Mississippi Today
How three Mississippi school districts are spending $207 million in federal relief funds
How three Mississippi school districts are spending $207 million in federal relief funds
Flush with $2.3 billion in federal pandemic relief funds, school districts across the state are working to spend them on infrastructure improvements, technology, and catching up on learning lost in the pandemic.
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund was created initially by the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and then subsequently replenished in two other pieces of federal legislation, creating three separate pots of money for the state and districts to spend.
READ MORE: How much pandemic relief funds has your school district spent?
Mississippi Today reviewed the spending plans and spoke to local officials in three school districts which collectively received roughly $207 million: the Jackson Public School District, Ocean Springs School District, and Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District. Across the districts, the major spending themes are reopening schools safely, learning loss recovery, and infrastructure improvements.
A national analysis of district spending plans by FutureEd, an education policy think tank at Georgetown University, found that districts with higher poverty levels are receiving significantly more ESSER dollars per student, nearly 10 times more when comparing the highest and lowest poverty districts. FutureEd said this difference stems from Congress allocating the funds using the Title I funding formula, which distributes federal funding to schools based on the number of low-income students enrolled.
FutureEd also found that the higher the poverty rate in a district, the more likely administrators were to allocate money to heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC) updates and purchasing new instructional materials.
For example, in the Jackson Public School District, every school is budgeted to receive HVAC renovations, which are also often accompanied by window replacements or roof repairs. Chief of Staff William Merritt explained that these additional repairs are necessary to ensure that the new HVAC systems can run effectively.
Merritt said it would have been ideal to be allowed to use the federal dollars for building new facilities, since the district’s aging infrastructure means that repairing one problem often means finding another, but “that’s something that we can’t necessarily do at this time,” referencing the federal regulations that limit new construction.
Statewide, districts are using, on average, nearly half of their money from the third and largest pot of federal dollars on infrastructure. Most of it has gone to HVAC upgrades, buses, outdoor learning spaces, bathroom upgrades, technology, and new floors.
All three of the districts Mississippi Today spoke to are investing in HVAC upgrades. Leaders said these upgrades are a good preventative measure against airborne diseases like COVID-19, and a needed long-term investment because many buildings have outdated units.
District leaders also explained that the influx of federal dollars has created a supply and demand problem for contractors and parts. Coupled with the national supply chain issues, upgrades have been more costly in some cases and districts are pressured to get all of their projects done on time.
National leaders have recognized this pressure, giving states the ability to apply for extensions up to 14 months past the original deadlines. Since the funding came in waves, the spending deadlines do as well. The deadlines to have the money obligated for each pot are Sept. 30 of 2022, 2023, and 2024, but a grace period is built in that gives schools a few extra months to disperse final payments. Per the new extension option that is available, these initial deadlines to award contracts will still be in place, but the grace period to make payments on those contracts has been extended.
The Mississippi Department of Education confirmed that they are applying for an extension on the first round of federal funding.
The first pot of money, which districts began receiving in the summer of 2020, was targeted to reopening schools. It was used to make a significant investment in sanitation, initially meeting the immediate need for masks and cleaning supplies, later purchasing disinfectant sprayers with additional funding.
Anna Guntharp, assistant superintendent in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, said that initial emphasis on personal protective equipment came from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, but that they have found it to be a good practice to keep generally even as public understanding about how COVID spreads has changed.
“There’s always a risk of transmitting viruses of any kind in a school,” Guntharp said. “Going forward, during flu season or even common cold season, we want to keep our kids safe. I think it was still money well spent even post COVID-19.”
Reopening efforts also included significant purchases of technology. The push to get each student a device saw significant support from the Legislature and Mississippi Department of Education, but districts also spent millions on laptops, tablets, video conferencing cameras, improving broadband connectivity, licensing virtual learning programs, and digital textbooks.
This investment in technology has long-lasting benefits for the students in the Jackson Public School District, according to Merritt, the chief of staff. The district, which often struggles with school closures caused by water pressure issues, will now be able to pivot to virtual instruction for other circumstances outside of a spike in disease transmission to avoid lost school days.
Extending instructional time is a key tactic to addressing the national decline in student achievement since 2019, frequently referred to as pandemic learning loss. This decline is one of the major focuses of the federal funding, with Congress creating a requirement for the third and largest pot of money that at least 20% must be spent addressing learning loss.
Districts are primarily pursuing two methods to address this decline: interventionists to work directly with students on concepts they’re struggling with in their larger classes, and after school and summer school programs to increase classroom hours.
