Randy Watkins returns to the Crooked Letter pod to discuss The Open, where the weather will be wet, windy and coolish at Royal Portrush. Scottie Scheffler will be the betting favorite, but the Europeans, including Rory McIlroy, definitely will have a home-course advantage. The recent Major League Draft also will be discussed.
Stream all episodes here.
Editor’s note: This Mississippi Today Ideas essay is published as part of our Brain Drain project, which seeks answers to Mississippi’s brain drain problem. To read more about the project, click here.
As homeowners know, a slow water leak is capable of causing more damage than a fast one. A burst pipe demands an immediate fix, but a leaky pipe can drip indefinitely. Perhaps water seeps out undetected, or repairs get put off in favor of more urgent tasks.
The cost of delay, measured in days or weeks, is minimal, but over years, it can be catastrophic. First it shows up in the form of higher water bills. Give it long enough, though, it can undermine the structural integrity of the house.
Mississippi has been slowly leaking population for a long time. Over the past decade, the state has lost an average of 5,000 residents per year. The primary cause is outmigration to other states, particularly among recent college graduates – a problem known as brain drain. But rising mortality rates and declining birth rates have also taken a toll on the state’s ability to replenish its population, especially since the pandemic.
In any given year, the losses amount to a small fraction of Mississippi’s nearly three million residents. Spread throughout the state, the changes can be difficult to notice in everyday life. Over time, however, the trickle has caused a flood.
Since 2010, 80,000 more people have moved out of Mississippi than have moved in. Put together, they would make up the second-largest city in the state. If such a city existed, it would be one of the best-educated places in the country: four-year college graduates account for all of the net outmigration among people ages 22 to 50.
As a state, we need to take a close look at the causes and consequences of our population decline. We must focus particular attention on the brain drain of four-year college graduates, which represents the single greatest challenge for the state’s future. It shapes the lives and livelihoods of every Mississippian, no matter whether they went to college or not.
The brain drain levies a hidden tax on people who remain in Mississippi by choice or necessity. The departure of college graduates reduces average income and job openings for all workers, regardless of their level of education. A smaller population – one deprived of many of its top earners – means all residents must pay higher taxes and utility rates to maintain infrastructure and public services. And a significant portion of every dollar invested in public education, the state’s largest budgetary expense, is converted into a subsidy to the states where Mississippi’s graduates end up working.
The brain drain has begun to erode the foundation of the state’s economy and communities, setting off a cascade of challenges that drives even more people to leave.
Existing businesses struggle to retain talented employees who can earn more money elsewhere, and new businesses choose not to invest when the pool of skilled workers is shrinking. Vacant houses and storefronts blight once-vibrant neighborhoods and downtowns, eating away at property values and family savings. Schools and churches that served as community pillars for generations close or consolidate. This is not the case in every part of the state, but it is a story familiar to many Mississippians.
That’s why Working Together Mississippi, a nonprofit organization comprising hundreds of community-based institutions across the state, is relaunching Rethink Mississippi as an initiative to find solutions to the state’s brain drain and population decline.
I started Rethink Mississippi a decade ago as a website featuring policy analysis and commentary written by young Mississippians for young Mississippians. Two things quickly became obvious: first, Mississippians of all backgrounds share a love for their state that is rare in an era of rootlessness and polarization; and second, the question that dominated all others was whether Mississippi could offer young people enough opportunity to keep them in the state. For too many, the answer has been no.
I believe that the solutions to the brain drain can be found in the enduring attachment that binds Mississippians to their home state. Even if they have moved far away, Mississippi is never far from their minds or their mouths. Therefore, the best way to find out how to keep people in Mississippi – or how to bring them back – is to ask them.
Through a partnership with Mississippi Today and the Center for Population Studies at the University of Mississippi, we have developed a survey to do just that. We invite you to spend a few minutes taking it. Your insight is valuable, no matter where you are from or where you live now.
A leak will not fix itself. We must stop it at the source. The work might be difficult, but it is necessary. We are too invested in our home to let it wash away.
Jake McGraw leads the Rethink Mississippi initiative at Working Together Mississippi, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization of nonprofits and religious institutions across the state. He began researching and writing about the brain drain when he moved back to Mississippi more than a decade ago. A native of Oxford, he studied public policy and economics at the University of Mississippi and economic history at Oxford University. You can reach him at j.mcgraw@workingtogetherms.org.
Mississippi is losing too many residents, and too few people are doing anything about it.
So Mississippi Today, in partnership with Rethink Mississippi (an initiative sponsored by the nonprofit Working Together Mississippi) and the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, has launched the state’s first-ever scientific study dedicated to understanding Mississippi’s brain drain crisis — and what ideas could help reverse it.
Whether you’ve stayed, left, or considered leaving, we want to hear from you. If you’ve moved to Mississippi from elsewhere, or even if you’ve never lived in Mississippi, your input is valuable. Brain drain in Mississippi affects all of us, and we believe hearing from people of any and all backgrounds and perspectives can only help us better grapple with the problems and develop some solutions.
The short survey asks everyone about the factors that influenced their decision of where to live, whether that’s in Mississippi or not. It follows with tailored discussion questions based on where you’re from and where you live now. We ask you to reflect on what has pulled you away or what has kept you rooted here, as well as the potential changes that could improve the chances that you live in the state in the future. We purposefully left plenty of room for you to share your own thoughts with us.
Over the next few weeks and months, we will spend dedicated time and energy with the results of the survey. We’ll dispatch journalists at Mississippi Today to dive deeply into issues that matter most to you, and we’ll work closely with our expert partners to dissect and share findings — all with potential solutions to the crisis at top of mind.
All of the stories, analyses and essays related to this work will be published on our new page at Mississippi Today called Brain Drain. Click here to access and bookmark the page.
We’ve also published a comprehensive list of answers to frequently asked questions about the problem, the data and potential solutions.
READ MORE: FAQ: The ‘Brain Drain’ crisis in Mississippi
Importantly, we take very seriously the protection of your personal information. We want you to share your thoughts as honestly as possible. Your responses will remain completely anonymous to us and our partners unless you choose to include your name and contact information. But please tell us how to reach you if you are open to talking with us for future articles or research, or if you want to stay in touch through our email list. Even if you opt into sharing your personal information with us, we will protect it closely and never publish it without your permission.
In addition to powering in-depth reporting and analysis, we believe this study and its surrounding work will start community conversations. You can expect us to host public events centered around this project, and we want everyone — from everyday Mississippians to policymakers and public officials — to benefit from this data and understanding.
