JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – House members are detailing how firmly they intend to stick to their new education funding plan and what it means for your child's school district.
“This will be a position from which we will not back down,” House Speaker Jason White said Thursday.
“We not only don't want to back away from this policy, but we feel we can't do it in the face of such massive support,” Rep. Jansen Owen said Friday.
Congressman Jansen Owen explains exactly what “no setbacks” on education funding means.
“Logistically, the Constitution gives us 125 days in session,” Owen explained. “And if the INSPIRE plan doesn't pass on day 125, we'll be going home. We'll have to come back at a later date.”
If that happens, he says he is prepared to leave without an education budget. However, he emphasizes that children's schools will not survive without the necessary funding.
“I'm sure there could be something dramatic or something like that,” he said. “But, you know, the reality is, like what's happened before, we're going to get a call back. The governor would have had to call us back. Otherwise, Because of the coronavirus, we postponed it for a number of days, decided what we were going to do, and then came back.”
Owen says how much they believe in the plan to abolish the current formula. House Education Vice Chairman Kent McCarty says he feels a responsibility to keep fighting.
“We have a system in place to ensure that that money goes to the neediest school districts,” Rep. McCarty added. “I think there was a huge bipartisan vote coming out of the House. And the people who are going to be really, really impacted by this money are the kids that we're going to donate to.”
According to their calculations, nearly every district will receive more state funding than they have previously received. For companies that anticipate reductions, there will be a three-year hold period to phase out the reductions. When budget negotiations begin, it's not a conversation about working together to figure out which plan is best, but rather a conversation about leaving it up to the House and the INSPIRE Act.
“The ball is in their court,” Owen said.
The session is scheduled to end on May 5th. The chair said he hopes to have a completed budget by April 15 and is hopeful that this issue could be the last item to remain in session.
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