Education, which is the decision-making arm of the MS Department of Education, unanimously voted to recommend the legislature approve Mississippi State’s proposal to become the new home of Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, which has operated on the Mississippi University for Women’s campus since it opened in 1988.
The announcement comes just six weeks after MDE asked MUW and MSU to submit proposals and only three weeks after those proposals were submitted.
That such a consequential decision could be made in so short a period of time arouses suspicion. So, too did MDE’s request for proposals, which skewed heavily toward MSU and its strengths while all but ignoring the undeniable success MSMS has enjoyed in the MUW campus.
MDE got exactly what it asked for. Predictably, when an MDE subcommittee made up of two people scored the proposals, MSU scored 363 out of a possible 400, and MUW scored 304.
From the beginning, the whole process reeked of bourbon and cigar smoke, a backroom deal between certain legislators, MDE, MSU and the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District to access state funds to build a new Starkville High School. MSMS was simply a means to that end, a pawn.
This decision is not in the interest of MSMS students.
All that stands in the way of moving MSMS to the MSU campus is the legislature, which will have to amend the original legislation that established MSMS on the MUW campus.
It will also have to approve MSU’s request for $85 million in state funds to build the new MSMS facilities.
On the other hand, MUW’s proposal asked for $35 million to build a new MSMS dormitory. For a legislature that has always been tight-fisted with education dollars, that’s an $50-plus million argument for keeping MSMS right where it is.
Even so, this figures to be an uphill climb. Mississippi State has powerful connections in both chambers of the legislature.
It’s time for our Lowndes County legislators – Rep. Andy Boyd, Rep. Kabir Karriem, Rep. Dana McLean and Sen. Chuck Younger – to rise to the challenge and lobby their fellow legislators like maniacs on the behalf of MUW and Columbus. If they go down, they should go down fighting. In fact, anyone who believes that keeping MSMS on the MUW campus is something worth fighting for must stand up and be heard from now until the final decision is made. (A full contact list of House Education Committee members can be found on the online version of this editorial.)
We have an excellent case to make:
• MSU’s plan hinges on taxpayers from across the state paying at least $85 million to partially fund a MSMS/Starkville High mega campus. Every other school district in the state has to pay for its own schools. The state should not be building Starkville a state-of-the-art high school complex.
• MSU’s joint MSMS/Starkville High campus plan (which doesn’t include any athletic fields) also hinges on Oktibbeha County taxpayers approving borrowing up to $87 million MORE dollars. If that tax increase fails, what then?
• MSMS has some immediate building needs at MUW that the state needs to fund, even if the school is going to move. If we’re already going to spend money to improve MUW facilities, doesn’t it make sense to keep MSMS there?
• High school students have no business living on the campus of a major SEC university. MSMS students are safer on MUW’s campus. Period.
• MSMS is the most academically successful school in the state. Any change should be discussed extensively, not decided by two men and a mysterious scoring rubric.
In closing, we’ll also note that it is a sad day when one Golden Triangle city and university conspire to take for themselves something that is a cherished possession of another Golden Triangle university and city. It’s not the way we have operated here. The covenant is broken.
House Education Committee member contact list:
Chairman: Rob Roberson, District 43 – Oktibbeha Co.; Room: 400-D, P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215 – Phone (601)359-3359; (662)324-3810 (W) (662)418-2914 (C)
Vice Chairman: Kent McCarty District 101 Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)550-2470 (W) email: [email protected]
Speaker Pro Tempore: Manley Barton District 109; Capitol: Room: 302 P. O. Box 1018 Jackson, MS 39215 (601)359-3304; (228)588-2763 (H); [email protected]
Richard Bennett District 120 Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215 (601)359-2860; (228)861-6348 (H); (228)861-6348 (W) [email protected]
Charles Blackwell District 88; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; [email protected]
Randy P. Boyd, District 19; Capitol: Room: 400-E, P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215
(601)359-3373; Home: P.O. Box 157, Mantachie, MS 38855 (662)282-4045 (H); (662)231-0133 (W); (662)231-0133 (C); [email protected]
Samuel Creekmore IV; District 14; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (662)534-9280 (W); [email protected]
Becky Currie, RN – District 92; Capitol: Room: 401-C, P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)359-3131; (601)833-5953 (H); [email protected]
Kevin Felsher, District 117, Capitol:P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (228)365-4747 (C); [email protected]
Jimmy Fondren; District 111; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215 (601)359-3728; (228)762-5110 (H); [email protected]
Stephanie Foster; District 63; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)842-7742 (C); [email protected]
Justis Gibbs; District 72; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215 (601)359-3728; (601)827-1691 (H); [email protected]
Zachary Grady District 115 – Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (228)313-6254 (C); [email protected]
Jeffery Harness, District 85, Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)702-1947 (H) (601)146-6769 (W) (601)809-6739 (C); [email protected]
Kenji Holloway, District 27, Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; [email protected]
Gregory Holloway, Sr., District 76; Capitol: Room: 400-F, P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215 (601)359-2435; (601)894-4228 (H); [email protected]
Celeste Hurst; District 75; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; [email protected]
Vince Mangold, District 53, Capitol: Room: BSMNT, P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215, (601)359-5140; (601)835-2681 (H); (601)833-9155 (W); [email protected]
Brad Mattox; District 2, Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215 (601)359-3728; (662)594-8255 (H); [email protected]
Dana McLean; District 39; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (662)242-7505 (C); [email protected]
Carl L. Mickens, District 42; Capitol: Room: 400-F, P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215
(601)359-2439; (662)425-1804 (C); [email protected]
Jansen T. Owen, District 106; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)746-5201 (W); (601)522-3337 (C); [email protected]
Kimberly Remak, District 7; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)359-3728; [email protected]
Robert L. Sanders, District 29; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (662)719-9906 (C); [email protected]
Cheikh Taylor, District 38; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (662)617-8125 (H); [email protected]
Beth Luther Waldo, District 15; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215, (662)419-0693 (H); [email protected]
Percy W. Watson, District 103; Capitol: P. O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215; (601)544-6490 (H); (601)545-1051 (W); [email protected]
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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