Take the survey and share your story here. And if you found it helpful or interesting, please share it with your networks! We want to hear from as many past, present, and (hopefully) future Mississippians as we can.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I can be reached at adam@mississippitoday.org.
Mississippi Today, in partnership with Rethink Mississippi (an initiative sponsored by the nonprofit Working Together Mississippi) and the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, has launched a project focused on the state’s brain drain crisis.
The core of the project is the state’s first-ever scientific study dedicated to understanding Mississippi’s brain drain crisis — and what ideas could help reverse it.
Researcher and policy analyst Jake McGraw of Rethink Mississippi compiled a list of frequently asked questions about the crisis, what the available data shows about it and potential solutions to it.
Click on any question below to read the answer. Click the “Jump to the top” link anywhere in the document to return to this list of questions.
What is brain drain?
Why is brain drain a problem?
How many people is Mississippi losing?
How does migration vary by education?
How does migration vary by age, race, and sex?
What parts of the state are losing the most people? What places are growing?
Where do Mississippians go? Where do newcomers move from?
Is the problem that too many Mississippians leave or too few people move in?
How does Mississippi compare to other states?
What is the economic cost of the brain drain?
What are the political implications?
What causes the brain drain? Is it mostly about jobs?
How much is rural depopulation to blame?
What role do Jackson’s struggles play?
Should we only care about losing college graduates?
Does the departure of out-of-state college students add to the brain drain?
What is the role of foreign immigration?
Where are the bright spots?
Where does all of this data come from?
What can we do to stop the brain drain?
Do you have questions that weren’t included?
Brain drain refers to the departure of educated or skilled workers from an area, often in pursuit of higher-paying jobs or better living conditions. It is a pithy term for what economists call human capital flight. Brain drain can be measured according to gross brain drain, the share of educated residents born in the state who leave, and net brain drain, the relative outflow and inflow of educated residents. Unless otherwise specified, we will use the term brain drain to refer to net brain drain, which is the more important metric for the state’s economy and well-being.
Brain drain also frequently shows up in connection with two related concepts: net outmigration and population loss.
Net outmigration occurs when the total number of people leaving an area exceeds the number of people moving in. Net migration includes both domestic migration, when native-born Americans move within the U.S., and international migration, when people move from and to foreign countries. In practice, places with net outmigration typically also suffer from a brain drain, because people with higher education tend to be more mobile than people without college degrees.
Population loss is a decline in the total number of residents living in an area. Population change is calculated by a simple formula: net migration + natural change (births minus deaths.) A place experiencing net outmigration can still sustain a growing population if its birth rate is high enough to offset its deaths and departures. However, state and national birth rates have been sliding downward for decades, so population growth increasingly depends on positive net migration.
Brain drain is a vicious cycle that slows a place’s economy, shrinks its tax base, and frays its social fabric. When an area’s workforce and customer base shrinks, existing businesses lose talent and revenue, and new businesses do not open. Infrastructure and public services deteriorate as fewer — and less affluent — taxpayers shoulder the cost of maintaining them. Vacant houses and storefronts blight once-vibrant neighborhoods, inviting crime and lowering property values. Schools close or consolidate, and religious congregations and civic organizations die out. Each wave of departures leaves less reason for others to stay, perpetuating the downward spiral.
Brain drain widens regional, socioeconomic, and political divides. Americans have the freedom to move anywhere in the country, and many “vote with their feet” by leaving places that offer less opportunity, fewer amenities and worse quality of life than they can find elsewhere. But even though all Americans are free to move, moving is not free. High costs and uncertain job prospects often lock poorer, less educated and older residents in struggling places. The people most likely to leave are wealthier, more educated and younger. Brain drain widens these disparities: the people who can leave are often rewarded with higher salaries and upward mobility, while people who are stuck in declining areas struggle to hang on. It also amplifies the inequality between regions. Areas with economic and social advantages pull talent and resources away from places like Mississippi that are, literally, left behind. The gap between them is increasingly filled with political polarization and cultural resentment.
Brain drain is a subsidy paid to other states. Mississippi taxpayers invest approximately $170,000 in the education of a child who passes through the state’s K-12 and public university system. When a graduate leaves to take a job elsewhere, the return on that investment is reaped by their new state. Mississippi imports far fewer graduates from other states than it exports. As a result, the taxpayers of the poorest state in America are subsidizing the economies and education systems of wealthier states, while Mississippi is left with fewer resources to invest in its communities and its next generation.
From 2010 to 2024, 80,000 more residents left the state than moved in, according to Census Bureau estimates. Put together, the net loss is greater than the population of Gulfport, the state’s second-largest city. Mississippi had the sixth-worst net migration rate in the country during that time.
Net outmigration accelerated from 2010 to 2020, and it overtook the natural growth of the population starting in 2014. However, the Covid-19 pandemic put the brakes on the exodus. In the three years prior to 2020, Mississippi lost an average of 12,000 movers per year. In the three years from 2022 to 2024, 5,000 more people moved into Mississippi than moved away — the first period of inbound migration since the 1990s. Domestic movers still left Mississippi on balance, but their losses were offset by an increase in foreign immigration.
Despite the uptick in net migration, Mississippi’s total population has fallen faster since the pandemic. The state’s birth rate has declined in line with national trends, while deaths from Covid and other causes have spiked since 2020. In the past four years, 16,000 more Mississippians have died than been born.
As a result, Mississippi’s 2024 population stood at 2,943,045 — down nearly 45,000 from its peak in 2014. The state ranks 49th in population change during the past decade, above only West Virginia. Mississippi now has almost 27,000 fewer residents than it did in the 2010 Census.
As we laid out before, there are two ways to define brain drain: gross brain drain, which compares the education levels of leavers and stayers, and net brain drain, which compares the education levels of leavers and newcomers. Of the two, net brain drain is the more important metric, but gross brain drain is the one we feel more, since it is easier to notice the loss of someone who moved away than someone who never moved in.
Gross Brain Drain: Among Mississippi natives ages 22 to 50, almost half of all four-year graduates have left the state, compared to just 30% without a four-year degree. This includes graduates of community colleges, who stay home at the same rate as Mississippians without any postsecondary education.
Net Brain Drain: For every Mississippian without a four-year degree who moves away, a person of a similar educational level moves in. But only two university graduates arrive for every three from Mississippi who leave, resulting in a net loss of 57,000 four-year graduates currently living in other states.
Age: Every age group younger than 50 departs Mississippi in greater numbers than they arrive. Only when approaching retirement age are people more likely to move to Mississippi than leave. Losses are greatest in the years when people are beginning their careers. From 2010 to 2020, Mississippi lost one-tenth of its 25-to-34-year-old population – about 40,000 people – through net outmigration.
