Education Funding to top Agenda
School may be out for the holidays but the conversation about education funding has not stopped. As News 25’s Katarina Luketich explains, with the legislative session opening in just two weeks, local lawmakers still expect K-12 funding to be topping the agenda even though Initiative 42 was voted down at the polls.
Although the hope for requiring the state to fully fund MAEP died at the polls in November when Initiative 42 did not pass, it did send the legislature a clear message: many residents are not happy with the way our schools are funded. State Senator Sean Tindell said, “I think there’s a realization from leadership and legislators across the state that this is a very sincere issue for most of the electorate in our state and it’s something we’ve got to do a better job of.”
So the question is: what is the next move? Coast lawmakers say it will be a process of reevaluating MAEP, a formula Republicans have been calling broken for months. State Representative Richard Bennett said, “Failing districts continue to get more money. They spend much more money than our successful districts. Then we have districts like Ocean Springs and Long Beach that are tapped out at 56 mills. They’re doing all they can and spending less money per pupil than these failing districts.”
Pascagoula Representative Charles Busby has been working on restructuring the formula for more than a year now, an effort he hopes to spearhead in this upcoming session.
Meanwhile, Long Beach Representative Richard Bennett tells News 25 he would like to see stipends included in the MAEP formula for insurance, something Coast schools shell out far more money for than other districts across the state. “Our superintendents need to work with us to get that put in the formula because that’s right off the bat we’re losing up to a million dollars of our MAEP formula that could be going into the classrooms.”
So, will the way education is funded be changed in 2016? Only time will tell as the legislative session opens January 5th but Coast lawmakers maintain they’re committed to figuring out a way to change the formula to provide more money and the best education for our students.
Another aspect of education that legislators are to consider this upcoming session will be more collaboration for early learning programs.
Although the hope for requiring the state to fully fund MAEP died at the polls in November when Initiative 42 did not pass, it did send the legislature a clear message: many residents are not happy with the way our schools are funded. State Senator Sean Tindell said, “I think there’s a realization from leadership and legislators across the state that this is a very sincere issue for most of the electorate in our state and it’s something we’ve got to do a better job of.”
So the question is: what is the next move? Coast lawmakers say it will be a process of reevaluating MAEP, a formula Republicans have been calling broken for months. State Representative Richard Bennett said, “Failing districts continue to get more money. They spend much more money than our successful districts. Then we have districts like Ocean Springs and Long Beach that are tapped out at 56 mills. They’re doing all they can and spending less money per pupil than these failing districts.”
Pascagoula Representative Charles Busby has been working on restructuring the formula for more than a year now, an effort he hopes to spearhead in this upcoming session.
Meanwhile, Long Beach Representative Richard Bennett tells News 25 he would like to see stipends included in the MAEP formula for insurance, something Coast schools shell out far more money for than other districts across the state. “Our superintendents need to work with us to get that put in the formula because that’s right off the bat we’re losing up to a million dollars of our MAEP formula that could be going into the classrooms.”
So, will the way education is funded be changed in 2016? Only time will tell as the legislative session opens January 5th but Coast lawmakers maintain they’re committed to figuring out a way to change the formula to provide more money and the best education for our students.
Another aspect of education that legislators are to consider this upcoming session will be more collaboration for early learning programs.
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