Mississippi Today
House leaders say they won’t fully fund MAEP ‘black hole’ as lawmakers try to reach budget agreement

House leaders say they won’t fully fund MAEP ‘black hole’ as lawmakers try to reach budget agreement
Lawmakers on Saturday continued to haggle particulars of a roughly $7 billion state budget, and reported some progress.
But they remained at loggerheads on some big ticket items, particularly the more than $2.6 billion K-12 education budget. House Speaker Philip Gunn and his top budget lieutenants said they are firm on refusing to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program formula or add any more money to it as Senate leaders have proposed.
“Our position has been clear for quite some time,” Gunn said. “… The formula doesn’t work. It’s broken. It doesnt work. We are putting more money into education, we believe in that, but we are not going to do it with the formula.”
Lawmakers facing a Saturday night deadline were filing numerous budget “dummy bills,” with blanks for numbers to keep them alive and continue negotiations. Lawmakers will return to the Capitol on Sunday for more budget work, and are expected to end their 2023 session sometime next week.
READ MORE: Superintendents to Legislature: Please fully fund our schools
House Education Chairman Richard Bennett on Saturday also said emphatically that House negotiators would not agree to the Senate’s proposal to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program formula, at a cost of about $181 million more a year.
“We have no plan of putting more into MAEP,” Bennett said. “If we gave them the $181 million today, I believe it would not have a major impact in the classrooms. The education department would get more money, the home offices would get more money. But if we put it in the black hole they call MAEP, it’s not going to get into the classrooms.”
Bennett said House leaders want to put “a lot more new money” into education this year, but want to direct where it goes, not put it into the formula that is supposed to provide the state’s share of money for the basic needs of districts, such as teacher salaries, utilities, textbooks and transportation.
Bennett said House leaders want to fund a raise for teacher assistants at about $22 million and direct money to numerous other programs that would probably equal an increase close to the Senate’s MAEP plan.
“I would like to … put $44 million into the revolving loan fund for schools that we put $40 million into last year, for capital projects,” Bennett said. He said the zero-interest loan fund regenerates itself, and he would like to see it at around $100 million soon, so that schools could use it to build more pre-K facilities. Gunn also listed the program as an area the House wants to increase K-12 funding.
School leaders and advocates statewide have for years pushed lawmakers to fully fund the MAEP formula they put into law three decades ago, but it hasn’t been fully funded since 2008. The Senate plan this year includes changes to the formula that would reduce the increase needed to fully fund MAEP this year from $261 million to $181 million, but education leaders said they support it because if lawmakers used the formula it would provide predictability for when school districts set their budgets.
Some other major items lawmakers continued to negotiate Saturday include:
Tornado damage: Legislative leaders, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, Gunn and Senate Appropriations Chairman Briggs Hopson III, whose district was impacted, on Saturday toured areas of Mississippi devastated by Friday night’s tornadoes. Lawmakers are expected to consider whether some emergency funding will be needed for the areas or the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency before they end the 2023 legislative session in coming days. Gunn on Saturday asked for prayers for families who lost loved ones in the storm, and told House members that MEMA reported it would need at least an additional $5 million to deal with the destruction, and he expects the Legislature to take that up in its final days of session.
Gunn described to House members how devastating the total destruction he saw was, and after adjournment showed cell phone video he shot. “Those are steel I-beams,” he explained of one clip. “Do you know how much force it takes to twist an I-beam like that … I have just never seen anything like this.”
A hospital bailout: Lawmakers are expected to use a mix of federal pandemic relief money and state dollars to provide grants to the state’s struggling hospitals. The Senate passed a measure for $83 million in grants. Hospitals have asked for $250 million. Lawmakers expect to approve more than $83 million, but likely nowhere near the $250 million. The Senate’s plan would route more of the money to rural hospitals — many on the brink of closure — while the House’s proposal would benefit larger ones.
Roads: The Senate passed a measure to provide an extra $620 million to the Mississippi Department of Transportation for work on major “capacity” thoroughfares. The House amended it to spend $800 million. Gov. Tate Reeves recently called for lawmakers to approve $1.3 billion, and let him choose what roads get built or expanded this election year. Legislative leaders on Saturday said they expected House and Senate negotiators to land somewhere between the Senate’s $620 million and the House’s $800 million.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1977, Alex Haley awarded Pulitzer for ‘Roots’

April 19, 1977

Alex Haley was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for “Roots,” which was also adapted for television.
Network executives worried that the depiction of the brutality of the slave experience might scare away viewers. Instead, 130 million Americans watched the epic miniseries, which meant that 85% of U.S. households watched the program.
The miniseries received 36 Emmy nominations and won nine. In 2016, the History Channel, Lifetime and A&E remade the miniseries, which won critical acclaim and received eight Emmy nominations.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Speaker White wants Christmas tree projects bill included in special legislative session