Race: Net migration among Black and white people follows a similar age pattern. However, Black people move away at higher rates in their 20s and 30s, but they are more likely to move back in their 70s. Mississippi’s population of other racial groups is too small to generate reliable estimates by age.
Sex: Both men and women move in line with the overall age pattern, but net outmigration is higher among men in their prime working years.
Nearly every part of the state is suffering from outmigration and brain drain. Between 2010 and 2020, 80% of the state’s 82 counties lost more people than they gained, including moves made inside the state and outside of it. Nationally, roughly half of counties were net exporters of population.
Most of Mississippi’s shrinking counties are shrinking rapidly, while most of its growing counties are growing slowly. From 2010 to 2020, more than half of Mississippi’s counties ranked in the bottom 20% nationally in net migration rate (net migrants as a share of population). Only five counties ranked in the top 20%.
There are patterns to which counties tend to lose or attract movers. Rural counties with low per capita income and low education rates lost the most people, while growth was concentrated in more affluent and educated places: suburban areas, university towns, and the Coast. Most of their growth came from people who moved from other parts of Mississippi — a brain drain within the state.
When Mississippians leave, they typically relocate to large metropolitan areas that are within driving distance of home. According to address changes in IRS tax filings from 2012 to 2022, the top destinations for people leaving Mississippi are Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Atlanta and New Orleans. Newcomers are most likely to move to Mississippi from Memphis, New Orleans, Mobile, Baton Rouge and Atlanta.
In terms of net migration, Mississippi has added the most residents from Memphis, New Orleans, Mobile, Baton Rouge and Birmingham, while it has lost the most residents to Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta, Nashville and Orlando.
On a state level, Tennessee and Texas have drawn the most Mississippians, followed by Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. People who move to Mississippi tend to come from the same five states, in a slightly different order. Tennessee and Louisiana are the top two states of origin, followed by Texas, Alabama and Florida.
Even though the same states appear at the top of both lists, net migration varies widely by state. In general, Mississippi has a negative migration rate with states that are attracting newcomers from other parts of the country, while it has a positive migration rate with states that are losing residents to other parts of the country.
Texas added the most residents in exchange with Mississippi: 30,000 net movers between 2012 and 2022, which is triple the amount gained by Georgia, the number two state. Alabama, Florida and Tennessee round out the top five.
Mississippi netted the most residents from Louisiana, followed by Illinois, New York, California and Michigan – all states that, like Mississippi, have suffered from domestic net outmigration.
Both, but, on balance, Mississippi does a worse job of attracting new residents than retaining current residents. For every 100 people alive today who were born in Mississippi, 36 now live in another state. Mississippi’s retention rate ranks in the middle nationally, 28th out of 50, but it is lowest in the Southeast, where people are less likely to leave their home state than in other regions.
However, for every 100 people born in Mississippi, only 24 people move in from other states. Another two move in from abroad. The in-migration rate ranks 46th in the country.
The population of people alive today who were born in Mississippi is 3.27 million, 10% larger than the state’s current population. Louisiana is the only other Southern state that is home to fewer people than were born in the state.
Mississippi ranks near the bottom nationally on brain drain, net migration and population change.
Net migration of four-year college graduates, ages 22 to 50: 47th
Total net migration since 2010: 45th
Population change since 2010: 48th
Louisiana is the only other state in the country to rank 45th or worse in all three categories. It makes sense that Mississippi would be in league with its neighbor to the southwest, but Louisiana also has unique economic and ecological challenges. Within the Southeastern region, Mississippi and Louisiana are extreme outliers.
The South is the country’s fastest-growing region, and every other state in the region has experienced net in-migration, brain gain and population growth. This includes Arkansas and Alabama, the two states that are most similar to Mississippi in economics, geography and history. Arkansas and Alabama are growing slowly by regional standards, but they sit around the midpoint in national rankings.
Arkansas and Alabama share many of the characteristics that are blamed for Mississippi’s brain drain. They are both poorer and less-educated than the Southern average, and they get labeled with many of the same negative stereotypes. They are the South’s most rural states behind Mississippi, and they do not have a major urban magnet like Dallas, Atlanta or Nashville. Yet Arkansas and Alabama have steadily grown their population by attracting and retaining residents, including university graduates. Since 2020, both have seen a surge of newcomers.
Mississippi’s state economist published a study in 2022 that estimated that the brain drain of university graduates costs the state’s economy an average of $181 million per year. The model was based on retaining 1,200 more four-year graduates per year from 2023-2032 earning an average of $36,569. The study only calculated the additional economic benefits on a yearly basis, but we can extend it over the entire decade. If Mississippi retained 1,200 additional graduates per year for 10 years, and they all stayed in the state so that the state’s population with a bachelor’s degree increased by 12,000 by the end of the decade, then the state economy would grow by a total of $8 billion. (The impact grows exponentially, as previous cohorts continue to receive a paycheck, combined with the additional earnings from each year’s new influx of graduates.) An extra $8 billion would double Mississippi’s economic growth rate from the most recent decade. Those gains would also benefit workers without a degree: the state economist’s model predicts that the 1,200 additional four-year graduates would create almost 1,200 jobs elsewhere in the economy.
For a real-world example of how this could play out, compare Mississippi’s economy to Arkansas’ economy. In 2010, Mississippi and Arkansas were roughly equal in population and economic output. Mississippi had 45,000 more people and its GDP was $7 billion smaller. Between 2010 and 2024, Arkansas added 200,000 more residents than Mississippi and attracted 42,000 more four-year graduates. By the end of 2024, Arkansas’s economy was $31 billion larger than Mississippi’s — tripling Mississippi’s growth rate.
We can also think about the brain drain in terms of a loss on the investment made by taxpayers. State and local taxpayers contribute $8,494 per year toward the education of every public K-12 student and $14,662 for every public university student. These numbers change every year — they’ve risen about 25% since 2000 after accounting for inflation — but, as a crude estimate, a Mississippi student who completes 17 years of education in public schools and universities will receive about $170,000 in direct educational investment from their fellow Mississippians. This doesn’t include other indirect investments that benefit kids as well as adults: infrastructure, healthcare, police, firefighters, etc.
Mississippi residents pay an average of 9% of their annual income in state and local taxes, which means that a university graduate would need to earn almost $1.9 million in the state simply to repay the up-front investment. At the median income for university graduates, that would take 36 years. The state auditor’s office reported in 2022 that 40% of in-state graduates are not employed within the state within five years of finishing their degree. Since Mississippi only attracts two graduates from other states for every three it loses, a large portion of the state’s education funding turns into a subsidy to other states. As of 2023, the brain drain had cost Mississippi 57,000 four-year graduates between ages 22 to 50 who were born in the state. Collectively, they represent approximately $7 billion in educational expenditures after inflation.
