Every year, Mississippi lawmakers debate the amount to spend on education. As important, perhaps, is the question of how to spend the money.
If Mississippi is serious about improving education, we need to improve the way we allocate the tax dollars that are available. For almost 30 years, Mississippi has had an antiquated funding formula known as the MAEP, or the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. Complex and arcane, MAEP means we fund a system, not students. Under MAEP, the money does not always get to where it is most needed: the classroom. The shortcomings of the MAEP are widely accepted. Indeed, last year saw an 11th hour attempt to dramatically change the MAEP formula. In doing so, the Senate appeared to acknowledge that major change is needed. You would be forgiven, therefore, for supposing that we might see progress on replacing the old system this session with one that worked.At the start of this year’s session, Representative Roberson unveiled the INSPIRE bill, which proposed giving every child in the state a weighted amount of funding, based on their specific circumstances. Different folk will no doubt have different views as to how best to weight the amount per students, but everyone ought to be able to agree on the basic principle of funding students, rather than a system.
Mississippi deserves better than what we have seen so far this session.
Doug Carswell is the President of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy sponsored this post.
11 comments:
We did a lot more with a lot less prior to the 1960s. High school graduates back then were more literate and capable than what passes for a high school graduate in 2024. Society as a whole was far more civilized in both dress and behavior back then as well.
So we, the citizens, are supposed to trust the legislators who refused to fund MAEP under the formula that THEY devised to institute a new formula and a new system that is supposed to be "better"? Don't hold your breath. The fact that Tate Reeves and the Mississippi Center for Public Policy are for it is reason enough to be against it. I have a GREAT idea: How about fully funding the MAEP under the current formula for five years and see how that works out?
As a conservative, these misleading articles are so embarrasing. INSPIRE provides more money the first year of the formula, but some have researched extensively and believe it will thereafter provide less in subsequent years. Maybe when legislators quit playing games and quit trying to mislead the public there will be an honest conversation about school funding.Could this be a vehicle to slowly starve public schools in order for legislators to send public money to their private school friends? Carswell is smart, but his manipulative articles have caused me to question his integrity and his agenda.
MONEY is NOT the answer to education problems in MS. There is already PLENTY of money. Until parents take an active role in their children's lives and education and encourage learning there will be no change.
@1:58
If conservative, you are one in name only.
2:24--You are correct about the need for better parenting. However, I have read that many of the public schools in the Delta region are in dire need ofadditional funding for building and infrastructure Does any MAEP money go for those needs?
4:42, The Delta makes up almost 25% of the counties in Mississippi and is represented largely by black senators, representatives in the legislature and of course, there's Bennie Thompson.
For that reason, the Delta region is largely forgotten and ignored as if it were part of Mozambique, which is untrue and unfair.
@3:05 - since you are the gatekeeper of conservatism, why don’t you list out the qualifications for everyone.
10:03 and 3:05
I am very conservative and probably much more so than either of you. I am also intelligent enough to want to consider known facts regardless of manipulative propoganda espoused by anyone whether conservative or progressive. If you can point out anything I purported as fact that you know to be untrue please do so. IGNORANT people take everything they read as fact and thus remain ignorant.
Things to consider:
1. The annual list of the worst performing school districts versus the best performing school districts usually shows that the worst list spends more per student.
2. MAEP hands the funds to the school district with no real direction on allocation. Mississippi has a higher percentage of funds spent on administration than most states.
3. The state spends money on education that is outside the formula. This is done because of legislative fear that districts won’t spend money properly. Education activists seem to ignore these funds when talking about per student amounts.
4. Teacher pay is being dramatically increased, especially compared to Mississippi historical averages. However, in poor performing districts you are just paying the same people to do the same thing as before. How much would it cost to get a top notch science teacher to teach in an obscure Delta school district? I’ve been told there is no amount.
5. The enrollment in Mississippi public schools has been dropping for several years, yet total funding has increased every year.
Legislature = Clown Show
A bunch of wanna be drama kings who were Mr. Hot Shot driving a Camaro in ‘87.
Do something, turds.
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