Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science may not be in Columbus for much longer. But Mississippi University for Women wants more money from the state to host the school for the time it remains there.
On Wednesday, The W presented MSMS administration with updated fees it seeks to charge for certain services the university provides the residential high school for gifted juniors and seniors. The updates would jack the price to a little more than $1.3 million – up 383% from the $271,400 The W charges MSMS for those services now.
The fee update was delivered on the eve of a scheduled State Board of Education meeting in Jackson, where the board unanimously voted to recommend MSMS move to Mississippi State University by the 2026-2027 school year, pending legislative approval.
MUW President Nora Miller told The Dispatch the increases reflect the actual cost of hosting the school and is reflected in its proposal to the State Board of Education to keep it.
“As we developed the proposal, we kind of upped the fees to address what the current market rate is and what our current costs are,” she said. “There is an increase, but it reflects the actual cost of providing the services that we are providing.”
Those services include security, wellness, health, library, accounting, maintenance and human resources.
Since February, The W has been vying to keep MSMS on its campus after the State Board of Education asked it and MSU to submit proposals to house and operate the high school as it expands. A subcommittee reviewed those proposals, crediting a higher evaluation score to MSU, and recommended the board choose MSU’s proposal.
Because MSMS was created through legislation, any change to its location must be approved by lawmakers. The board originally intended to have a decision from the legislature by the end of the session, allowing any changes to be ready by the 2026-2027 school year. But with the deadline for introducing general bills long past and the session set to end April 6, it’s unlikely that timeline will be met.
MSMS administration also specifically requested on March 12 an updated list of fees by Wednesday, according to emails MSMS provided to The Dispatch. The request made sense, Miller said, because this is the time of year those discussions are being had.
“We have to submit any tuition increase or any room and board increase to (the Institution of Higher Learning board) for next month’s meeting,” she said. “So this is kind of the time when we’re looking at those things for the next year.”
Miller said she wasn’t concerned about the increase in fees having a negative effect on The W’s chances for keeping MSMS on campus because she felt the scales were already tipped in MSU’s direction, especially when the subcommittee didn’t follow up with her for any information or clarification after the proposal was submitted.
“I think their decision was made before they ever issued the request for proposals,” she said.
MSMS Executive Director Ginger Tedder provided screenshots of emails to The Dispatch confirming she requested the fee information by Wednesday. She did not comment further on the matter.
MSMS budget already set
Another timing issue with The W’s request is the university wants the money for Fiscal Year 2026, something that may not be possible. The MSMS budget for the fiscal year has already been set.
During the SBE meeting Thursday, State Superintendent Lance Evans, who was one of two subcommittee members to evaluate the university proposals, said there is no funding in the budget to cover such an increase when board members asked.
“It’s an increase of over a million … we received in an email (Wednesday) in fees that we pay that is not budgeted for,” Evans said during the meeting. “Bottom line is still, we don’t have that money.”
Despite questions about where the funding would come from, the board ultimately designated the problem as a legislative issue and moved on from the discussion without a solution.
District 43 Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, who also chairs the House Education Committee, said the funds to cover the increases would need to be a part of MDE’s budget for MSMS. But he’s not sure how that would happen.
“It’s a very strange way it was presented, and I don’t know if it will be funded,” he wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “We could do a deficit fund next year possibly, but MDE hasn’t made a request as far as I’m aware.”
That would entail MDE paying the increase out of a different fund, Roberson said, and then the legislature would reappropriate money into that fund.
“You’re basically taking from one account and moving that money over to cover,” he said.
What the fees would pay for
The highest fee in the updated request is for maintenance, which was covered by $113,000 in FY 2025 and will cost $987,114 for FY 2026. Miller said the nearly $900,000 increase aligns with the Association of Physical Plant Administrator standards of spending $6 per square foot on maintenance and MSMS’ dedicated usage of 164,519 square feet on campus.
Miller acknowledged the significance of the increase, but to meet the standards outlined in the SBE request for proposals, she said an increase is necessary.
“We can’t provide a million dollars worth of (maintenance) services to them on the $113,000 that they pay us, so if they’re wanting that level, that’s what it’s going to cost,” she said.
In its updated list, MUW added a fee for human resources, which Miller said the university has already been providing for MSMS employees. Based on the number of employees, MSMS has about 15% of the university’s total payroll, so the new fee is roughly 15% of the HR costs. Miller said it is equivalent to paying the salary and benefits for a full-time HR employee.
Other increases, Miller said, are also based on the cost of covering one salary across various services.
“Probably the last adjustment that had been done to these was at least five years ago, if not more,” she said. “In the very beginning, it was like the cost of an accounts payable person, the cost of a librarian. … Well all of those rates have gone up, and that hasn’t been adjusted.”
As for that adjustment, Miller said that responsibility falls on the State Board of Education. However, the board has rarely consulted The W when putting together the MSMS budget each year, she said.
“When they submit their budget request to the legislature in the summer, (the State Board of Education) should have been discussing with us that early spring or summer what the reasonable charges should be,” she said. “As far as the facilities with any upgrades or changes that is clearly their responsibility. But when they just tell us what their budget is, we just have to deal with it.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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