Population loss most directly influences political representation through congressional reapportionment, which takes place after the U.S. Census every 10 years. In 2000, Mississippi’s congressional delegation shrunk from five to four because it had grown more slowly than other states. If current trends hold, Mississippi is likely to retain its fourth seat in 2030, but it will be in jeopardy by the time the 2040 Census comes around.
Population changes have influenced the redrawing of congressional maps within the state. The 2nd District, held by Democrat Bennie Thompson, had to be expanded after the 2020 Census because it lost 9% of its population in the preceding decade. The 2nd District now covers one-third of the state’s land area, and it will continue to grow geographically as long as the Delta region and Hinds County lose population. It’s likely that would mean adding more white voters to the state’s only majority-Black district, which could trigger a Voting Rights Act challenge. It could also alter the demographics of the majority-white 1st or 3rd Districts.
Similarly, the latest round of legislative redistricting has set off a fierce series of political and legal battles that is still ongoing. After Republican lawmakers approved new district maps on party-line votes, lawsuits brought on behalf of Black voters have forced 15 districts to be redrawn and their seats contested in special elections this year. In general, population changes in recent decades have shifted legislative power away from rural Mississippi and the city of Jackson and toward suburban areas and the Coast.
As for statewide elections, the effect of population changes exists as a hypothetical: would Mississippi elect different candidates if fewer people were leaving? Since 2010, net domestic outmigration has cost Mississippi at least 100,000 citizens who would have been of voting age by the state elections in 2023. It would not have swung the outcomes of many races, since most of Mississippi’s recent elections have been decided by wide margins. But it could have had an impact on the 2023 race for governor, for instance, which incumbent Republican Tate Reeves won over Democrat Brandon Presley by fewer than 27,000 votes. It’s impossible to say whether an extra 100,000 eligible voters would have swayed the final result, but it’s clear that the political ripple effects will only get larger if Mississippi continues to lose more people.
People choose where to live based on a variety of individual factors, but every person of working age has to take job opportunities into account. Some people move to maximize their income, some move to get a job they love, and others move to a place they want to live where they can find a job that pays the bills.
There is no doubt that Mississippi’s economy is a major driver of the brain drain. Jobs often pay less than equivalent positions in other states, even after accounting for cost of living differences. According to the most recent American Community Survey data, Mississippians with bachelor’s degrees earn 23% less than the national average. Mississippians with graduate degrees earn 27% less than their counterparts. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Mississippi’s cost of living is 13% cheaper than the national average.
People born in Mississippi who leave the state are rewarded with higher incomes at every level of education, but moving is especially lucrative for four-year graduates, who make almost $19,000 more than graduates who stay.
Mississippi also has fewer jobs available in fields that require a bachelor’s degree or specialized training. Roughly one-third of Mississippi natives in their 20s and 30s have completed a four-year degree, but Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that just 24% of jobs in Mississippi meet their qualifications, the lowest in the country. They project that share to stay level through 2031.
In-state job opportunities vary widely according to industry. In general, Mississippians who work in education and healthcare are most likely to stay, while those in STEM fields are the most likely to leave. However, Mississippi attracts fewer workers than it loses in each of the 15 most common professions for people born in the state. Losses are greatest in computer science and IT. For every 10 Mississippi natives currently working in tech, eight have left the state, and only three people have moved in from other places. As a result, the state’s tech workforce is less than half as large as it would have been without the brain drain.
The longstanding migration pattern has been for people to move from rural areas and small towns to big cities and suburban areas. This trend places Mississippi at a structural disadvantage, since Mississippi has the fourth-most rural population in the country and no large metropolitan area.
However, population density does not tell the whole story. Counties in Mississippi have underperformed counties of similar sizes across the board. Between 2010 and 2020, Mississippi counties under 25,000 people lost movers at more than twice the national average, and Mississippi counties between 25,000 and 50,000 people had a net outmigration rate of 6%, compared to flat migration nationally. Mississippi’s larger counties attracted more people than they lost, but at slower rates than peer counties outside the state.
Most states have been able to offset their rural depopulation through the growth of their metropolitan areas. The Jackson region accounts for one-fifth of the state’s population and is Mississippi’s only metro area among the 100 largest in the country (it ranked 95th in 2024, with 606,000 residents). But in contrast with many fast-growing midsized Sunbelt cities, the Jackson area is losing population.
The city of Jackson has lost almost one-third of its population since 1980, with no sign of leveling off. From 2020 to 2024, Jackson lost more than 12,000 residents, the largest per capita drop among the 324 cities with more than 100,000 residents.
Historically, the surrounding suburbs have absorbed most of Jackson’s outmigration. Since 1980, their population has grown by nearly 80% and the metropolitan area has added 140,000 residents. However, in recent years, the growth in the suburbs has also tapered off. Over the past four years, 14,500 more people have left the Jackson metro area than moved in, the fifth-worst net migration rate of any metro area with at least 500,000 people. From July 2023 to June 2024, the most recent year available, the Jackson region ranked last in the country, losing twice times as many people per capita as any other major metropolitan area.
At the same time, people have flocked to similarly-sized regions in neighboring states. Huntsville, Chattanooga and Northwest Arkansas are growing rapidly by attracting newcomers, including many young professionals who have left expensive coastal cities after the pandemic.
Absolutely not. There is a tendency for people talking about the brain drain to say the state is losing its “best and brightest.” That’s demonstrably false. Many of Mississippi’s most talented and productive people did not have the interest or the opportunity to get a four-year college degree. And it is not desirable for Mississippi to only retain college grads while losing everyone else. Mississippi should create more opportunities for college graduates while also investing in career pathways that do not require a bachelor’s degree.
There are two reasons why four-year graduates deserve special attention. First, they are the only people who are leaving the state. About 70% of Mississippians with a high school diploma or associate’s degree stay in the state, but only about half of Mississippians with bachelor’s degrees stick around. Furthermore, Mississippi attracts a new resident with a high school or community college education for every one it loses, but only two four-year graduates move in for every three who leave. To solve the problem of outmigration and population loss, we must focus on where the problem lies.
Second, Mississippi taxpayers invest more in the education of university graduates than people who complete fewer years of schooling, and university graduates have higher average earnings when they enter the workforce. When they leave, it means that the people who received the most benefit from taxpayers, and who would contribute the most in state taxes, do not repay the investment that was made in them. Therefore, Mississippians who received less state funding and who tend to earn lower incomes are forced to shoulder more of the burden for the cost of education, infrastructure and public services.
