Mississippi Today
Incoming State Superintendent Robert Taylor shares priorities as new leader of public schools
Incoming State Superintendent Robert Taylor shares priorities as new leader of public schools
Robert Taylor, a native of Laurel, will serve as the next state superintendent of education.
Newly named state superintendent of education Robert Taylor made his first public comments on Monday since being named to the post.
Taylor, a native of Laurel who has worked in North Carolina public education for the last 30 years, said being state superintendent of Mississippi has been his lifelong dream.
“I look forward to working with (education leaders and elected officials) because this is our state, this is our home, and we want to see it continually improve,” he said. “What could be a greater gift to a native son?”
Speaking to reporters via Zoom, Taylor discussed a range of topics:
- Initial priorities: He wants to get to know the staff at the Mississippi Department of Education and meet local superintendents across the state to understand their districts’ strengths and weaknesses.
- Critical race theory: Taylor said critical race theory is not taught in public schools. He understands it to be a legal theory, and that it would be inaccurate to say that he supports it. “I’ve had to say to myself, ‘I’m an educated man, but I’m afraid I can’t speak intelligently about what critical race theory is,’” as it does not relate to his work. It is the responsibility of schools to help students become critical thinkers, but not to push them in any particular direction, he said.
- The teacher shortage: Teacher shortages and investing in quality teachers are some of the major challenges facing the state, he said. He named solutions, including building relationships with teacher training programs at universities, alternate licensing programs, and more work with local administrations regarding how they supervise teachers. He also discussed creating supports to help teachers stay in the classroom.
- Continue and expand Mississippi’s progress in literacy work.
- Work with the statehouse: He wants MDE to partner with the Legislature to help inform the bills lawmakers create based on what data and research show are successful.
- A continuous school year: When specifically asked about moving to a year-round school schedule, something Lt. Gov. Delbert Hoseman has voiced support for, Taylor said the research shows that year-round schooling is beneficial and would support a proposal of this type.
- Parental involvement: Taylor believes parents should have a strong voice in public education. He said he knows they want the best for their children and wants them to feel heard and like they can trust their schools. He sees it as his duty to make the experience of education the best that it can be for students and teachers across the state.
- Moving back home: He plans to live in the metro Jackson area, but hopes to get some land where he can dig in the dirt and enjoy the outdoors. He also owns land in Greene County with his brothers where they hunt.
- Representation: “I hope that for students of color, they see that they have the opportunity to rise to a position such as this. I would certainly like to think that I was not selected because of my color but because of my body of work. I do recognize that there are a lot of young Black boys and young Black girls who see themself in me, but I would ask them to not only see themselves in me but in everyone that they come across because that’s certainly what happened to me.”
Taylor will start in his new role in January of 2023, pending confirmation by the state senate.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1997
Dec. 22, 1997
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers.
In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.”
He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.”
The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi
About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.
The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.
Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.
During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.
“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”
White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.
Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.
White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.
Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.
People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.
White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.
They are correct.
But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.
As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.
Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.
That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.
Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?
If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.
The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.
In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1911
Dec. 21, 1911
Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia.
When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs.
He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame.
The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays.
Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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