A House bill aiming to make public education funding more equitable would provide more state funds to each school district in the Golden Triangle, according to numbers compiled by Mississippi First, an education public policy advocacy organization.
But HB 1453, which would establish the Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education (INSPIRE) formula, is at odds with a Senate bill that would revise the current Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) formula.
District 43 Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, authored the INSPIRE bill, which passed the House by a 95-13 margin. The Senate’s MAEP revision, proposed by District 43 Sen. Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, passed its chamber 52-0.
Roberson, who chairs the House Education Committee, told The Dispatch the goal of his proposal is to approach funding with the students in mind rather than the number of teacher or administrative units, which MAEP uses to establish its “base student cost” of $6,532.20.
“As we have gone along, we have almost focused entirely on whether or not the district is an A, B, C, D or F district,” Roberson said. “We have tested ad nauseam but are forgetting that these are our kids. … I want to make certain that we’re tackling these issues in a way that makes sense for the long term. We’re not going to be successful as a state until we make certain that every child has an opportunity to find their purpose.”
Under MAEP, district funding takes the base student cost and multiples it by average daily student attendance.
The INSPIRE formula starts with a base student cost of $6,650 that Roberson called “a starting point.” Funding for each district is determined by multiplying the district’s average daily membership by weighted provisions for individual students, and then multiplying that figure by the base student cost.
HB 1453 delineates specific weights added for student needs. Low-income students receive a 30% increase. Students learning English as a second language receive a 20% weight. There are three tiers of weights ranging from 60% to 170% applied for students with special needs, depending on how much help is required. Districts receive a 5% weight for providing gifted education and a 10% weight for providing career and technical education (CTE) courses. A sparsity weight is also given to districts with less than eight students per square mile.
Roberson said the new plan would allocate funds with an equitable approach rather than simply providing an adequate amount of funding.
“My number one goal in this is to make sure that the underdogs, whether that be a failing district (or) a district that hasn’t put an emphasis on children with disabilities, is to give them that opportunity to rise up,” he said.
The Senate’s revisions to MAEP would still maintain an objective funding formula while adding changes to make it easier to fully fund. The MAEP has been fully funded once since it was enacted in 2003.
The Senate bill, should it make it through the House, would reduce the impact of the inflation rate on the base student cost. It would also remove a “hold-harmless” provision that prevents districts from receiving less funding than they did in 2022 and introduce a temporary provision preventing districts from receiving less funding in FY 2025 than they did in FY 2024.
Data by district
Golden Triangle districts, in particular, would see greater benefit from INSPIRE.
Columbus Municipal School District would receive a projected $22.2 million under INSPIRE and $18.6 with the MAEP revisions, according to Mississippi First. Lowndes County School District would receive $31.9 million under INSPIRE and $31.7 million under the Senate’s funding proposal.
Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District would receive $30.3 million with INSPIRE and $28.4 million with the MAEP revisions.
West Point Consolidated School District would receive $17.1 million under INSPIRE and $15.9 million with MAEP revisions.
Mississippi First claims The Legislative Budget Office has confirmed these figures.
District officials from LCSD, CMSD and SOCSD declined to comment Tuesday because the legislation is not final. West Point Clay County officials could not be reached by press time.
What’s next?
While Roberson’s bill heads to the Senate, DeBar’s MAEP bill has been referred to Roberson’s House Education Committee, as well as the Appropriations Committee.
Roberson said he plans to compromise on the options provided with INSPIRE, just as MAEP was originally a compromise. His goal, he said, is to make sure struggling districts are receiving funding that is both adequate and equitable for their students’ needs.
“The impact that I hope this has is that, especially in the districts that are struggling, it will give more money to them,” he said.
DeBar did not return calls and messages for comment.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