It is a common fallacy that the brain drain is inflated by out-of-state students after they graduate from college in Mississippi. Currently, almost two in five students at Mississippi’s public universities came from outside the state. That’s 31,000 potential graduates who could leave the state within a few years.
However, they will not add to the state’s brain drain — they will reduce it. Even if the vast majority leave, the few who stay will have a positive effect on the state’s migration rate. Those who leave will have no net effect, since they were counted as newcomers when they arrived in the state.
It is theoretically possible that out-of-state graduates could distort a single year’s migration data if the number who left after graduation was larger than the number who arrived as freshmen. That is one reason most of the data presented above goes back at least 10 years or more. It is also why we have looked at where people were born, not just where they attended college, when quantifying the net loss of four-year graduates. Then there is the fact that the number of out-of-state students has grown almost every year since 2010. Brain drain is not statistical noise. It is a persistent trend.
Foreign-born immigrants account for a tiny share of Mississippi’s overall population, but they have helped offset more than one-third of the outmigration of U.S.-born residents from the state since 2010. In that period, Mississippi has added approximately 41,000 new residents from overseas while losing 120,000 people born in the country. The state’s immigrant population has more than doubled over that time, yet Mississippi’s international immigration rate still ranks fourth-lowest in the country.
In total, 2.5% of Mississippi’s population — about 75,000 people — were born outside the U.S., the third-lowest share in the country. To put it in perspective, the city of Memphis (population 618,000) has roughly the same number of immigrants as the entire state of Mississippi. Arkansas’s foreign-born population is more than twice as large as Mississippi’s.
About half of Mississippi’s immigrants have come from Latin America, one-third from Asia, and one-tenth from Europe. Immigrants in Mississippi are more likely to be naturalized citizens than undocumented. They are also more likely to hold a four-year degree than the U.S.-born population, and they are twice as likely to start their own business.
However, the Trump Administration’s efforts to curtail immigration will likely reduce the number of people moving to Mississippi from other countries. That will send Mississippi’s population into faster decline and increase the importance of stopping Mississippi’s domestic brain drain.
Despite Mississippi’s challenges, there are reasons for optimism.
First, Mississippi has always been a wellspring of talent, and thanks to improvements in the state’s education system, it is being developed better than ever. In recent years, the “Mississippi Miracle” in elementary reading scores has garnered widespread attention from the press and policymakers. Less heralded, but equally important, are the strides made by the state’s institutions of higher learning. In 2020, Mississippi’s colleges and universities ranked 29th nationally in the number of bachelor’s degrees granted per capita — second-most in the South, behind only Alabama. Mississippi made the highest jump of any state in the country over the preceding decade: up 14 spots, from 43rd in 2010. This occurred despite a decline in the number of in-state students, a product of falling birth rates and high outmigration among young families. Mississippi’s universities have become magnets for out-of-state students by offering quality academic programs, vibrant campus life and affordable tuition. They have proven that people are willing to move to Mississippi, and businesses and policymakers should work hard to keep them.
Second, Mississippi is located in the middle of the fastest-growing region in the country, and it has many of the same assets as other Southern states that are drawing people from around the country. Chief among them is affordable housing. Mississippi has the second-lowest home prices in the country, according to Zillow. As Sunbelt metropolises like Atlanta and Austin have swelled with newcomers, their housing costs have surged. The pandemic accelerated migration away from expensive urban areas toward midsized cities, suburbs, and college towns where each dollar goes farther. As long as these trends continue, many communities in Mississippi have the opportunity to become attractive destinations for newcomers and returning expats.
A third advantage is the enduring attachment that Mississippians carry with them, even if they have lived outside the state longer than they lived in it. More than 1 million people born in Mississippi now live in other states, often within a few hours of home. If just 1% moved back each year, the state could reverse its net outmigration from the past decade. Many already entertain the prospect of moving back someday, as evidenced by the numbers who return in retirement. They could be drawn back earlier if they felt assured that they would not have to sacrifice their careers or quality of life to do so. If they see signs of progress, the desire to contribute to the state they love will be a powerful force calling them home.
The Census Bureau provides the most comprehensive data on migration and population change. The Census Bureau publishes annual state and local population estimates, covering the 12 months from July 1 to June 30 each year. The most recent estimates are from 2024 (July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024). The state population changes include annual estimates of births, deaths, domestic migration, and international migration.
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) collects data each year on a variety of social and economic characteristics from a representative sample of Americans. The ACS data provides detailed demographic information about people who have moved into and out of Mississippi.
The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), housed at the University of Minnesota, allows for customized analysis of Census data to look at, for example, the age and education level of Mississippi natives who now live in another state. The University of Wisconsin’s Applied Population Laboratory also provides detailed county-level demographic breakouts of net migration patterns from 1950 to 2020.
The IRS releases statistics on tax filers who have moved between states each year. The tax data includes the age range and income earned in the year of the move. It does not rely on modeling, thus it is more precise than Census estimates (in fact, the Census estimates are partially based on IRS data), but it excludes people who did not file a tax return.
On the state level, Mississippi’s Longitudinal Data System connects administrative data from the state’s public K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities with employment data from the Mississippi Department of Economic Security. It does not track people who leave the state, but it does record the share of graduates who are employed in Mississippi.
There are other experimental sources that provide specialized data. For example, recent migration studies have cited LinkedIn profiles, U.S. Postal Service change-of-address requests, and credit reports. Moving companies and real estate firms also periodically publish data on customers that have made interstate moves. Analytics firms like Placer.AI sell proprietary tools that estimate migration using large consumer datasets, for example cell phone locations.
The available data give us a good indication of how many people are leaving, who they are, and where they are going. They do not, however, tell us why, or what we can do about it. To answer that question, we need your help.
Mississippi Today, the University of Mississippi’s Center for Population Studies, and Working Together Mississippi’s Rethink Mississippi initiative have partnered to create a survey to identify the most important things people look for when they choose where to live — whether that’s in Mississippi or somewhere else. The survey is open to anyone over 18, no matter where you’re from or where you live now. Once we know the factors that people consider when leaving or staying, we can develop strategies to help Mississippi compete with other places. If you have good ideas, the survey also gives you the opportunity to share them.
Once we have received enough responses, we will publish the results of the survey. They will inform Mississippi Today’s ongoing reporting on the causes, consequences and solutions to Mississippi’s brain drain crisis.
Tell us about them, and we’ll do our best to answer them. You may email Jake McGraw at j.mcgraw@workingtogetherms.org or Adam Ganucheau at adam@mississippitoday.org.