Tonya Bolton, director of federal programs for the Ocean Springs School District, said the district has been analyzing data for each school to determine individualized areas of need, focusing on concepts from earlier grades that students may have missed and getting them up to grade level. Bolton said internal data shows their efforts have been effective enough that they may continue to invest money in having interventionists even after the federal funding runs out.
Guntharp said approximately 14% of students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha School District are currently working with interventionists, and the district is also looking for ways to afford retaining the ones they hired after the district runs out of federal funds.
Laura Anderson, associate director of the Edunomics Lab, said increased per-student spending doesn’t always lead to better outcomes, which makes it crucial for districts to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of their learning loss recovery plans – a sentiment education researchers have also echoed in recent reports on district level learning loss.
“We have this infusion (of money); what are our kids getting for it?” Anderson asked. “And if we don’t think that we’re getting the results that we wanted for our kids, how do we pivot? Districts have to be told it’s okay to be nimble and to make those changes.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Trump nominates Baxter Kruger, Scott Leary for Mississippi U.S. attorney posts
President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Baxter Kruger to become Mississippi’s new U.S. attorney in the Southern District and Scott Leary to become U.S. attorney for the Northern District.
The two nominations will head to the U.S. Senate for consideration. If confirmed, the two will oversee federal criminal prosecutions and investigations in the state.
Kruger graduated from the Mississippi College School of Law in 2015 and was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District. He is currently the director of the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security.
Sean Tindell, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety commissioner, oversees the state’s Homeland Security Office. He congratulated Kruger on social media and praised his leadership at the agency.
“Thank you for your outstanding leadership at the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security and for your dedicated service to our state,” Tindell wrote. “Your hard work and commitment have not gone unnoticed and this nomination is a testament to that!”
Leary graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law, and he has been a federal prosecutor for most of his career.
He worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis from 2002 to 2008. Afterward, he worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi in Oxford, where he is currently employed.
Leary told Mississippi Today that he is honored to be nominated for the position, and he looks forward to the Senate confirmation process.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Trump nominates Baxter Kruger, Scott Leary for Mississippi U.S. attorney posts appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article presents a straightforward news report on President Donald Trump’s nominations of Baxter Kruger and Scott Leary for U.S. attorney positions in Mississippi. It focuses on factual details about their backgrounds, qualifications, and official responses without employing loaded language or framing that favors a particular ideological perspective. The tone is neutral, with quotes and descriptions that serve to inform rather than persuade. While it reports on a political appointment by a Republican president, the coverage remains balanced and refrains from editorializing, thus adhering to neutral, factual reporting.
Mississippi Today
Jackson’s performing arts venue Thalia Mara Hall is now open
After more than 10 months closed due to mold, asbestos and issues with the air conditioning system, Thalia Mara Hall has officially reopened.
Outgoing Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba announced the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall during his final press conference held Monday on the arts venue’s steps.
“Today marks what we view as a full circle moment, rejoicing in the iconic space where community has come together for decades in the city of Jackson,” Lumumba said. “Thalia Mara has always been more than a venue. It has been a gathering place for people in the city of Jackson. From its first class ballet performances to gospel concerts, Thalia Mara Hall has been the backdrop for our city’s rich cultural history.”
Thalia Mara Hall closed last August after mold was found in parts of the building. The issues compounded from there, with malfunctioning HVAC systems and asbestos remediation. On June 6, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal’s Office announced that Thalia Mara Hall had finally passed inspection.
“We’re not only excited to have overcome many of the challenges that led to it being shuttered for a period of time,” Lumumba said. “We are hopeful for the future of this auditorium, that it may be able to provide a more up-to-date experience for residents, inviting shows that people are able to see across the world, bringing them here to Jackson. So this is an investment in the future.”
In total, Emad Al-Turk, a city contracted engineer and owner of Al-Turk Planning, estimates that $5 million in city and state funds went into bringing Thalia Mara Hall up to code.
The venue still has work to be completed, including reinstalling the fire curtain. The beam in which the fire curtain will be anchored has asbestos in it, so it will have to be remediated. In addition, a second air-conditioning chiller needs to be installed to properly cool the building. Until it’s installed, which could take months, Thalia Mara Hall will be operating at a lower seating capacity of about 800.
“Primarily because of the heat,” Al-Turk said. “The air conditioning would not be sufficient to actually accommodate the 2,000 people at full capacity, but starting in the fall, that should not be a problem.”
Al-Turk said the calendar is open for the city to begin booking events, though none have been scheduled for July.
