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If the Mississippi Legislature does not fully fund public education this session, it will not be because of a lack of money.

As fights in past years persisted about fully funding the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the state formula that funds local school districts’ basic needs, an issue often has been whether there was enough money to accomplish the goal of full funding.

Money — or at least not having enough if it — is not the issue this year.

Thanks to an unprecedented spike in tax collections, the Legislature entered the 2023 session with an official revenue estimate that is $500 million more than the estimate used in the 2022 session to fund state government, including MAEP. And to top it off, revenue collections are another $524 million above the official estimate through February, seven months into the fiscal year.

READ MORE: Senate, Hosemann want to spend $181 million more to ‘fully fund’ public education in Mississippi

Many have called on House Speaker Philip Gunn to call a meeting of the Legislative Budget Committee to raise the estimate, giving legislators even more money to appropriate this year. As chair of the Legislative Budget Committee this year, Gunn has the sole authority to call the meeting to raise the estimate. Thus far Gunn, who has been an opponent of full funding of MAEP, has rejected those calls. But even if Gunn does not call a meeting to raise the estimate, legislators still will have half a billion dollars more to spend in the final days of this session than they had in 2022.

As the session winds down and legislative leaders meet behind closed doors to agree on a budget proposal to be voted on by the full Legislature, the issue of whether to fully fund MAEP is one of the key issues being debated and perhaps a major obstacle to a budget agreement. MAEP provides the state’s share of money for the basic needs of districts, such teacher salaries, utilities, textbooks and transportation. The MAEP formula provides a greater share of state funds to poor districts.

House Education Chair Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said the issue in fully funding MAEP is not necessarily the money. He said he supports providing more funds to public schools, but not necessarily for placing more money in the MAEP.

“I am not for putting more money in it,” Bennett said, adding he would rather it be “earmarked” for specific education programs.

READ MORE: Bill to fully fund public education heads to House for consideration. Here’s what the changes would mean.

Bennett cited the $20 million the House provided for a salary increase for teacher assistants from $17,000 annually to $20,000. Instead of adopting the House plan for a teacher assistants pay raise, the Senate opted to propose an additional $181 million to fully fund MAEP for only the third time since 2003. Placing extra education money in MAEP would give the local school districts more discretion in how the funds are spent.

The Senate passed legislation to make changes to MAEP that lowered by about $80 million the amount needed to fully fund the program. After the changes, $181 million is needed to fully fund the program. And Senate leaders said the additional cost to maintain full funding in future years would be minimal.

Bennett said it is too late in the session to consider making major changes to MAEP.

“I am in favor of looking at the program,” Bennett said. “But it should begin in the summer and involve all the stakeholders.” He said the stakeholders should include the governor’s office, educators and legislators.

Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, said this week on Mississippi Today’s “The Other Side” podcast that he has been working with local education officials for about three years on the changes that the Senate approved to the MAEP. DeBar said he had heard throughout his legislative tenure, which began in 2012, that there were problems with the formula. He said the Senate plan, to a large extent, fixes those problems.

“This has been a three-year long process to rework the formula, to get it fully funded…working with educators,” DeBar said.

Under the revisions made in the Senate, DeBar said the MAEP funding levels would be more predictable and that it would be easier to keep it fully funded.

The post Lawmakers, debating MAEP full funding, have plenty of money to spend appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Rick’s gone golfing in the great Southwest and the Ole Miss women are dancing their way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Tyler’s joined by guest co-host and WJTV’s own Blake Levine, as they break down the Rebels’ stunning win over top-seeded Stanford, their Elite 8 matchup with Louisville and try to shake the early-season baseball blues. Plus, Blake explains how a Los Angeles native and Syracuse-educated broadcaster ends up in Mississippi.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: How sweet it is for Ole Miss and ‘Coach Yo’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi call center workers and the NAACP are calling on the Biden administration to investigate equity and racial disparities at one of the country’s leading federal contractors, Maximus, which employs nearly 800 people in Hattiesburg.

The bulk of those frontline employees in Mississippi are Black women who handle customer service calls about Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.

The heads of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and union Communication Workers of America (CWA) delivered a letter Thursday on behalf of workers to the federal office charged with investigating discriminatory practices at federally contracted companies.

NAACP Director Derrick Johnson and CWA President Chris Shelton, who signed the letter, wrote that women of color at the company face barriers to move beyond the company’s lowest rungs, according to a copy obtained by Mississippi Today. The letter, addressed to Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Director Jenny R. Yang, says Maximus has failed to “address systematic racial disparities within its workforce.”