You can also take our survey, where you can share your personal story of leaving Mississippi or staying home.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate said he’s putting his decision on hold over whether to approve JXN Water’s proposed rate increase until after he finds out what happened with roughly $90 million from a settlement with Siemens.
In 2020, the city of Jackson settled its lawsuit with the German company over years of faulty metering for water services. While about a third of the $90 million went to legal fees, city officials couldn’t immediately say where the rest of those funds went during a status conference Monday.
City Attorney Drew Martin said he was working to comply with a subpoena Wingate issued last week looking for an accounting of the settlement dollars, adding that he would have those details within a day or two. While he couldn’t say for sure where the money went, Martin said the city spent about $50 million within a few months after the settlement, and that there was $8 million remaining as of 2022.
Ted Henifin, who runs JXN Water and first proposed the rate increase in February, said the increase would still be necessary even if the utility received all the money from the Siemens settlement. He said the utility’s day-to-day management is operating at a deficit, and that the $60 million from the settlement — what Jackson received after paying its lawyers — would only cover losses for the next two years.
Henifin added that he’s asking the federal government to move around its funding to the city so he can spend more of it on operations and management. Without a boost to JXN Water’s finances, he said the utility would have to stop paying its contractors.
Wingate inquired about the settlement money during a two-day status conference last month. Henifin told the judge he had no idea what the city did with the funds. Wingate explained Monday that he wanted to make sure he was aware of all possible funding for JXN Water before approving a second rate increase in as many years.
It’s unclear how soon he’ll decide. In addition to Jackson officials, Wingate issued the subpoena on July 9 to the state and federal government as well as four different law firms. The subpoena gives the parties 30 days to produce any information on where the settlement funds went.
The judge also brought up the city’s history with shutting off nonpaying customers. Martin explained that the city, under then Mayor Tony Yarber, agreed to pause shutoffs for customers who had issues with Siemens’ water meters. Jackson prepared to bring back shutoffs in 2019, he said, but put them on hold again during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the aftermath of a revolving door of presidents at Jackson State University, members of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning board tasked with naming a new leader sought to defuse alumni concerns.
But after an hour-long Zoom meeting with dozens of JSU graduates last week, some alumni remained uneasy that the state’s college governing board would fall back on the same playbook.
“Even Ray Charles can see the failures,” Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, a member of the Universities and Colleges Committee, said. “They should be upfront on their intentions this time to have a fair and transparent search. They need to double down on their commitment to stabilize their credibility because it’s shot.”
The state’s largest historically Black university will be embarking on its fourth leadership search this fall after more than three president turnovers in less than seven years. The IHL board, which oversees and selects the school’s presidents, announced the resignation of Marcus Thompson in May.
No reason was given as to why he left his post as university president.
Jackson State University National Alumni Association invited some of its members to an exclusive, hour-long Zoom conversation with two IHL board members on July 7 to address concerns surrounding the university’s forthcoming presidential search.
Patrease Edwards, president of the national association, kicked off the conversation. Moderator Michael Jefferson, the group’s information, communications and technology chair, asked Steve Cunningham and Gee Ogletree a series of questions ranging from the college board’s vetting process to policies and procedures to ensure a fair and transparent search.
The roughly 71 alumni association members who signed up for the conversation submitted 52 questions. Nearly 14 of those questions, which were screened by the national alumni association, were directed to board members (There was no chat feature available.) It’s unclear how many of those who signed up attended the call. Edwards said students also joined the call.
In June, the national alumni association emailed its members inviting them to participate in the event. In the days leading up to the call, few details were shared. Alums who signed up to participate had questions about which IHL board members would be attending. Others said they didn’t know where to submit their questions. The link to the Zoom meeting was shared in an email from Edwards around noon on the day of the actual talk. Alums who said they signed up for the event said they didn’t get the email or missed it.
Cunningham, vice president of the IHL board, said he and Ogletree couldn’t answer specific or personal questions about past presidents because of confidentiality and legal personnel constraints.
He said a formal committee for the president search has not been named but that he anticipated more engagement with faculty, student groups and the alumni association during the board’s community listening sessions during the upcoming school year.
In past presidential searches for Jackson State, IHL launched a national search, opened an online survey and provided community listening sessions to help write a candidate profile, all first steps in the process. Ultimately, it will be the board that will make the choice for the school’s next president, he said.
“Of course it demands a delicate balance of transparency and solicitation of opinions and confidentiality for those going through the recruitment and interview process,” Cunningham said. “IHL board of trustees reaffirms its commitment to an open and engaged process.”
Criticism has dogged the board’s history of forgoing its own policies and appointing internal hires as top leaders, leading to protests, accusations of favoritism and bills to abolish the IHL board.
Thompson worked as deputy commissioner and chief administrative officer at IHL from 2009 before becoming president. He had no experience leading a university. His appointment as president was reminiscent of IHL’s decision to hire Glenn Boyce to head the University of Mississippi. Boyce had led IHL’s leadership search for Ole Miss. Both decisions eschewed search candidates in favor of an internal hire.
Board members were asked if Denise Jones Gregory, now the interim president, would get a fair shot for the permanent position. Gregory, a JSU alum, is a native of Columbus Mississippi, as is Cunningham.
Ogletree explained interim or acting presidents would have to step down to apply for the job if they wanted to apply for the role. However, if a number of supporters expressed their favor for Gregory as a top choice for leadership, the board could waive its policies to ensure she remains in the role. Olegtree said it’s too early to discuss how this process would go for Gregory.
“When we have found good, strong interims and when we hear from the various constituencies that they are the person that fits the criteria… then we haven’t hesitated to hire that person,” Ogletree said. “I will tell you Ole Miss is thrilled with Dr. Boyce now and Alcorn with Dr. Cook and we certainly have every expectation Jackson State is going to be thrilled with its next leader.”
Last year, IHL used this provision to appoint Tracy Cook, president of Alcorn State University, marking the board’s ninth time in 10 years it has hired an internal candidate as a top leader.
The board also suspended its search to hire Joe Paul, then the interim president at the University of Southern Mississippi, after he received support during the listening sessions. The appointment came with criticism from faculty and staff about the lack of transparency with IHL’s presidential search process.
Nora Miller served as Mississippi University for Women’s acting president, senior vice president for administration and chief financial officer before the board permanently appointed her the day of the listening sessions, another example of an internal hire by the board.
The biggest batch of questions alums submitted revolved around the board’s vetting process. Board members explained they obtain references and/or hire consulting firms to contact references.
They said the 12 trustees try to line up resumes and job requirements with the characteristics needed for president. They run background checks — inquiring about motor vehicles, criminal records and credit checks as well as internet and article information — but they’re not “foolproof.”
