Jackson Jambalaya

"Why? Because most of those “high growth” school districts were located in the state’s top 10 Republican counties - including Rankin, DeSoto, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Madison, Jones, Harrison, Pearl River, and Lee - the counties that had the highest GOP margins of victory in the 2003 governor’s race."

Has Sid ever thought that the "high growth Republican" areas are areas that hold strong values at home, parents that care, fathers in the home, etc? I am sorry, but throwing money at under-performing school districts to try and solve the problem isn't the answer. It also leaves the door wide open for buddy deals and grift. Does anyone want to look at the admiration payroll per student in these lesser performing school districts? What about number of administrators per student?

I listened to an egg-head on radio yesterday attempting to explain what he claims is a simpler formula. Not.

I consider myself to be a fiscal conservative. I also believe, though, that the 'poorer' counties cannot possibly provide what is needed based on their tax base (property owners).

A mil is a mil, right? Wrong.

We should all speak honestly. The money goes for funding the operation of a state-funded system of daycare, not for education.

I have always thought that these so called "underperforming" schools/districts are more about underperforming students than the school or district. If you were to conduct a study of failing students, chances are you would find a failing home life.

I sometimes wonder if it would be cheaper for us to offer to pay for moving trucks, so that all these poor besotted individuals can get out of these dead end locations to where there are jobs, internet, better schools than to continue throw money into a community that is on the path of self destruction. I'm for helping my fellow man, but there comes a time where it is put up or shut up. Don't like your community, MOVE. Want to improve your station in life, learn a trade. Stop listening to the malcontents that are throwing obstacles in your path. Stop sitting in the cesspool waiting for a handout, clean yourself up and move to better pastures.

Every superintendent and in an already bloated admin district is pulling real hard for this.

Which tell me I should be very much opposed to MAEP.

Cut the ridiculously redundant jobs, ban travel to all the fancy conferences, consolidate at least half the districts and then ask for more money.

Otherwise, stop panhandling for more admin funds and pretending its for the kids.

You can through all the money you want at Mound Bayou schools, Sid.

And the end product will be the same as it is now.

50 cents out of every Miss tax dollar goes to funding k-12 education-

let's make it a dollar.

February 28, 2024 at 9:41 AM I never said improving your position and lot in life would be easy. I sincerely hope you and your family succeeded in improving your lot despite the roadblocks that others put in your way. People can be cruel. I know people that succeeded in spite of everything and everybody around them. I have also have seen people fall into the deepest hole even though they had everything going for them and and an entire cheering squad rooting for them. It is what you make of your situation that counts. Having lived in MS most of my life, the question "Your not from around here are you?" is usually one of the first questions asked in most Mississippi Communities. The Cliques are pervasive in these southern towns.

Once again, we see that politicians can only focus on money. Throw money at any situation and it will fix itself??? I do t have the patience to read all of Sid’s long winded and maximum verbosity thesis papers, but until you address broken homes/families, cultural issues, and other blockades to success, all the money in the world won’t change the result coming from our state run “attendance centers”…. Even the name shows the misguided focus on attending and not learning….

Money is not what makes a district perform well and money won’t cure the ills of poorly performing districts. Can the legislature replace a lack of parenting with their funding formula? Can they turn bad teachers into good teachers just by paying them more? Does the funding formula keep students from dropping out and hitting the streets? Throwing money around, or taking money from a high performing district and giving it to a low performing district doesn’t add up to more succcess for either one.

@ 8:15 - what the heck is an "admiration payroll per student?"

@ 10:32 - "You can through all the money you want at Mound Bayou schools, Sid. And the end product will be the same as it is now."

You mean graduates who can't spell "throw?"


I am not a fan of the concept of government funded schools, with the exception of military academies, STEM universities, etc., necessary to produce those who make things work. Perhaps it's better to require folks to pay for and benefit or suffer from their own choices.

The more I read Sid and Crawford, the more I miss James Tulp.

"Reform for the sake of reform, always leads to the need for more reform. The needed funding should ultimately come from the continued attraction of new businesses to the state. This will increase the ad valorem tax base which funds education.

Of all the states in this country one place that has NEVER "thrown money" at public education is Mississippi. But at least we have sense of humor, it makes a good joke. It's still all about WHO and not WHAT in Mississippi. If the right WHO wants the money it's never wasteful. The wrong WHO can pound sand. And that's the bottom line.

I can vaguely recall hearing since the shortly after the days of Willem (can't we just get along) Wintrow that MAEP has never been funded anyway. Is that true?