The letter alleges the company may be in violation of regulations that require federal contractors to “identify problem areas where impediments to equal employment opportunity may exist” and create programs to correct those problems. 

“I know that I am a great employee,” Daija Arrington, who has worked at the Hattiesburg call center for three years, said during a Thursday virtual press conference hosted by the NAACP and CWA. “I am someone who is willing to go above and beyond for my employer and in my job. But at Maximus, there’s just not an opportunity for me.”

Arrington said she, too, wants to see Maximus investigated by the feds. 

A report, written by NAACP and CWA, references Maximus-released workforce data that shows while 48% of its call center employees are Black and Latina women, they represent just 5% of executives. The report surveyed nearly 300 call center employees and found that more than 60% applied for higher positions. Of that number, 75% said they were turned down or never heard back. 

In response to the report and letter, Maximus said in a statement it is “committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“We continue to make significant progress with our long-term commitment to build a strong and diverse workforce,” the statement said. “We take strong issue with undocumented and uncorroborated claims and faulty research promoted in this report.”

CWA’s report comes after its ongoing efforts in both Mississippi and Louisiana to organize Maximus call center workers, who last held a strike in November. Attendees to such events are consistently women of color calling for an increase in wages. 

Maximus said its company is regularly audited by the government for its hiring and promotional practices, as well as for the diversity of its staff by location. 

“Maximus has passed every audit conducted across our locations,” the statement said. “We hold ourselves accountable, from the executive level to those working every day serving millions of Americans seeking information and connecting with essential benefits.”

Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, who attended Thursday’s virtual press conference, said he’s met with women who work at Maximus office in Hattiesburg. 

He, too, called on the Biden administration to investigate Maximus, adding “if this contractor is in violation of the intended spirit of this whole issue around equity and inclusion, to hold them accountable. Either fix it, or find us another contractor who will.”

A spokesperson with the Department of Labor said should federal contractors be found violating compliance regulations they may be subject to contract termination and disbarment for future federal contracts. 

Arrington, who has almost a decade of experience working at call centers, is in school. She said she is about a year-and-a-half away from finishing her bachelor’s degree and has held supervisors roles at other call centers. She enjoys her job at Maximus but doesn’t feel like there’s a clear pathway, or support, to land a promotion.  

“If I could get Maximus to respect me and believe in me, like I believe in them, then we can go places together,” she said. “But that takes accountability and actions on both sides. And if I am trying to meet them halfway, but they’re not willing to do so, then that is an issue.” 

The post Rep. Thompson, NAACP call for federal racial equity investigation at call center appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A bill passed unanimously by the Legislature is expected to bring some reform to Mississippi’s long-troubled mental health care system, which often strands people with mental health issues in jail with long delays in treatment and has been under scrutiny from federal authorities for years.

“House Bill 1222 provides solid solutions to national mental health issues and is so transformative that it could be a really strong model for other states to implement,” said Dr. Katherine Pannel, a psychiatrist, president elect of the Mississippi Psychiatric Association and longtime Mississippi mental health advocate.

The measure, authored by Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, would provide mental health training for Mississippi’s law enforcement, often the first point of contact for those suffering illness. It would also expand a court-liaison program, helping families dealing with the court system. It also seeks to improve cooperation between county governments and regional commissions that oversee community mental health centers.

The bill faced some realpolitik setbacks as it made its way through the Legislature. The initial version would have created a tax on vaping products that was expected to bring in $6.5 million a year, more than half of which would go to help counties house people people needed mental health services. But the GOP supermajority in the Legislature would not go for any new tax, so now the measure awaits lawmakers approval of a general appropriation. Creekmore expects the Legislature to provide about $4 million a year for the program.

At one point the bill was amended to include measures proposed by Rep. Kevin Felsher, R-Biloxi, that would have set some stringent restrictions on people with mental illness being held in jail to await treatment. It would also have allowed counties to contract for people to receive private mental health services instead of waiting in jail, with counties paying rates capped at what Medicaid would pay. These measures faced political opposition and were removed, but supporters say the final bill is a major step in the right direction for mental health reform.

“It’s not a panacea,” said Senate Public Health and Welfare Chairman Hob Bryan, D-Amory. “But one of the most important things that has happened in mental health here over the last several years is that there’s attention being focused on the problem.”