“It almost implies like we have some type of magic wand where we should be able to predict a human being’s behavior after they are appointed to a position of power, and we know that that is just impossible,” Cunningham said.
Ultimately, the board members said they will stick to its policies and “maybe make more calls this time.”
“We’re certainly aware of the need to do all that we can do,” Olegtree said.
Tim Rush, a 1986 JSU alum and former dean of students at Holmes Community College, said he appreciated the conversation but wanted to make it clear that all alumni do not share the same views and opinions as the national alumni association. He said IHL needs to truly listen to all stakeholders when making this next appointment.
“The best leaders will emerge from an open and transparent process that includes valued input from all stakeholders, and we will be able to support and rally around whoever that may be,” said Rush, a member of Thee 1877 Project, a small group of alums not affiliated with the national association who have been advocating for school issues around student housing, philanthropy and funding.
Mark Dawson, chairman of the 1877 project, said he felt the board members had an overall “cavalier” attitude when answering alumni questions, particularly whether they have learned lessons or will examine new approaches for their next search. Board members need to recognize their past failures have left a festering wound of trust for supporters of the university.
“Have you looked at what this turnover has done to enrollment, institutional giving, expansion of academic programs or our inability to move from an R2 to R1 research status?” Dawson asked. “Not examining the wrongdoings with this process has been damaging to your bottom line: students, faculty and community.”
Others question the impact of the board’s decisions on Jackson State University’s overall growth and economic impact on the state’s capital city.
“In the end, the state is the one who is suffering to grow a really strong institution based in the state’s capital,” Frazier said. “Students want a viable option. They’re beginning to look elsewhere to fulfill their dreams. (The board’s) decisions have been costly. They need to follow their plans and don’t deviate from them. Stick with the game plan and don’t waste alums’ and taxpayers’ time this time around.”
Vicksburg National Military Park is receiving over $5 million toward restoring a key monument and removing a building that previously was used as a visitors’ center.
Friends of the Vicksburg National Military Park recently announced a $2.8 million private donation to the park by John L. Nau III, a Texas businessman and philanthropist who was a founding board member of the nonprofit Friends organization.
The National Park Service’s Centennial Challenge program will match the donation with $2.5 million in federal funds.
The money will go to restoring the Illinois Memorial and removing an unrelated building that was “erroneously constructed on core battlefield ground — an intrusion that obscures the story and sacrifices of the men who fought and died there in 1863,” according to the Friends.
“Standing on restored battlefield ground gives visitors a chance to truly understand the story of Vicksburg — not just read about it, but feel it,” Bess Averett, executive director of the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park, said in a press release. “Visitors deserve to walk this hallowed ground and see it as Union and Confederate soldiers saw it during the siege.”
In 1863, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to Vicksburg. After 47 days, the Confederate army surrendered, and the defeat turned the tide of the Civil War as the Union gained control of the Mississippi River.
Vicksburg National Military Park was established in 1899 at the battleground. It commemorates the siege and its role in the Civil War, as well as those who fought.
The Illinois Memorial is dedicated to more than 36,000 soldiers from that state who fought in Vicksburg. Both the stone and the inscriptions inside the building have worn down from weather exposure.
In the release, Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park said the park needs both public and private support, as the National Park Service manages over 400 units nationwide.
“We need donors and volunteers now more than ever before,” Averett said.
The Kirksey Middle School bleachers were packed on Thursday evening with nearly 200 people looking for a job at Jackson Public Schools.
Among the crowd was Sade Montgomery, who was nervously thumbing through copies of her resume. Even though she isn’t certified to teach, Montgomery was looking for a job that would let her spend more time with her 5-year-old daughter. She thought the fair was a good place to start.
Devante Horton, just a few bleachers down, had a similar idea. The 22-year-old — suited up, with a Jackson State University pin gleaming on his chest — attended Jim Hill High School and later studied political science in college. But after graduating, he’d had some trouble finding a job. He decided he wanted to try his hand at teaching.
“I want to give back to my city and the district that I came from,” Horton said. “I’m nervous, but I feel like I’m going to leave here with a job.”
Both Montgomery and Horton had a lot of options in front of them — nearly all of the district’s schools were represented at the job fair, as well as several central office departments. And as they went from table to table, Tommy Nalls, who’s in charge of recruitment at JPS, stood off to the side, watching.
As of last week, about one in four Jackson Public Schools teaching positions remained unfilled. Though district officials noted that count includes jobs that are pending hires, that’s higher than the state’s teacher vacancy rate, which sits at about 16%, according to the most recent data.
Nationally, teachers have been in short supply for years. The issue, worsened by the pandemic, stems from a combination of factors, including low compensation and difficult workloads. It can be even harder to staff classrooms in districts such as Jackson Public Schools, Nalls said, which faces unique challenges because it serves a high population of students from marginalized communities.
One way JPS is combatting the shortage: Taking advantage of alternate routes for people to become certified teachers. Nalls took advantage of one such pathway himself when he entered the education field two decades ago.
“Honestly, at first, I was a lot like these people here,” he said, gesturing to the job fair attendees around him. “I needed a new job.”
Nalls, who has a biology degree from Tougaloo College, worked at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and AT&T before a friend suggested he should look into becoming a teacher. He happened to be at the right place at the right time — Nalls was dropping off his information at the district’s administrative offices when Murrah High School’s assistant principal walked in and said they needed a science teacher.
Nalls got his start in teaching after the district requested a provisional license for him — which is what the district will do for job fair hirees without teaching certifications.
“What we do as a district is once we get them hired in a position they’re qualified for, we request a provisional license from the State Department of Education,” he said. “Then, during the year, we coach the teachers on certification, so we advise them on what tests they need to take and where the programs are that they can complete in order to become certified. And if they need assistance with the Praxis test in some of our hard to staff areas, we even provide vouchers and preparation to help them study for those exams to become properly certified.”
According to Nalls, the district’s strategies are working, but they’re up against more than low pay and worsening student behavior. Teaching, he said, is no longer a sought-after profession.
A few years ago, he asked a group of educators to raise their hands if they spoke to their own child about becoming a teacher. Out of a room of 30, just four or five people raised their hands.
“I’ll never forget that,” he said. “We have to do a better job of championing education within our community … There are issues, of course, but we have to help people realize that it’s just not as bad as they make it out to be.”
After about an hour, Montgomery hadn’t gotten a job offer, but several schools had expressed interest — she was especially excited about one in particular that was just down the road from her daughter’s school.
“The only thing that I’m a little nervous about is the pay because I know it will probably be a pay cut,” she said. “But I think it’s worth it to be able to be with my daughter.”
