Education Funding

New Mississippi Budget Draws Mixed Reviews

June 07, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Mississippi lawmakers in a special session have passed a $145 million increase in K-12 spending for the new fiscal year—more than Gov. Haley Barbour and some legislators had proposed, but not enough to improve financing substantially for many districts.

The increase, which will raise state aid about 7 percent compared with fiscal 2005, does not “fully fund” the Mississippi Adequate Education Program formula, which was approved in 1997 to provide adequate and more equitable school financing across the state, critics of the budget said.

“We can’t say the program was fully funded, but there was a strong effort to see that school districts would have enough money to meet state mandates,” said Steve Williams, the director of the Mississippi Department of Education’s educational accountability office.

Although districts may, in general, avoid budget cuts in the coming year, spiraling health-insurance costs will mostly hold local budgets to current spending levels.

“While funding is well below the approximately 15 percent increase requested, K-12 funding for next year is more than adequate,” Gov. Barbour, a Republican, said in a statement as the special session drew to a close on May 28.

Last year, the legislature approved a $38 million increase for schools for fiscal 2005. Many districts cut their budgets based on the overall increase of less than 1 percent.

State Superintendent of Education Henry L. Johnson said in a recent interview that he was disappointed that more money was not authorized. “Better than it was,” he said of the new budget, “but not what it ought to be.”

The new K-12 education budget includes $88 million less than the $194 million increase that a bipartisan citizens group co-chaired by former Gov. William F. Winter, a Democrat, had urged earlier this year. (“Mississippi Marchers Pressure Lawmakers on K-12 Aid,” Jan. 19, 2005.)

Donation Deferred

The $2.2 billion overall budget for K-12 education, given final approval in the legislature on May 28, provides 8 percent raises for teachers, completing a five-year plan to boost their salaries to the Southeast average. The raise will bring average teacher pay in the state to an estimated $41,413 a year, near the regional average.

The budget also includes $200 for each teacher to spend on classroom supplies, $300 less than Gov. Barbour had proposed but roughly double the current amount. It also preserves two years of college-loan forgiveness for teachers who work in high-need geographic areas or teach subjects for which shortages exist.

Failure to meet so-called full funding for the “adequate education” program cost the state $50 million in college scholarships pledged by former Netscape Communications executive Jim Barksdale, a Mississippi native.

Mr. Barksdale had announced in March that he would provide college money for some students enrolled in about 70 schools that take part in reading programs subsidized by the nonprofit Barksdale Reading Institute, based in Oxford, Miss.

Claiborne Barksdale, Jim Barksdale’s brother, who runs the reading institute, announced last week that the new budget was not enough to seal the deal this year.

Related Tags:

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Biden's Budget Proposes Smaller Bump to Education Spending
The president requested increases to Title I and IDEA, and funding to expand preschool access in his 2025 budget proposal.
7 min read
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering prices for American families during an event at the YMCA Allard Center on March 11, 2024, in Goffstown, N.H.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering prices for American families during an event at the YMCA Allard Center on March 11, 2024, in Goffstown, N.H. Biden's administration released its 2025 budget proposal, which includes a modest spending increase for the Education Department.
Evan Vucci/AP
Education Funding States Are Pulling Back on K-12 Spending. How Hard Will Schools Get Hit?
Some states are trimming education investments as financial forecasts suggest boom times may be over.
6 min read
Collage illustration of California state house and U.S. currency background.
F. Sheehan for Education Week / Getty
Education Funding Using AI to Guide School Funding: 4 Takeaways
One state is using AI to help guide school funding decisions. Will others follow?
5 min read
 Illustration of a robot hand drawing a graph line leading to budget and finalcial spending.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding A State Uses AI to Determine School Funding. Is This the Future or a Cautionary Tale?
Nevada reworked its funding formula hoping to target extra aid to students most in need. What happened could hold lessons for other states.
13 min read
Illustration of robotic hand putting coins into jar.
iStock / Getty Images Plus