Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday in his third state-of-the-state address heaped praise on teachers and law enforcement and promised them more pay, vowed to crack down on violent criminals while also helping convicts successfully re-enter society and decried the evils of abortion and teaching of critical race theory.
He called again for eliminating the state’s income tax and vowed to focus on workforce development and training and said, “at the end of my time as governor we will measure our success in the wages of our workers.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reeves gave his address outside, on the Capitol’s south steps instead of from the state House floor.
Despite natural disasters and the pandemic, Reeves said, “I can still stand before you tonight and declare, without reservation, and without qualification, that the state of our state is not only strong, but stronger than it has ever been.”
Reeves cited education improvements over the last decade such as increased graduation rates and decreased dropout rates, and said, “it looks like a miracle” for a state that has perennially been last in many socioeconomic and education measures.
“But it is not a miracle,” Reeves said. “It is the product of dedication of our teachers, a result of the intelligence of our people, and conservative, common-sense reforms enacted by many of us here today.”
Reeves thanked teachers for working through the pandemic and said, “That is why we must give our teachers the pay raise they deserve.”
Measures pending in the House and Senate would provide teachers their largest raise in recent history, each larger than the raise Reeves had proposed to lawmakers.
“I’m confident that in this session, working together, we will get a significant teacher pay raise done,” Reeves said. “It is my number one priority.”
Reeves called on the state Department of Education and lawmakers to ensure critical race theory is not taught in Mississippi schools. Education officials have said it is not being taught in Mississippi, but it has become a major political issue nationwide.
“We will not teach that your race determines your status as a victim or oppressor,” Reeves said. “No school district shall teach that one race is inherently superior or that an individual is unconsciously or inherently racist because of how they are born … We will strive for equality, and our education will support that aspiration.”
Critical race theory, which is primarily an academic discipline at the university level, is designed to explore the impact of racism on various aspects of American society.
Reeves said the Mississippi abortion ban case before the U.S. Supreme Court “is on a path to preserving millions of lives for generations to come.”
“There is no excuse for America’s abortion laws to be closer to the Chinese communists than the rest of the western world,” Reeves said. “If we are successful before the Supreme Court, our work will not be done. We must acknowledge and champion the fact that being pro-life is about more than being anti-abortion. We should be doing everything in our power to make Mississippi the most family-oriented state in the country.”
If Mississippi prevails in the Supreme Court and the national right to an abortion is overturned, the United States would be outside the norm of most western democracies where some form of abortion is legal.
Reeves said the state’s coffers are overflowing, and despite many saying this is happening in most states because of billions of dollars in federal spending, the governor credited this to conservative state leadership and his refusal to shut the state down during pandemic spikes.
“We are governing in a time of plenty,” Reeves said. “Good decisions have brought us a great harvest.”
Reeves reiterated his support for eliminating the state’s income tax. And despite having criticized fellow Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn’s proposal to eliminate the income tax but offset that with increases of sales and other taxes, Reeves praised the effort on Tuesday.
“Speaker Gunn and Chairman (Trey) Lamar, thank you for your hard work and your commitment to this ongoing effort,” Reeves said. “If we can eliminate the income tax, we will achieve an historic victory for this state. We can become a place that money flows more freely, and all Mississippians will benefit.”