“We’re very proud,” he said. “This took a little bit longer than what we anticipated, but we had probably seven or eight different contractors we had to coordinate with and all of them did a superb job to get us where we are today.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Jackson’s performing arts venue Thalia Mara Hall is now open appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a straightforward report on the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, focusing on facts and statements from city officials without promoting any ideological viewpoint. The tone is neutral and positive, emphasizing the community and cultural significance of the venue while detailing the challenges overcome during renovations. The coverage centers on public investment and future prospects, without partisan framing or editorializing. While quotes from Mayor Lumumba and a city engineer highlight optimism and civic pride, the article maintains balanced, factual reporting rather than advancing a political agenda.
Mississippi Today
‘Hurdles waiting in the shadows’: Lumumba reflects on challenges and triumphs on final day as Jackson mayor
On his last day as mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Antar Lumumba recounted accomplishments, praised his executive team and said he has no plans to seek office again.
He spoke during a press conference outside of the city’s Thalia Mara Hall, which was recently cleared for reopening after nearly a year of remediation. The briefing, meant to give media members a peek inside the downtown theater, marked one of Lumumba’s final forays as mayor.
Longtime state Sen. John Horhn — who defeated Lumumba in the Democratic primary runoff — will be inaugurated as mayor Tuesday, but Lumumba won’t be present. Not for any contentious reason, the 42-year-old mayor noted, but because he returns to his private law practice Tuesday.
“I’ve got to work now, y’all,” Lumumba said. “I’ve got a job.”
Thalia Mara Hall’s presumptive comeback was a fitting end for Lumumba, who pledged to make Jackson the most radical city in America but instead spent much of his eight years in office parrying one emergency after another. The auditorium was built in 1968 and closed nearly 11 months ago after workers found mold caused by a faulty HVAC system – on top of broken elevators, fire safety concerns and vandalism.
“This job is a fast-pitched sport,” Lumumba said. “There’s an abundance of challenges that have to be addressed, and it seems like the moment that you’ve gotten over one hurdle, there’s another one that is waiting in the shadows.”
Outside the theater Monday, Lumumba reflected on the high points of his leadership instead of the many crises — some seemingly self-inflicted — he faced as mayor.
He presided over the city during the coronavirus pandemic and the rise in crime it brought, but also the one-two punch of the 2021 and 2022 water crises, exacerbated by the city’s mismanagement of its water plants, and the 18-day pause in trash pickup spurred by Lumumba’s contentious negotiations with the city council in 2023.
Then in 2024, Lumumba was indicted alongside other city and county officials in a sweeping federal corruption probe targeting the proposed development of a hotel across from the city’s convention center, a project that has remained stalled in a 20-year saga of failed bids and political consternation.
Slated for trial next year, Lumumba has repeatedly maintained his innocence.
The city’s youngest mayor also brought some victories to Jackson, particularly in his first year in office. In 2017, he ended a furlough of city employees and worked with then-Gov. Phil Bryant to avoid a state takeover of Jackson Public Schools. In 2019, the city successfully sued German engineering firm Siemens and its local contractors for $89 million over botched work installing the city’s water-sewer billing infrastructure.
“I think that that was a pivotal moment to say that this city is going to hold people responsible for the work that they do,” Lumumba said.
Lumumba had more time than any other mayor to usher in the 1% sales tax, which residents approved in 2014 to fund infrastructure improvements.
“We paved 144 streets,” he said. “There are residents that still are waiting on their roads to be repaved. And you don’t really feel it until it’s your street that gets repaved, but that is a significant undertaking.”
And under his administration, crime has fallen dramatically recently, with homicides cut by a third and shootings cut in half in the last year.
Lumumba was first elected in 2017 after defeating Tony Yarber, a business-friendly mayor who faced his own scandals as mayor. A criminal justice attorney, Lumumba said he never planned to seek office until the stunning death of his father, Chokwe Lumumba Sr., eight months into his first term as mayor in 2014.
“I can say without reservation, and unequivocally, we remember where we started. We are in a much better position than we started,” Lumumba said.
Lumumba said he has sat down with Horhn in recent months, answered questions “as extensively as I could,” and promised to remain reachable to the new mayor.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post 'Hurdles waiting in the shadows': Lumumba reflects on challenges and triumphs on final day as Jackson mayor appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The article reports on outgoing Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s reflections without overt editorializing but subtly frames his tenure within progressive contexts, emphasizing his self-described goal to make Jackson “the most radical city in America.” The piece highlights his accomplishments alongside challenges, including public crises and a federal indictment, maintaining a factual tone yet noting contentious moments like labor disputes and governance issues. While it avoids partisan rhetoric, the focus on social justice efforts, infrastructure investment, and crime reduction, as well as positive framing of Lumumba’s achievements, aligns with a center-left perspective that values progressive governance and accountability.
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