding JPS.
And you have retired Superintendent Ronnie McGehee to thank for the vehicles on inventory in the Madison County District...as well as the Taj Mahal District Office on Highland Colony. McGehee is rumored to have said, "Hell, people, these are tax dollars. They gotta be spent on stuff!"
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