Public Education Bill 513 passed by House of Representatives
The leaders of the appropriations and education committees of the House of Representatives Thursday, Jan. 31, praised their fellow members for the overwhelming passage of HB 513 to fully fund the K-12 public education system. The bill passed 95 to 26.
“This was important to set a tone for the session saying that public education is our top priority,” said House Education Chairman Cecil Brown. “It is a great first step. It is not all that we wanted to do, but we feel what we have done says to all of our citizens, and particularly our children, that we intend to provide them with a quality education.
“We truly did not want to delay the teacher pay raise to next January, because we all know that we must have a quality teacher in every classroom in the state,” Brown said.
“The bill funds a lot of what the governor said was important to him. This is good faith prioritizing, I believe,” Brown said.
House Appropriations Chairman Johnny Stringer noted that editorial boards across the state and other observers have said education was a priority, “so we needed to just go ahead and do it. I am very proud that such an overwhelming number of House members saw it that way.”
Stringer said funding such programs as Medicaid “will go ahead as well. That’s another of the priorities we have in the House of Representatives. Funding education will not stop that.”
The House passed HB 513 to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, including a 3 percent across-the-board for the state’s 30,000 school teachers, and a smaller amount for teacher aides. It also provides additional incremental raises for teachers beyond 26 years of service, and put extra funds into such programs as early childhood development, training for teachers to recognize dyslexia problems, mentoring for new teachers, classroom supplies and a school building fund, among others. It also keeps some financially-stricken Coast districts from losing funds compared to their last appropriation. The bill had earlier cleared the House Appropriation Committee, where the Coast language was included.
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee and Gov. Barbour had expressed support of full funding of the MAEP formula for the 2008-2009 school year, and some of the other programs contained in the bill. The governor mentioned his support of the MAEP formula during both his recent inaugural and State of the State speeches. The Legislature passed full MAEP funding last year, and leaders said then they expected it to follow in upcoming sessions. An amendment failed that would have stripped most of the teacher pay raises. There are approximately 475,000 students in the K-12 system statewide.
Contact: Rep. Stringer: 601-359-3340; Mr. Brown: 601-359-3329