JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Compromise is the name of the game at the State Capitol for hot-button issues. However, there are still questions about whether the two chambers will find that when it comes to education funding.
The current education funding formula known as MAEP isn’t an option for the leader of the Mississippi House.
“It’s going to be a strong House position because of the votes and we won’t retreat from our ideas about INSPIRE being the funding formula for the future,” said Speaker Jason White. “And I think you’re gonna see the House is going to be willing to down that hill and fight for that.”
That House plan is getting another boost from Governor Tate Reeves, who has endorsed the plan via social media. Sen. Brice Wiggins is on the Senate Education Committee.
“We end up in disagreements,” said Wiggins. “It’s not surprising because we agree there’s an issue; it’s how do we solve that issue?”
He thinks keeping an objective formula in place for the base student costs is important.
“As I understand the House plan, that’s taken that away…there is no such thing,” added Wiggins. “And it becomes basically a free-for-all, as is so much of the appropriations process.”
We asked Speaker Jason White for his response to the criticism that the INSPIRE Act could have a fluctuating total from year to year.
“When they came up with their first base student cost, it was basically pulled out of thin air,” said White in reference to MAEP. “You’ve got to start somewhere. We started with the $6,650 base student costs. Yes, we did come up with what we felt was a good base of student calls that covered the basic needs of students and then added the weights on top of it.”
While there’s a long way to go before any plan is finalized, Mississippi Professional Educators’ Executive Director Kelly Riley thinks all signs point to a positive change.
“We’re hopeful that at the end of the year, end of the session that we will have a significant increase in the investment that the state’s making in education funding,” explained Riley.
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