Mississippi Today

Legislative back and forth creates confusion about the additional $100 million for public schools

Published

11 months ago

June 27, 2023

The Mississippi Department of Education says its hands are tied when it comes to the $100 million in additional funding allocated to school districts this year because of disagreements in the Legislature about how to distribute it.

After a push this session to fully fund public schools, school districts ultimately received $100 million outside of the regular school funding formula to be distributed by student enrollment. But in the months since the Legislature adjourned, there has been confusion regarding exactly how to calculate enrollment, leading to questions for superintendents as they make budgets for the upcoming school year.

“We have not been given a clear direction on how it is that we are to calculate how we divide up the $100 million,” Interim state Superintendent Mike Kent told Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Department of Education defines enrollment as the “number of students belonging to a school unit at any given time.” The definition goes on to explain that enrollment is an “ever-changing” number, meaning that calculations of enrollment are tied to a specific time period.

The text of the law says the money is to be distributed based on “average daily enrollment or the total number of students enrolled for each day in each public school district or charter school divided by the total number of school days.”

Kent said he originally thought the extra $100 million was to be distributed based on enrollment in months 2-3 of a school year, similar to how students are counted for the public school funding formula. However, when he followed up with the Legislative Budget Office after the session ended, the office said it needed to check and would get back to him. Two proposals emerged, one from the Senate to count enrollment using months 1-8 of the school year, and a plan from the House to count it based on months 2-3.

“Our intention with the $100 million language in the appropriations bill was to disburse this money to school districts on the average daily enrollment,” said Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leaksville. “I think the language as we crafted it was clear, and our intention on the Senate side is to follow the language in the law. I don't believe we should be deviating from what the language in the statute says.”

During the session, House leaders refused to add additional money to the school funding formula after the Senate brought forward a proposal to rework it. Though on Tuesday, a source close to House leadership told Mississippi Today it was always the intent of the House to distribute this separate money using the same method as the school funding formula, which uses months 2-3. The source said there is a standard that has always been followed and the Legislature needs to continue to follow that precedent.

Kent said MDE ran calculations multiple times to show legislators how the different proposals would play out. He said the difference between the options was “negligible.”

Despite this, Kent said the department cannot proceed without official guidance from the Legislative Budget Office.

“We are, to a great extent, a flow-through agency … and there are always strict guidelines about how that money flows,” he said.

He added that, while the difference between the options is small, it's enough that if the department “arbitrarily” made a decision, “there would be people that would have a problem with it.”

Budget bills take effect July 1, giving the Legislature just a few days to resolve the matter before the education department is supposed to start distributing the money.

“The language in the statute in the appropriations was clear that the money should be disbursed based upon the number of students throughout the school year,” said DeBar, the senate education chair. “I expect that the Department of Education will follow the law and disburse that money as of July 1.”

Kent said this delay was a point of stress for district superintendents because it limits their ability to budget for the upcoming school year and get new projects approved by their school boards. To address this, Kent wrote an email earlier this month to superintendents explaining the dueling proposals and gave them an estimate of $236 per student.

“The districts were so eager to know the number because there are programs and projects and personnel that every district wanted to do, but they needed to know, am I talking about hiring two additional teachers or three? Can I build six classrooms or twelve classrooms?” he said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur

Published

17 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Vickie King – 2024-05-17 11:53:33

Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…

“I gotta get out of these woods.”

She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.

“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”

A variety of soaps created by Renada Stovall. Stovall is a chemist who creates all natural skin and hair care products using natural ingredients.

In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.

Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.

Renada Stovall, owner of Nadabutter, selling her all-natural soaps and balms at the Clinton Main Street Market: Spring into Green, in April of this year.

Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.

“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”

Soap mixture is poured into a mold to cure. Once cured, the block with be cut into bars of soap.

Renada Stovall, making cold process soap at her home.

Renada Stovall adds a vibrant gold to her soap mixture.

Tumeric soap created by Nadabutter owner, Renada Stovall.

Soap infused with honey. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1954

Published

22 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-05-17 07:00:00

MAY 17, 1954

Ella J. Rice talks to one of her pupils, all of them white, in a third grade classroom of Draper Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1954. This was the first day of non-segregated schools for teachers and students. Rice was the only Black teacher in the school. Credit: AP photo

In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.

The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.

In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Every university but Delta State to increase tuition this year

Published

22 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Molly Minta – 2024-05-17 06:30:00

Every university in Mississippi is increasing tuition in the fall except for Delta State University.

The new rates were approved by the governing board of the eight universities, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting Thursday.

The average cost of tuition in Mississippi is now $8,833 a year, a roughly 3% increase from last year. Students can expect to pay tuition ranging from $7,942 a year at Mississippi Valley State University to $10,052 a year at Mississippi State University.

In recent years, universities have cited inflation and rising insurance costs as reasons for the tuition increases. At Thursday's meeting, the board heard a presentation on how property insurance is becoming more expensive for the eight universities as Mississippi sees more tornadoes and storms with severe wind and hail.

But it's an ongoing trend. Mississippi's public universities have steadily increased tuition since 2000, putting the cost of college increasingly out of reach for the average Mississippi family. More than half of Mississippi college students graduated with an average of $29,714 in student debt in 2020, according to the Institution for College Access and Success.

At Delta State University, the president, Daniel Ennis, announced that he will attempt to avoid tuition increases as the regional college in the Mississippi Delta undergoes drastic budget cuts in an effort to become more financially sustainable.

“We will resist tuition increases so that our most economically vulnerable students can continue to have access to the opportunities that a college degree can provide,” he wrote in a memo to faculty and staff on Monday. “We will move beyond basic survival and into a place where we have the capacity to take better advantage of our undeniable strengths.”

Delta State didn't increase tuition last year, either. Officials have been concerned the university is becoming too pricey for the students it serves.

Tuition for the 2024-25 academic year, by school: