After many months of speeches, political ads, TV & radio commercials and social media propaganda, trying to have a serious discussion of education funding in Mississippi is in great measure a fool’s errand and an errand that is dependent on one’s world view.
With all that posturing and number-tossing, did we really learn anything useful or new? The takeaway seems that there is a substantial appetite for higher education funding, but not for the new taxes or the spending cuts in other vital government services necessary to provide that funding.
For the record, in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget, Mississippi spent $2.937 billion on education or 52.99 percent of the state’s $5.548 billion in Regular General Fund appropriations. That’s $2.234 billion or 40.21 percent on K-12 public education and $716.1 million or 12.78 percent on the state’s eight public universities and 15 public community colleges.
And by anyone’s measure, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative and rich or poor, $2.937 billion is a lot of money. But the question of the worth of that investment, now that’s a question heavily dependent on one’s world view and partisan and philosophical affiliations.
The contenders in Mississippi’s 2019 elections battled incessantly over education spending, teacher pay, public versus private education, education funding formulas and other policy questions. The governor’s and lieutenant governor’s races were thick with education charges and countercharges.
In June of this year, the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of School System Finances took a broader, less politicized look at education spending at the K-12 level based on national 2017 numbers by state. Despite Mississippi taxpayers spending $2.234 billion on K-12 education in 2019, the state in 2017 ranked 47th in per pupil spending at $8,771.
What is the source of K-12 education spending in Mississippi? The Census Bureau reported in the same study of 2017 budgets that 50.8 percent came from state taxes while 35.1 percent came from local taxes and 14.1 percent came from federal taxes (a higher percentage of federal sourced funds than any state except New Mexico).
How was Mississippi’s $8,771 per pupil expenditure spent in 2017? $4,971 on instruction, $462 on pupil support, $407 on instruction support, $289 on general administration, $531 on school administration and $2,110 on other expenses including capital outlays and intergovernmental transfers.
The news on higher education funding in Mississippi isn’t much better. In fact, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities claims that adjusted for inflation, per student funding for Mississippi public colleges and universities is 34 percent below 2008 levels.
Simultaneously, CBPP claims that between 2008 and 2018 tuition costs at Mississippi’s four-year public universities increased on average $2,361 over that decade. The group concluded that the combination of a declining percentage of state support for higher education and an increasing percentage of tuition has made higher education less affordable and endangered quality at the state’s public universities.
As for the state’s community colleges, perhaps no facet of Mississippi education had more promises made to them during Mississippi’s 2019 campaign season. Politicians talked often about workforce training and the role of community colleges in that process.
But nationally, federal spending on financial aid tripled from $50 billion in 1995 to more than $150 billion in 2015, but state per full-time student spending on higher education decreased by 28 percent over the same period.
Particularly thorny is the issue of Pell Grants, the federal educational grants of up to $5,775 that go to families making less than $50,000 a year. Most recipient families make closer to $20,000 annually, according to Forbes Magazine. All of Mississippi’s higher education institutions benefit from the Pell Grant program – as do lower income working families across the state.
Twice during his term in office, President Donald Trump has discussed a diversion of up to $2 billion in Pell Grant funds or an outright funding cut of the program, once as a means of financing his plans to beef up NASA for a moon shot or another U.S. return to space travel.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
22 comments:
@Sid, it doesn't take an election for us to abandon sensible discussion of spending...come to think of it, when has there ever been a "sensible" discussion about education spending? The education industrial complex in Mississippi is not focused on creating better educational outcomes; rather, it is a jobs, consulting and contracting behemoth used to curry favor with the politically connected. The state spends entirely too much on education, and MDE leaders need to seek out opportunities to realize economies of scale with purchasing and contracting, MDE also needs to look into district consolidation with more focus on shared services.
This is blunt and may not get posted but...the perception of K-12 funding for education by many is now no longer used for educating children but instead attempting to raise children for irresponsible adults having (un-cared for) children out of wedlock...and failing miserably. Lots of voters just don't have an appetite for that.
57% of each dollar spent on actual instruction. And what is the solution? Of course, of course, spend mo' money.
Trump wanting to cut pell grants for sending another man to the moon to kick rocks for another notch on his belt.. gotta love it. All his impoverished constituents fist pump as their children wont be able to attend college even if they wanted to. #Trumpism
with online classes, community colleges don’t need to teach any college transfer programs nor any athletics programs.
apart from UM. MSU. USM. don’t need any other athletic division 1 or 2 sports.
cut administrative staff at all levels.
financial problems solved. cut not spend.
@11:12 AM, 11:26 AM & 11:40 AM,
Y'all must be swinging the same hammer because all three of you hit the nail on the head!
11:26 maybe that spending is fixing the screw ups of the parent’s parent’s. So we might be looking at fixing your screw ups.
You could throw the whole state budget at education and it wouldn't make a bit of difference, except in the school districts that are already way ahead of the curve.
JPS is just an expensive baby sitting service and payday for get rich administrators and their kin. When the school system is teaching to the lowest common denominator in each class and they still can't pass with a "failing - passing" score of 60 then you might as well cut the school year to 6 months.
I'm tired of hearing about "education this and that".
We've thrown so much money at education every kid in MS should be worthy of a Phd, but most of them can't even balance a checkbook.
