Education advocates believe Governor Phil Bryant's proposed 2016 budget would once again shortchange Mississippi's public school system.
$2.48 billion, that's the amount of money Mississippi could spend on public education in fiscal year 2016 if lawmakers were to approve the Governor's proposed budget. While the amount would mark a two percent boost in educational spending, some public school advocates say the increase is misleading. Nancy Loome is with the Parents Campaign.
"It leaves a $260 million gap between what he is recommending and what is to be the actual funding for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and full funding." says Loome.
Earlier this week, the Governor told reporters he believed his $50 million hike in educational funding would make it the most the state has ever spent on its public schools.
"Quite often funding is at an adequate if not superior level as the budget responsibility calls for," Bryant says.
Currently, about two dozen school districts are suing the state for hundreds of millions of dollars in under funding.