House Speaker Jason White sent a terse letter to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Thursday, saying House leaders are frustrated with Senate leaders refusing to discuss a “Christmas tree” bill spending millions on special projects across the state.
The letter signals the two Republican leaders remain far apart on setting an overall $7 billion state budget. Bickering between the GOP leaders led to a stalemate and lawmakers ending their regular 2025 session without setting a budget. Gov. Tate Reeves plans to call them back into special session before the new budget year starts July 1 to avoid a shutdown, but wants them to have a budget mostly worked out before he does so.
White’s letter to Hosemann, which contains words in all capital letters that are underlined and italicized, said that the House wants to spend cash reserves on projects for state agencies, local communities, universities, colleges, and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
“We believe the Senate position to NOT fund any local infrastructure projects is unreasonable,” White wrote.
The speaker in his letter noted that he and Hosemann had a meeting with the governor on Tuesday. Reeves, according to the letter, advised the two legislative leaders that if they couldn’t reach an agreement on how to disburse the surplus money, referred to as capital expense money, they should not spend any of it on infrastructure.
A spokesperson for Hosemann said the lieutenant governor has not yet reviewed the letter, and he was out of the office on Thursday working with a state agency.
“He is attending Good Friday services today, and will address any correspondence after the celebration of Easter,” the spokesperson said.
Hosemann has recently said the Legislature should set an austere budget in light of federal spending cuts coming from the Trump administration, and because state lawmakers this year passed a measure to eliminate the state income tax, the source of nearly a third of the state’s operating revenue.
Lawmakers spend capital expense money for multiple purposes, but the bulk of it — typically $200 million to $400 million a year — goes toward local projects, known as the Christmas Tree bill. Lawmakers jockey for a share of the spending for their home districts, in a process that has been called a political spoils system — areas with the most powerful lawmakers often get the largest share, not areas with the most needs. Legislative leaders often use the projects bill as either a carrot or stick to garner votes from rank and file legislators on other issues.
A Mississippi Today investigation last year revealed House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, a Republican from Sentobia, has steered tens of millions of dollars in Christmas tree spending to his district, including money to rebuild a road that runs by his north Mississippi home, renovate a nearby private country club golf course and to rebuild a tiny cul-de-sac that runs by a home he has in Jackson.
There is little oversight on how these funds are spent, and there is no requirement that lawmakers disburse the money in an equal manner or based on communities’ needs.
In the past, lawmakers borrowed money for Christmas tree bills. But state coffers have been full in recent years largely from federal pandemic aid spending, so the state has been spending its excess cash. White in his letter said the state has “ample funds” for a special projects bill.
“We, in the House, would like to sit down and have an agreement with our Senate counterparts on state agency Capital Expenditure spending AND local projects spending,” White wrote. “It is extremely important to our agencies and local governments. The ball is in your court, and the House awaits your response.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Advocate: Election is the chance for Jackson to finally launch in the spirit of Blue Origin

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.
As the world recently watched the successful return of Blue Origin’s historic all-women crew from space, Jackson stands grounded. The city is still grappling with problems that no rocket can solve.
But the spirit of that mission — unity, courage and collective effort — can be applied right here in our capital city. Instead of launching away, it is time to launch together toward a more just, functioning and thriving Jackson.
The upcoming mayoral runoff election on April 22 provides such an opportunity, not just for a new administration, but for a new mindset. This isn’t about endorsements. It’s about engagement.
It’s a moment for the people of Jackson and Hinds County to take a long, honest look at ourselves and ask if we have shown up for our city and worked with elected officials, instead of remaining at odds with them.
It is time to vote again — this time with deeper understanding and shared responsibility. Jackson is in crisis — and crisis won’t wait.
According to the U.S. Census projections, Jackson is the fastest-shrinking city in the United States, losing nearly 4,000 residents in a single year. That kind of loss isn’t just about numbers. It’s about hope, resources, and people’s decision to give up rather than dig in.
Add to that the long-standing issues: a crippled water system, public safety concerns, economic decline and a sense of division that often pits neighbor against neighbor, party against party and race against race.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has led through these storms, facing criticism for his handling of the water crisis, staffing issues and infrastructure delays. But did officials from the city, the county and the state truly collaborate with him or did they stand at a distance, waiting to assign blame?
On the flip side, his runoff opponent, state Sen. John Horhn, who has served for more than three decades, is now seeking to lead the very city he has represented from the Capitol. Voters should examine his legislative record and ask whether he used his influence to help stabilize the administration or only to position himself for this moment.
Blaming politicians is easy. Building cities is hard. And yet that is exactly what’s needed. Jackson’s future will not be secured by a mayor alone. It will take so many of Jackson’s residents — voters, business owners, faith leaders, students, retirees, parents and young people — to move this city forward. That’s the liftoff we need.
It is time to imagine Jackson as a capital city where clean, safe drinking water flows to every home — not just after lawsuits or emergencies, but through proactive maintenance and funding from city, state and federal partnerships. The involvement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the effort to improve the water system gives the city leverage.
Public safety must be a guarantee and includes prevention, not just response, with funding for community-based violence interruption programs, trauma services, youth job programs and reentry support. Other cities have done this and it’s working.
Education and workforce development are real priorities, preparing young people not just for diplomas but for meaningful careers. That means investing in public schools and in partnerships with HBCUs, trade programs and businesses rooted right here.
Additionally, city services — from trash collection to pothole repair — must be reliable, transparent and equitable, regardless of zip code or income. Seamless governance is possible when everyone is at the table.
Yes, democracy works because people show up. Not just to vote once, but to attend city council meetings, serve on boards, hold leaders accountable and help shape decisions about where resources go.
This election isn’t just about who gets the title of mayor. It’s about whether Jackson gets another chance at becoming the capital city Mississippi deserves — a place that leads by example and doesn’t lag behind.
The successful Blue Origin mission didn’t happen by chance. It took coordinated effort, diverse expertise and belief in what was possible. The same is true for this city.
We are not launching into space. But we can launch a new era marked by cooperation over conflict, and by sustained civic action over short-term outrage.
On April 22, go vote. Vote not just for a person, but for a path forward because Jackson deserves liftoff. It starts with us.
Pauline Rogers is a longtime advocate for criminal justice reform and the founder of the RECH Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated individuals as they reintegrate into society. She is a Transformative Justice Fellow through The OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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