Oh, if only everybody was as smart, concerned, devoted, well meaning (and sanctimonious) as El Sid. If only he was in charge of everything everywhere all would be right and good. Sid! Sid! Sid!
@1:51 PM - spot on. K, Head Start, and pre-school are also taxpayer paid baby sitting services.
But hey, it's "for the children."
A part of the problem with Universities is the amount of money spent on “perks” to attract students. Fancy dorms and dining halls, not to mention all the bribes given to students; just to get them to attend classes. Cut the “student affairs” positions and get back to teaching. It’s not the universities job to become parents, and it’s not my job to pay for somebody’s social justice club!
For 11:12...MDE has nothing to do with District Consolidation. And should not even have a voice in the matter. Where we are with the leadership of that department (top to bottom) tells us all we need to know about that.
If the data-experts were to roll the cost of MDE into the overall spending-for-education numbers....Good Lawd!
MDE and IHL are merely political machines used to dole out select jobs to the connected, and to redistribute billions in state and federal dollars to make the BS bureaucracy look like it's actual doing something. If they were truly about education, all sports programs would be dissolved until the budget was rationally balanced toward skills acquisition and/or academic outcomes.....that will never happen. There are way too many corrupt agency bureaucrats with fat salaries hanging on by a thread, and chasing a dream pension...children first? Screw that.....just keep the BS going and keep your head down so no one exposes the scam.
Suburban sprawl across the state is what is hitting us the hardest fiscally, as people continue batteling school integration.
Jackson minus Lanier and Jim Hill, was a majority white school district. Once integration was passed, now we have a plethora of private academies, and people moving to relocate their kid's to new suburban districts.
We are not facing the issue and we are not being honest with the socio-economic, race and cultural issues facing our kids in this state.
A good bulk of black parents in this state do not have a problem with their children attending schools with white kids, its just more of an issue for white families having their kids around children of color.
We are spinning our wheels with charter schools and building new schools further out from city center's
My wife is a teacher in the Madison County School System at a pretty decent school - above average. For the time and effort she puts in, she is definitely underpaid. But I can tell you this, more money spent by the state on education would have no positive effect on the problems she faces daily in the classroom. Schools are not failing, families and students are failing.
"A good bulk of black parents in this state do not have a problem with their children attending schools with white kids, its just more of an issue for white families having their kids around children of color."
You're simply another liberal who has no basis for that opinion other than made up assumptions. I can't prove it, but my opinion is that 'white families' have no problem with their kids being around children of color. They have a problem with their kids being in environments where discipline doesn't exist, achievement is not a worth goal and expectations don't exist among parents and teachers.
Take a look at Madison Central, just as one example. That school has existed now for three decades. It's busting at the seams with both black and white students. There are zero racial incidents rising to the level of assault, bodily harm to teachers or students and, generally, all get along well in one environment. But, what you have there is a high level of expectations from parents, teachers and students coupled with discipline, a goal of achievement and the presence of personal accountability and responsibility. The nut of it is this: It all begins at home.
Suburban sprawl and 'batteling (sic) integration' my ass. Given the ability to do so, people of any color will typically move (in a hurry) away from the things that negatively impact the futures of their children. Our children are not available for social experimentation guinea pigs (any longer).
The sorry condition of Jackson public schools is a direct result of white flight out of the City and the opening of private academies.
@ November 7, 2019 at 12:35 PM
Duly noted. You offered a thorough rebuttal
But these are the conversations we need to be having more often.
Thank you for speaking on this and offering that perspective
Agree, 4:21 pm and 12:35 pm makes a good point. Safety in school and a comfortable learning environment is important.
But, two factors are being overlooked that make Madison Central a poor example.
The biggest factor is poverty. That sadly, changes the student population ( including inherited abilities),the conditions in which the children learn ( the facility and the home/neighborhood environment) and the ability to attract the best teachers.
The arguments some commenters have made about pre-K and Head Start are nonsense and have zero support in research. Those programs are valuable. IF they have become " sitting services", it begs the question, " why?".
Just as average and below average children benefit from an environment in which there are above average people with high expectations, above average children suffer in an environment where the people aren't above average and expectations are low. Our political dialogue and the unreasonable extremes prevent us from developing a system wide workable solution that serves the most children well. No system is ever perfect but we could do better if the extremes didn't demand we chose up sides and ignore common sense.
"The arguments some commenters have made about pre-K and Head Start are nonsense and have zero support in research. Those programs are valuable. "
Bullshit. It has been well established that by 12th grade one cannot tell a Head Start grad from a kid who started school the traditional way. There may be a slight initial advantage in first grade but it doesn't hold up over time.
"The sorry condition of Jackson public schools is a direct result of white flight out of the City and the opening of private academies. "
Stupidest thing I ever heard. When those kids left JPS (either for private schools, or for other towns) it freed up tons of money for the students remaining. You haven't noticed your school taxes going down, have you? As the old question goes, why does your dumb black kid have to sit next to a dumb white kid in order to learn? It's up to the teachers to teach, and the parents to make sure the kids take it seriously and work hard.
The white parents who are no longer present have nothing to do with the success of the kids who remain in JPS. White and black parents (and taxpayers) have expectations for their kids at places like Madison Central, and won't take excuses from their kids or school administrators if they try to hand us BS.
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