Creekmore was tasked last year with leading a House subcommittee on mental health. He is credited with working to get mental health services, law enforcement, the courts and local governments on the same page in dealing with people with mental health issues in authoring “The Mississippi Collaborative Response to Mental Health Act.”

The final version of the bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously, and awaits Gov. Tate Reeves’ signature and approval of funding in the final days of the legislative session. Creekmore said he is confident both will happen.

“Within eight years, every police officer in Mississippi will have a basic knowledge of how to deal with mental health issues, which will help keep them safer, and help others dealing with mental health crises,” Creekmore said. He said that similar training in Tennessee has greatly decreased the numbers of injuries to officers.

Mississippi Department of Mental Health Director Wendy Bailey said, “HB 1222 aims to provide assistance by both providing training for law enforcement and in helping expand programs that work to divert individuals from inpatient stays at state hospitals to community services near them.”

DMH provides Mental Health First Aid training for law enforcement. The bill would require all officers to receive this eight-hour training over the next eight years. Crisis intervention team officers would receive more intensive, 40-hour training. Creekmore said each law enforcement department would be required to have a CIT officer, or to contract with another nearby agency to have one it could call.

The bill would expand the state’s pilot court liaison program, requiring counties with 20 or more mental health commitments a year to have one, either in the local community mental health center or chancery clerk’s office. These liaisons families as they approach the court system help find treatment options other than commitment to a hospital where appropriate. Bailey said, “We have already seen positive outcomes from the pilot court liaisons over the last year.”

Creekmore said the bill would also require better reporting of mental health cases and issues on the state and local level, and revamp requirements for the state mental health board and regional commissions that help oversee community mental health centers. This will help the state better track where issues are and be able to address them, and improve coordination.

“We believe that services and supports are the shared responsibility of state and local governments, communities, family members and service providers,” Bailey said. “We’re in favor of anything that can strengthen communication, relationships and partnerships, and believe this bill aims to do exactly that.”

Bryan said: “One of the things that’s in Sam’s bill is based on something tried in Monroe, Itawamba and Lee counties. When a family member gets to the point they don’t know what to do, they go to the county clerk’s office, because they know they will do something — same as going to the emergency room, because you know they’ll do something. That starts a legal process, and commitment is necessary in some cases, but to a large extent that’s left over from a time when we didn’t know better and didn’t have any services. This will have someone from the community mental health center on call to go to the clerk’s office and talk to the family, discuss some alternatives and what things are available in the community. That conversation has had a very good effect in reducing the number of commitments, and that’s a good thing in and of itself.”

Pannel said, “We have not seen our Legislature this active on mental health and substance abuse issues in a while.”

“Representative Creekmore has been a true mental health champion in Mississippi,” Pannel said.

The post ‘Transformative’ mental health bill awaits governor’s signature, funding appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Fast Pass appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Deep South Today, a networked hub of nonprofit newsrooms serving the most challenged region of the country, was born out of a shared belief in the inherent value of important local news reporting — robust, unfettered, nonpartisan — backed by a shared commitment to the essential role local journalism plays in a democracy.

What is needed now is a visionary leader passionate about the power of information, a CEO who can refine the strategy, garner the resources, and ensure the staffing, structure and capacity-enhancing services required to support the growing needs of a rapidly evolving operation.

As a nonprofit business entity, Deep South Today is in transition from a startup to an industry model. Entrepreneurial at heart, DST will remain a locally focused organization even as it develops regional systems and national resources. 

The CEO of Deep South Today can expect to build and lead a hub with fairly classic components. Subsumed in “fundraising” is the need to develop a replicable revenue model supported through advertising.

While always respecting the editorial independence of the individual units, DST’s CEO will have both the opportunity and the mandate to develop appropriate wrap-around support, making sure the hub’s people, systems, services and funding align with the overall mission. To optimize the hub’s effectiveness, DST’s CEO must leverage data and digital resources to collective advantage while driving DST’s revenue strategy and its relationships with current and potential funders.

To help realize its ambitious mission, Deep South Today requires a proven leader with the creativity of an architect, the tenacity of a builder and the passion of an entrepreneur undaunted by the challenges ahead. 

The backing of national philanthropic partners, individual donors and a growing readership will mitigate some of the shorter-term pressures of a true start-up. Nevertheless, the CEO must complement this foundation with the relationships and building infrastructure to ensure a sustainable enterprise worthy of the ambitious mission ahead.

