The group representing school superintendents from around the state are supporting efforts to revamp Mississippi’s education funding formula.
Republican leaders are asking an out-of-state, third-party to examine the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and recommend changes ahead of the 2017 Legislative Session.
“We are hurting in the state of Mississippi for good, certified teachers going into certified teacher programs,” Sam Bounds is the director of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents – one of the state’s largest education lobbies.
Last week, MASS announced that it was supporting any attempt to put more money into the classroom – specifically into teacher’s pockets.
“If we can encourage their participation in teacher education then we can put a quality teacher in the classroom. That’s the number one determining factor for student success,” Bounds says.
But lawmakers have been critical of school and district leadership in recent years. They’ve argued that increased administration costs have diverted money away from the classroom.
“Reading specialist, reading coordinator, technology specialist, technology coordinator, all of these are programs that have been added on that we have not place to put them except administrative costs,” says Bounds. “We think that if we can get a clearly defined, clearly delineated what goes into administrative costs then you have 144 districts listing that.”
Lawmakers say they would like to have the recommendations in place for the 2017 legislative session, which begins January 3rd.