Even as the crowd thinned out, Horton stuck around, diligently visiting every table. By the end of the two-hour job fair, Horton had received a couple of job offers.
And after mulling it over, Horton on Friday accepted a position teaching 9th grade social studies at Jim Hill — his alma mater. He said he’s most looking forward to bonding with his students when school starts in a few weeks.
“For me to be able to go back and show them that somebody actually came from the same seat that you all are in, went to college, got his degree, and is now working in a professional field, I can show them that you can do it as well,” Horton said. “It’s a surreal feeling.”
A Jackson County Chancery Court judge is denying the public access to a case that involves several politically connected Mississippians and their failed venture to ticket uninsured motorists using cameras and artificial intelligence.
Media companies Mississippi Today and the Sun Herald have filed for relief with the state Supreme Court, arguing that Chancery Judge Neil Harris improperly closed the court file without notice and a hearing to consider alternatives. The media outlets say the court file should be opened.
Mississippi Today in June filed its motion asking that Harris unseal the case, which he denied six days later.
Gulfport attorney Henry Laird writes in the media companies’ petition for state Supreme Court review, “The Chancery Court sealing the entire court file both before and after Mississippi Today’s motion to unseal the file violates the public and press’ cherished right of openness and access to its public court system and records.”
Mississippi judges have long followed a 1990 state Supreme Court decision that says, “A hearing must be held in which the press is allowed to intervene on behalf of the public and present argument, if any, against closure.”
Instead, Harris said he found no hearing necessary after reviewing the pleadings to open the file. The case, he said, is between two private companies.
“There are no public entities included as parties,” he wrote, “and there are no public funds at issue. Other than curiosity regarding issues between private parties, there is no public interest involved.”
The case involves what is usually a public function: Issuing tickets to the owners of uninsured vehicles. And, according to one party to the case, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety is owed $345,000 from the uninsured motorist program.
READ MORE: Private business ticketed uninsured Mississippi vehicle owners. Then the program blew up.
Since the entire court file is closed, the public is unable to see why the judge sealed the case. The Mississippians said in the Chancery Court case that they have “substantial” business interests to protect and “a lot of political importance,” an attorney opposing them said in a related federal case that is not sealed.
Georgia-based Securix LLC signed up its first Mississippi client in 2021, the city of Ocean Springs, an agreement with the city showed. Securix developed a program that uses traffic cameras, artificial intelligence and bulk data on insured motorists to identify the owners of vehicles without insurance.
To sign on other Mississippi cities, Securix enlisted three well-known consultants, Quinton Dickerson, Josh Gregory and Robert Wilkinson. Dickerson and Gregory are Republican political operatives in Jackson who have run numerous state and local campaigns and advise many of the state’s top elected officials. Wilkinson, a Coast attorney, has represented local governments and government agencies, including the city of Ocean Springs.
In 2023, the Mississippians formed QJR LLC. Their company entered a 50-50 partnership with Securix called Securix Mississippi.
Securix Mississippi sold the cities of Biloxi, Pearl and Senatobia on the uninsured driver program.
Fees collected from uninsured drivers were apportioned to the company, the cities and the Department of Public Safety, the operating agreement with Biloxi showed.
The citations offered three options, according to copies included in a federal lawsuit filed by three Mississippi residents who received them:
The Securix Mississippi partnership soon soured.
Securix Chairman Jonathan Miller of Georgia said in a sworn court declaration submitted in the federal case that he was subjected around March 2024 to a “freeze out” by members and/or employees of QJR. They stopped giving him information, Miller said.
The Department of Public Safety in August pulled the plug on the controversial ticketing program, shutting off the company’s access to the insured driver database.
In September, QJR filed its Chancery Court lawsuit against Securix LLC.
What is known about the case comes from documents in the federal court file. QJR claims the company and its members have been defamed by Miller and Securix and wants their 50-50 business partnership dissolved.
The Chancery Court case does not even show up when the parties are searched for by name.
With a case number gleaned from the federal court file, a search of chancery records shows only that the case is under seal.
Normally, when a case is under seal, the docket would still be available. A docket lists all records and proceedings in a case. While sealed records are listed and described, they can’t be viewed.
“There is no court file,” attorney Laird said in asking the Supreme Court to review Judge Harris’ decision to leave the file sealed. “There is no docket sheet. There is absolutely no access on the part of the public or press to their public court file in this case.”
All Mississippi court files are presumed open unless they are closed with notice and a hearing under guidelines established in the 1990 case Gannett River States Publishing Co. vs. Hand.
“It appears that the judge ignored what has been settled law in Mississippi since 1990,” said retired Jackson attorney Leonard Van Slyke, who represented Gannett in the case and still advises the media.
He added, “Since that time, there have not been many efforts to close a courtroom or a court file because the rules are pretty clear as to when that can be done. It is obvious from the rules that this would be a rare occurrence.”
A court file can be closed only if a party in the case requesting closure can show an “overriding interest” that would be prejudiced by publicity.
The Supreme Court said in 1990 that the public is entitled to at least 24 hours’ notice — on the court docket — before a judge considers closure. As a representative of the public, the media has a right to a hearing before a court file or proceeding is closed.
At the hearing, the judge must consider the least restrictive closure possible and reasonable alternatives. The judge also must make findings that explain why alternatives to closure were rejected.
The court wrote in Gannett vs. Hand:
“A transcript of the closure hearing should be made public and if a petition for extraordinary relief concerning a closure order is filed in this Court, it should be accompanied by the transcript, the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, and the evidence adduced at the hearing upon which the judge bases the findings and conclusions.”
Because Judge Harris held no hearing, the high court will have a scant record on which to base its review. Without a court record, Laird pointed out in his filing, the public can have no confidence the judge made a sound decision.
Kevin Goldberg, an attorney who serves as vice president and First Amendment expert at the nonpartisan, nonprofit Freedom Forum, said the First Amendment guarantees the public access to courts.
In the Securix case, he said, a private business was doing work normally performed by a police department or other public agency, and residents could be snared into legal proceedings when they received tickets and public funds were involved.
“These are not private people in a small town, going about their business,” Goldberg said. “These people’s business is the public’s business . . . I think that means they need to accept that they’re going to be scrutinized all the time, including when they voluntarily make a decision to go to court.”
This article was produced in partnership between the Sun Herald and Mississippi Today.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released in early July a revised study on potential flood controls for the part of the Pearl River that runs along Jackson. The Corps has narrowed its focus to two proposals, and only one of them would resemble the long-debated “One Lake” plan.
READ MORE: Corps revises Pearl River flood study, sets new comment period