A grassroots, nonprofit organization called the Parents’ Campaign is pushing for a number of education initiatives before the state Legislature this session, including bills that would ease referendum requirements to get school bond issues passed.
Those initiatives include the Mississippi State Board of Education’s Quality Education Act of 2008, which would decrease the bond passage requirement to 55% of voters from 60%. The bill also includes full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and a $20 million appropriation to the public school building fund — funding that was diverted in the last six years to fund the MAEP.
The bill also calls for improved training for school board members, teacher pay increases, pilot pre-K programs, continued funding for high school redesign, and additional funding for at-risk students.
The Parents’ Campaign was founded in 2006 to address the state’s failure to fund public schools at the level required by law in the MAEP.
“In our first year we won full funding of the MAEP by engaging parents in conversations with their legislators and by notifying these parents of their legislators’ votes on education funding bills,” says the organization’s Web site.
SB 2357 has been filed seeking to reduce to 55% the percentage of voters required to pass a school bond issue. The state’s legislative session started Jan. 8 and runs through May 12.
The existing 60% voting requirement is more than is required to elect the governor, more than is required to amend the state’s constitution, and more than in most other states, the Parents’ Campaign said.
“Had the passage rate been 55% in previous years, over half of the failed bond issues in the last 10 years would have succeeded,” the organization said. “This slight change in the current statute will enable many districts to build safe and efficient schools for their children.”
Mississippi is 48th in the nation in per-pupil spending on public education, according to the campaign.
