Barbour signs education bill, superintendents say building funds diverted

Gov. Haley Barbour on Tuesday signed election-year education bills giving double-digit percentage increases to community colleges and universities and fully funding the public school budget formula for the first time in four years.

But before the ink was even dry on the bills Barbour signed, superintendents were looking to the next legislative session that begins in January with hopes of getting more money.

Barbour was flanked by school administrators and top lawmakers at the state Capitol when he signed the budget bills for the fiscal year that begins July 1. In front of the group was a large, ceremonial check payable to the Mississippi Department of Education for $3,497,708,967.

"This is the highest level of state education funding in history," said Republican Barbour, who, like most lawmakers, is seeking re-election.

"Education is the No. 1 economic development issue in Mississippi, it's the No. 1 quality of life issue, that's why it's also the No. 1 present priority for Mississippians," he said.

The overall state budget is about $5 billion.

The bills will give community colleges a 20.5 percent increase in funding and universities will get a 14.3 percent increase over the current year's budget. Teachers in K-12 will get a 3 percent raise.

One of the bills fully funds the Mississippi Adequate Education Program a complicated formula designed to insure each school district receives enough funding to reach midlevel accreditation standards for the first time since the last statewide election year in 2003.

Superintendents applaud the move, but say that vital construction funds have been diverted in recent years to pay for MAEP.

"We've been bragging on fully funding education. However, there's a part of it that people forgot about," Lavon Fluker-Reed, superintendent of the Aberdeen School District, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The Public School Building funds were diverted to MAEP."

In the past, each school district was allotted money for renovating buildings or expanding facilities, but that funding has been used in the last several years to shore up MAEP.

Phillip Burchfield, superintendent of the Starkville School District, said his schools have not received the building funds in the four years he's been there.

"Obviously when the funds are not available you have to look at cutting programs or cutting personnel to make capital improvement plans," Burchfield said in a phone interview. "There's a limit to how much a district can raise in bond money. With the cost of construction what it is today ... some districts rely on what they get from the state."

However, Burchfield said that if he had to choose, he'd take a fully funded MAEP over construction funds coupled with less funding for the program.

"I don't think they should consider it (allotting construction funds) if it will come at the expense of MAEP being fully funded," Burchfield said. "But extra funding could be set aside."

Barbour said Public School Building funds have been diverted to MAEP since he took office in January 2004. When asked if there were concerns the lack of construction funds would leave schools ill equipped to deal with renovations or expansion needs, Barbour said: "I don't have that fear."

But House Education Committee Chairman Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, said the construction funds are desperately needed, especially in districts with small tax bases.

"We've got some schools where there's sewage backing up and they can't afford to fix it," Brown said. "We need to reinstate that program. I think $20 million out of a $5 billion budget is not that much money."

Public schools will also push for an increase in funding for teaching supplies, Wilkinson County School District Superintendent Mildred McGhee said by phone. McGhee said the average $200 per teachers for the coming year is a large increase over last year, but it's down from a $600 high in the past.

Educators have wanted more money for construction and supplies for years, but they concentrated their efforts on getting full funding for MAEP, McGhee said. She said that if Barbour and lawmakers follow through on promises to fully fund MAEP in the future, educators will turn their attention to the building funds and teaching supplies.

"It's so difficult for us to get anything that when we get a little something, we are thankful for what we get," she said. "You can't put too much on the table at one time."

The bills are House Bill 238 and Senate Bills 3131, 2323 and 3129.