The Mississippi House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill by a vote of 95-13 that would replace the funding formula for the Mississippi Appropriate Education Program with a new version.
If the bill passes both chambers, it would be the state's first education funding reform since MAEP went into effect in 1997.
“What you have in front of you today is a way to fund our kids,” said Rep. Rob Roberson (R-Starkville), the education committee chair and the bill's sponsor. “This doesn't fund administration. It doesn't fund teacher units. It funds what we think children need. We don't fund it – we've funded it twice – but we have in front of you today the most equity-focused program in our school district that we've ever seen. A formula was presented.”
House Bill 1453 aims to eliminate the current MAEP funding formula. The formula creates a base student cost based on an objective formula that designates districts to pay up to 27 percent of the total cost of educating students and allows poorer districts to receive more state funding. Masu. Richer neighborhoods.
Instead, the INSPIRE program establishes a base student cost of $6,650 per student based on total enrollment rather than attendance, and includes an inflation factor to account for renewal costs. Also, instead of an objective formula, a committee of superintendents and other appointees would make funding recommendations to legislators, who would then allocate funds to those districts.
Preparing to vote: See who's running for president and compare their positions on important issues with our voter guide
In introducing the bill to lawmakers, Rep. Kent McCarty, R-Hattiesburg, Roberson said the bill aims to provide more funding to poorer school districts and more funding to more school districts. , said the aim is to provide a modern and functioning funding formula. Expand programs such as career tech classes and programs for schools with large numbers of students from low-income families.
“This gives us an opportunity to help poorer neighborhoods that are struggling to maintain a C or D rating,” Roberson said.
But before it passed, several Democrats in the House asked Roberson and McCarty where the bill came from.
Rep. Robert Johnson, an Adams County Democrat, said the bill was sponsored or co-authored by education advocacy groups that have publicly advocated for a more conservative approach to education in Mississippi, including a private school voucher program. I wondered. Those groups included Empower Mississippi and the Mississippi Public Policy Center.
“There are people who have never supported public education who have said they helped write this bill and who are praising the formula,” Johnson said.
McCarty said Roberson, Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, and himself worked on the bill independently of any outside influence from those organizations.
“I don't want to work with them too much,” McCarty said.
Several House members also asked about school districts that would receive less benefits under MAEP than they currently do, such as Simpson County School District and Moss Point School District.
Roberson said these schools have continued to receive the same level of funding since the early 2000s, after being locked into a certain funding level due to population decline in the surrounding area. INSPIRE does not contain similar provisions.
“I think that's probably a valid criticism, but my question is, 'What's your plan?'” Roberson said after the vote. “I would be happy to sit down with any school district and discuss what it would look like to encourage more people to come to their communities and schools.”
Roberson later told the Clarion-Ledger that he was thrilled the bill passed the House, but that Senate Education Committee member Dennis Dever is pushing his own funding formula bill to fix MAEP. (R-Leakesville) said he doubted whether the bill would be well received.
Details of Mr. Dever's billMississippi Senate and House push for separate education funding system for public schools
Given the differences in the two chambers' approaches to education funding this year, Roberson said either his bill or Dever's bill would likely be introduced into the conference, where several members of each chamber would He said lawmakers would meet to decide on the final version of the unapproved bill. Otherwise they will kill it.
“I have a lot of respect for Dennis, we work well together, and I have no doubt that we will be successful in this matter,” Roberson said.
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at gmcLaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
