Mississippi Today
Senate, Hosemann want to spend $181 million more to ‘fully fund’ public education in Mississippi
Senate, Hosemann want to spend $181 million more to ‘fully fund’ public education in Mississippi
Senate leaders announced Monday a plan to give an additional $181 million to K-12 public education and make changes to the state’s school funding formula so they can more easily “fully fund” it in coming years.
The funding formula used to allocate money to public schools, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, was established by the Legislature in 1997 and has been consistently underfunded every year since 2008. MAEP funding provides the state’s share of funding for the basic operations of local school districts, ranging from teacher salaries to textbooks to utilities.
“This is a continuation of the Senate, and hopefully the Legislature’s, emphasis on education,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. “The best thing we’ve got in Mississippi is a child’s brain.”
READ MORE: Senate leader wants to fully fund public education for just the third time since 2003
Hosemann and Senate leaders said that despite changes that reduce the amount the state has to add to fully fund MAEP, all schools will receive more money next year. They increased the minimum percentage more affluent districts have to pay into the formula from 27% to 29.5% — but said most districts are already paying more than the minimums in the formula require. They also changed the way inflation is calculated – using a 20-year average instead of current inflation rates – and reduced the amount of costs subject to inflation.
“By spreading it out over that period of time, (the inflation change) gives some certainty in funding to schools,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg. “It does a lot better job of helping (schools) understand about where they’re going to be.”
Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leaksville, said under the current formula, it would take an additional $261 million above last year’s allocation to fully fund MAEP. Under the new version, the additional $181 million that the senate appropriations committee approved will get the program to full funding. The total appropriation for MAEP with the changes would be $2.8 billion.
Hosemann denied the idea that the move to fully fund MAEP is coming because it is an election year, emphasizing that this change is possible because the Legislature has been “running this state like a business.”
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, one of the original authors of the MAEP formula, was involved in process of making these changes and said Monday evening that he was satisfied with them.
“For years, we’ve talked about ‘We want to fully fund MAEP, we all know it’s flawed, let’s make the changes,’” DeBar said. “So, we’re finally putting out money where our mouth is.”
DeBar also said he has spoken to House leadership about this proposal and they were receptive to the changes.
But on Monday evening, House Education Committee Chair Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said he had not been contacted by the Senate.
“Something of this magnitude should have been brought forward earlier for proper vetting,” Bennett said. “Nevertheless, we’ll review the proposal and run the numbers when the amendment is available publicly.”
Nancy Loome, executive director of the public education advocacy group the Parents’ Campaign, said it was “very good news” that the Senate Appropriations committee had passed a bill fully funding MAEP, and that they have expressed a commitment to do so in the future. Loome also said she approved of the changes to the funding formula.
“Importantly, the Senate plan leaves intact the formula for the base student cost, which is the primary driver of public school funding,” said Loome.
To see how the changes would affect your school district, search the chart below:
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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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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