Neither will the re-write be.

"I am not a fan of the concept of government funded schools..."

Right on my brother. I live at the end of a county, dead-end road, and as such, I think I should have to pay for this damned road myself. Same with stop-and-go lights downtown and the interstate. If you drive, you pay for the road, not the government. Period.

Dear friend, Sid. You are correct on one ending statement and wrong on others. Yes, "MAEP can certainly be changed or replaced. There’s nothing magic about it." Despite many in the legislature trying to claim that MAEP is equivalent to the Gospel, handed down from the heavens and written in stone on a mountain-top, it was a formula developed by a couple of legislators (only one of which may still be around today) and has been proven many times over that it is full of flaws. (Read the multiple studies by outside groups and State Auditors regarding the ways that the inputs into the formula have been manipulated.)
But “school choice” won’t solve educational disparities or change the fact that all Mississippi children deserve an equal place at the starting line in public schools" does nothing but reiterate the b/s that the public school lobby continues to argue,while ignoring the reality. School Choice can change the fact that a child CAN GET an equal place at the starting line if the child (or his/her parent) wants to change that starting line. It gives an opportunity to that child who lives in a zip code that ensures little to no change of a good education one that today the government restricts. It allows a child in the inner city of Jackson (one who can not run fast or jump high, but could make great grades on standardized tests or hold his/her own for honors in our states better schools) to have an opportunity to not just change the starting line but also the finish line.

And - it meets the stated goal of out 'public policy' - which is to educate out children. There is nothing that says that education has to be through a "PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM"; that's not the goal. (Yes, Sid, recognize that both your parents were great members of the public education system of previous decades, and many are thankful for that; too bad there are children today that don't benefit from people like your father's administrative abilities and your mother's classroom abilities.) But the goal is not to be successful in operating a PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM, but it is to EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN, in the best possible process.

The 'taking away' money from PUBLIC SCHOOLS ignores the fact that it also takes away STUDENTS. Whatever formula is adopted, it will have to consider how many students in each system are involved. Losing one student doesn't change the administrative costs; losing one hundred students does impact the budget, but it should also impact the operation costs of the system -- if they are properly administring the system.

School choice is an attack on the status quo, it is not an attack on what should be the goal of Government; educating its citizens.

334 - evidentlty you have no connection or knowledge of the City of Jackson and Jackson's Public Schools. Yes, those folks who live in Jackson have the highest property taxes allowed by law, plus some that have been added over and above what law allows. And, it has the highest taxes of any area of the state that goes to 'fund' its public schools through Jackson Public Schools. And Jackson Public Schools spends more dollars per student than any school district in the state, by a factor of almost 50%.

Leave it be that the JPS system operates schools, particularly in the high school level, that sit at the bottom of all the state's high schools. And not much better at the middle and lower schools that it operates.

Highest local tax expenditure per student; lowest performance. Highest administrative cost. Most administrators per student.

Now, lets go back to your arguments -- looking at these facts (which can easily be documented and supported if you want to question them) -- and see if you can explain your position.

We'll wait.

Sigh...It's not how much you have to spend, it's how you spend it.

And, frankly, if you teach to test and teach as if " one size fits all".

If you don't have separate plans for children who have learning disabilities and those who have behavioral problems, the other children suffer.

If teaching doesn't include " thinking" and student can't comprehend what they read or are rewarded only for memorization, it fails.

And, IF you let a school system deteriorate so that the learning environment is miserable and funds are always to fix the plant and equipment, kids suffer.

And, FYI to those in private schools...some of them are "read the chapter, "copy the chapter as outlined on the board, test on the chapter". Only a below average student and above average don't make As. The below average student still hasn't retained enough from the repetition. The above average student is bored senseless and wasn't copying the outline but writing notes to friends or frustrating thoughts. You are paying thousands for poor results.

Once upon a time, you were assigned the chapter, the teacher added details on why it matters or answers questions. You are to do your own outline (not copy one) and then you are tested. You memorize poems. You might memorize the list of Greek and Roman gods and goddess or math and science formulas and symbols.

Mississippi doesn't want strong education. They want to protect the status quo.

10:59 Strange logic. You mean if you spend less you will get better results? You should advise Madison and Desoto County so they can start saving all their money. Imagine how much they would improve if they just stopped throwing money at education. After all, they don't want to be like Jackson do they? In fact the whole state can cut their expenditures in half and the schools will be 50% better. Look at JPS.... the example. You make a lot of sense.