Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman called for bipartisan ideas and creativity to help solve Mississippi’s toughest challenges during the state Democratic response to Gov. Phil Bryant’s State of the State address.
Wiseman, seen as a rising star within the state Democratic Party, won a second term last year as part of the Democrats’ strong showing in “Blue Tuesday.” The Mississippi Republican Party targeted numerous municipalities, including Starkville, as key battlegrounds in June’s municipal elections but was turned back by local voters. Wiseman secured a second term, defeating Starkville Parks Chairman Dan Moreland even after the Republican secured endorsements from Bryant and U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper.
In his response, Starkville’s leader challenged state Republicans to come together with Democrats to find bipartisan solutions to numerous significant issues, including education, health care, infrastructure and public retirement commitments.
“Unemployment is unacceptably high in our state, incomes are too low and opportunities are too few and far between. These are problems too big for any one party or any one idea to fix, but I know that if we can put party labels aside and work together, we can create a better Mississippi,” Wiseman said. “Mississippians are a tough breed. We have always found a way to overcome our struggles.”
Starkville’s recent successes and its continued positioning for the future have come through bipartisan efforts at the local level, Parker said. Within municipal and county governments, leaders must work across the aisle to solve problems. That same mentality, Wiseman said, should apply between all parties at the state level.
“In Starkville, when the well-being of our community is at stake, there is no problem too big, too small or too divisive for us to take on,” he said. “The road to advancement has often been treacherous. It’s been filled with disagreements and compromises on all sides. But the reward for staying at the table and finding solutions has been worth it for our community.
“Local leaders across our great state understand that our number one job is to tackle problems and help improve lives of the people in our communities. That’s because Mississippi’s towns are the lifeblood of our state. They’re the places where we have our roots, where we build our futures, where we take care of our families and neighbors,” Wiseman added. “But no town is an island. We are all connected.”
The bulk of Wiseman’s speech focused on education. He commended the governor’s proposal to increase kindergarten through 12th grade spending, while saying more money is needed to adequately fund state educational efforts. Local taxing agents throughout the state, he said, have been forced to raise millage rates in the past due to the legislature’s unwillingness to fully fund state education.
“The same national report card that just ranked Mississippi last for academic achievement explained that we are national leaders for setting accountability standards for the classroom; however, when it comes to funding the priorities that we’ve set, we are again at the very bottom. The cycle of setting high standards, providing no support to meet them and then passing the blame when we fail is unsustainable and unacceptable,” he said.
Promises to fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program have been “broken far more times than” kept, he said.
“If we are to have any hope of creating the Mississippi that our children deserve, we must fully fund our public schools every year,” he said. “That doesn’t mean next year. That means this year.”
Wiseman also applauded Republicans who have expressed interest in teacher pay raises but said such increases must be significant and meaningful in order to encourage the state’s best educators to stay in Mississippi.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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