For example, DST Engine is an innovative audience hub under development that will deploy advanced digital technology across the network newsrooms to support audience building, content accessibility and financial management. Such a system might be out of reach for an individual newsroom, but it will be essential for a strong and growing network. 

While the focus and immediate audience for Deep South’s journalism is local, the appetite for equitable and accurate local news has traction nationally. Accordingly, the CEO must create or solidify relationships with a broad array of stakeholders across the country. Communications with such stakeholders—current and potential funders, civic and political leaders, program collaborators and the like—could easily take up half of the new executive’s capacity.

The CEO must reside within DST’s service footprint (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi or Tennessee), but the precise location is open to discussion. There are advantages to basing the CEO in either Jackson, MS, or New Orleans, but the Board is open to other considerations as well.

Read the full leadership profile here.

For potential consideration or to suggest a prospect, please email DeepSouth@BoardWalkConsulting.com or call Sam Pettway, Cynthia Moreland, or Michelle Hall at 404-BoardWalk (404-262-7392). 

The post Deep South Today seeks CEO for networked hub of nonprofit newsrooms appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Different issues, different personalities and different amounts of campaign cash. No lies there.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Ain’t Tate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Ole Miss Lady Rebels basketball team, guided by their effervescent leader Coach Yo, made history Sunday night on the far side of the continent.

Playing on top-seeded Stanford’s home floor in Palo Alto, Calif., before a highly partisan Cardinal crowd, the Lady Rebels never trailed in taking a 54-49 victory that sends them to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years.

What makes the Ole Miss accomplishment all the more significant, three-time national champ Stanford became the first top-seed to lose in the second round of the tournament since 2009. There’s a reason for that. In the NCAA women’s game, top seeds play the first two rounds at home. The event is designed to advance the highest seeds into the later rounds, which isn’t really fair. But don’t try telling the always positive Yolett McPhee-McCuin and her team that. They just out-worked, out-quicked, out-hustled and out-played a program that had been to 14 consecutive Sweet 16s and a team that had been to two straight Final Fours.

Next, the Lady Rebels go even farther from home to Seattle where they will face the winner of tonight’s Texas-Louisville game. And how does Coach Yo feel about that?

“I love Seattle,” she gushed during her postgame ESPN interview. Travel clearly does’t bother Coach Yo. She’s from the Bahamas, played college basketball in Rhode Island and has coached all over this country and in her native Bahamas, where she has even headed the men’s national team. 

Playing in by far the best women’s basketball conference in the land, these Lady Rebels achieved their 25th victory against eight defeats. That’s up from 23 victories last year and 15 the year before. Coach Yo’s first two Ole Miss teams won only 16 games combined. It has been a building process, and the construction began quietly when Vic Schaefer was a few miles away at Mississippi State making all the noise and leading the Bulldogs to two Final Fours. Now, just look at the bracket. Depending on tonight’s outcome, the Lady Rebels could be facing Schaefer and mighty Texas in the Sweet 16 at Seattle.

Coach Yo has built her program on a foundation of maximum effort and defense. The Lady Rebels defend as if their lives depend on the outcome. Again, just look at Sunday night’s boxscore.  Stanford shot a season low of 33%. Harassed from the get-go, they committed a season-high 21 turnovers. That’s defense.

Effort? The one statistic that always will tell you about effort are the rebounding numbers. The Rebels out-rebounded the taller Stanford players 44 to 39. More impressively, Ole Miss gathered 20 offensive rebounds. That’s effort. There may have been a loose ball or two that the Lady Rebels did not get, but they surely retrieved most of them. That’s effort, too.

Offensively, the Ole Miss Rebels were balanced if not pretty. Nobody scored more than 13 points, and the Rebels won despite hitting only one of 11 fourth quarter field goal tries. Freshman Ayanna Thomas, off the bench, might have been the biggest offensive spark hitting three of four three-point tries. Angel Baker scored 13, Marquesha Davis 12 and Madison Scott 11.

Not to be overlooked in this Ole Miss women’s success story is the value of having come through a grueling 16-game SEC schedule. When you go against the likes of South Carolina, LSU, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Georgia on an almost weekly basis, you either get better or you get embarrassed. The league is simply more athletic, more physical than any other when it comes to the women’s game.

This observer had to laugh when UConn’s Hall of Fame coach Gino Auriemma complained about No. 1 ranked South Carolina’s physical dismantling of his team in an 81-77 home court loss this past season. He said his players had visible bruises and that “it’s not basketball.”

Well, it is in the SEC. It sounds trite but it’s true: Only the strong survive. You should know that undefeated South Carolina’s closest call this season came not at UConn but in Oxford where the Lady Rebels lost in overtime.

And, yes, South Carolina blasted the Lady Rebels 80-51 in the SEC Tournament a couple weeks ago. This tournament is South Carolina’s to lose. Still, after tonight, there will be 16 teams standing, and one is Ole Miss.

The post Against all odds, Lady Rebels make history and knock off Stanford appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This analysis anchored Mississippi Today’s weekly legislative newsletter. Subscribe to our free newsletter for exclusive access to legislative analysis and up-to-date information about what’s happening under the Capitol dome.

Last year, when it was Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s turn to run the Legislative Budget Committee, House Speaker Philip Gunn was anxious to raise the state’s revenue estimate to grease the skids for his proposal to eliminate the income tax.

This year, Gunn’s turn to run the LBC, Hosemann wants the estimate upped to help his proposal to fully fund K-12 education.

But Gunn says he does not intend to call a meeting of legislative leaders during the final days of the 2023 session to raise the revenue estimate to give lawmakers more money to budget for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning July 1.

What a difference a year makes. This time last year, Gunn was urging Hosemann to call a meeting of the Legislative Budget Committee to raise the revenue estimate.

A key difference is that last year Gunn wanted to raise the revenue estimate to ensure enough money was available to enact the income tax elimination that he and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves coveted.

Gunn, who is not seeking re-election this year and ending his historic tenure as the first Republican speaker in the modern era, was hoping to increase the scope of the tax cut this session. But the plan was scrapped after it was rejected behind closed doors by a sizable portion of his own Republican caucus.

Now Hosemann is wanting the revenue estimate raised, in part to make it easier to enact a plan to put an additional $181 million in kindergarten through 12th grade schools and achieve full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Program for only the third time since 2003. MAEP is the funding formula that provides the state’s share of most of the basic needs of local school districts, such as teacher salaries, utilities and textbooks.

Gunn, who has the power to call the meeting this year, says he has no intention of doing so.

“No. We don’t see any reason to adjust it (revenue) at this point,” Gunn said late last week as he headed from the House floor to a meeting.

A little background might help. The speaker and lieutenant governor alternate in chairing the 14-member Legislative Budget Committee. Hosemann chaired the panel last year. Gunn is the chairman this year.

Each year in the fall the Budget Committee along with the governor meet to decide on a revenue estimate that represents the amount of money available for the Legislature to appropriate during the upcoming session for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1.

The politicians rely heavily on the recommendation of five financial experts, including the state economist and treasurer, in making the estimate. But since the estimate is of the amount the state is going to collect during for the next fiscal year, beginning in July, it is educated guesswork at best.

The Budget Committee for years has normally re-assembled in the midst of the final days of budget negotiations between House and Senate leaders to revise the estimate. They argue the later meeting during the final days of the legislative session gives the state’s financial experts an opportunity to glean more information on the outlook of revenue collections for the upcoming fiscal year.

Last year Hosemann finally called a meeting on the Friday before the weekend that was the deadline for House and Senate leaders to agree on a budget.

The legislative session is now in the final week before the deadline weekend. So, if Gunn is going to call a meeting, this is when it would occur, though he says he is not.

For a little comparison, through February of last year, seven months into the fiscal year, state revenue collections were $768.4 million or 21.5% above the estimate. During that time, the state had collected $433.3 million or 11.06% more that it collected during the same time period in the previous fiscal year.

Mississippi, like most states, has experienced and continues to experience unprecedented revenue growth. This year, revenue collections are $524.4 million or 12.4% above the estimate through February or $395.8 million or 9.1% above the amount collected the previous year.

Granted revenue collections have slowed slightly. But in past years, state leaders would have jumped at raising the estimate based on such strong collections.

And it is safe the say that if Gunn’s income tax cut was on the table for consideration during the final days of the session, he also would be jumping to call a meeting to raise the estimate.

In January on Supertalk radio, Gunn was still pitching his income tax elimination plan.

“We had about $800 million more than we were even spending, and I advocated that it was time to give some of that back to the taxpayers,” he said at the time. “We are collecting more revenue from our citizens than we’re even spending, let’s return some of that to the taxpayers.”

The post Tables turned with Gunn, Hosemann on state revenue estimate appeared first on Mississippi Today.