OurTupelo

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) has been rolling around the halls of Congress for at least two years now. With the Democrats in control of the Senate and Joe Biden in the White House, it just could not build up enough steam to get over the proverbial hill, but this year is a different matter.

So, the question again is what is it and do we really need it? At its most simple level the act would require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of registration. Sound simple enough – we don’t want undocumented immigrants voting, right? 

Lend me your eyes for just a few moments and allow me to give you a few comments from the perspective of a retired election administrator (14 years’ experience) from a mid-sized county in Mississippi. Ensuring only citizens can vote is important, but there are more cost-effective ways of doing this. For instance, how many of you have renewed your Mississippi Drivers License for the one that has “Real ID”? You had to produce a certified copy of your birth certificate, didn’t you? Not to get too far into the weeds here, but the Secretary of State’s SEMS (Statewide Election Management System) already communicates electronically with the Department of Public Safety. 

Why burden the voters, who would have to find their birth certificate, and the voter registration staff, who would have to handle and verify yet another document? There’s a high likelihood that the information already resides in a state system, which is where voter registration is designed to be managed – not at the federal level anyway.

It is already a felony to vote if you’re not a citizen. Layering on this requirement will result in an unfunded mandate, when what could be helpful from the federal government is sharing of data.

I spent my first 10 years as an election commissioner acting more like a cop, trying to enforce the law. Once a new commissioner was elected (Republican by the way) and came into the office asking a startling question: why aren’t we encouraging people to register to vote? Why are we only purging voters? At first, I said, well, because that’s our job – purging, voter roll maintenance. But then I went back to the U.S. Constitution – something every American should read at least once a year. Voting is an enumerated right. We need to ask ourselves why we would ever even consider doing anything to make it harder for people to exercise that precious right?

Let’s address the law of unintended consequences for a moment. If people aren’t registered, they can’t vote. The SAVE Act will make it harder for people to register – when you move your aging mother, father, aunt, uncle, across state lines to live with you, think about how difficult it’s going to be to get them registered to vote. For married women whose last name is not the same as is on their birth certificate – it’s no longer a simple matter for them to register to vote if the SAVE Act passes.

So, as we continue to bemoan the low turnout numbers in local elections, just remember everything we do that makes it more difficult will further discourage voters. I could bore you with statistics that show how astonishingly low voting by noncitizens really is. Like so many other issues of the day, people are getting worked up with no real facts on the table to justify the outrage. All I can offer is my opinion based on my experience – the SAVE Act seeks to fix something that just ain’t broke. Do we need the SAVE Act? No, we do not.

Trudy Berger served 14 years on the Pike County Election Commission and six years as a member of the Election Commissioners’ Association of Mississippi.

The post Former elections official explains federal law not needed to keep noncitizens from voting appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The House on Friday took advantage of Senate typos — a few errant decimal points — in a bill and sent to Gov. Tate Reeves the most sweeping overhaul in taxation in modern Mississippi history.

Despite the Senate and a large number of House members voting for the plan being accidental due to the typos, Reeves has said on social media he’ll sign it into law, and that lawmakers can work bugs out in coming years.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate, remained mum on Friday, providing no explanation of how the typos got past Senate proofers and lawyers.

The bill would eliminate the state personal income tax and strip about $2.2 billion from the state budget while raising the tax on gasoline by 9 cents a gallon over three years, with later gas tax increases coming automatically.

Opponents of the changes say the poorest state in the union can’t afford to slash a third of its budget and still provide services to citizens, and that a shift to “regressive” taxation with an increased gasoline tax will hit poor people and those of modest means the hardest.

“The rich will continue to get richer and the poor will continue to get poorer,” said Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, on Friday. On Thursday, he warned his colleagues that voting for the measure “will take your picture off the wall” in the Capitol — cost them reelection.

Because of the Senate’s typos, many lawmakers on Friday were unclear how quickly the income tax elimination will happen. The Senate when it voted on the plan intended it to take many years and hinge on economic growth “triggers” being met. But the decimal point typos essentially removed the triggers, meaning hundreds of millions of dollars in income tax revenue will have to be cut even if there is miniscule growth of a few million dollars.

At most, the Senate plan would eliminate the income tax over a little more than a decade — roughly the same timetable as House leaders had proposed. Senate leaders had called this foolhardy, and thought the counteroffer they sent to the House would have taken more like 20 years, dependent on growth.

Hosemann and the Republican Senate leadership had initially opposed a full elimination of the state’s already low income tax, calling for more cuts instead. They later agreed to elimination, but only over many years with the growth triggers as a safety — or so they thought.

Hosemann did not mention the snafu to senators when he presided over a brief session on Friday before they left for the weekend.

House Speaker Jason White on Friday afternoon issued a brief statement but did not address the typos in the Senate bill or the rope-a-dope way the tax plan got sent to the governor.

“As of today, we are Building Up Mississippi by eliminating the income tax to further our state’s competitive advantage and award our workforce!” White wrote. “HB 1 has crossed a historic hurdle and is heading to the Governor … The Mississippi House of Representatives took the vote to eliminate the tax on work three times, and each time, we picked up more and more votes. I must thank Governor (Reeves), (House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar), my fellow House colleagues, and my staff for making the most significant tax cut in Mississippi history a reality.”

Other Senate leaders on Friday said almost nothing about the mistake and operated as if everything were normal. They voted to invite conference on a separate Senate tax cut bill that remains alive. It would appear that bill is moot at this point.

Hosemann on Friday thanked the Senate for its hard work and “historical actions” this week.

The remarks prompted Sen. Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory, to cough loudly in an apparent sarcastic reference to the tax bill.

Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins said little about the situation other than he plans to meet with House leaders to “make it clear” what the Senate intended to do with the typo bill.

House Democrats on Friday decried the episode, both on the floor before a procedural “voice vote” to send the bill on to the governor, and at a press conference later. They said House members — including a dozen Democrats — were unaware of what the bill did with the typos just like the GOP controlled Senate was.

“I asked twice, twice, for an explanation of the triggers (before a Thursday House vote),” said Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, although she voted against the bill.

Before the voice vote, House Minority Leader Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, urged lawmakers not to send the measure on to the governor, but instead send it back for more negotiation. Democrats also unsuccessfully tried to force an actual recorded roll call of the vote.

“There’s a simple way to deal with this issue, they could have sent the bill back to conference for more work,” Johnson said. “But they chose to not give a damn and just sent it straight to the governor and roll the dice and not care what the outcome is. They’re just going to go with this idea that we are going to ‘stop taxing work.’ Well, let me tell you what, there won’t be any work to tax when you cut that much out of the budget.”

The Senate typo riddled bill was something of a rush job. It was presented in committee late Monday afternoon and quickly passed with little debate. It was voted on by the full Senate on Tuesday. In recent years, lawmakers have complained that hurried passage of bills forced by legislative leaders does not provide time to vet — or sometimes even read — bills before they are passed.

Reeves said on Friday that he will sign the bill into law.

“It’s a great day for Mississippi,” he wrote on social media.

The post Sweeping Mississippi tax overhaul passed … by mistake. Gov. Reeves eager to sign typo tax swap into law appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Javion Shed is nervous about his first time as a moderator. The Murrah High School senior looks the part, dressed in a blue suit with a Murrah pin on his lapel. As he takes to the stage, 11 Jackson mayoral candidates look to him expectantly as they wait for the questions to begin. 

On Thursday, teenagers from high schools across Jackson Public School District gathered in the Forest Hill Auditorium for the “Teens Take the Lead” Mayoral Candidate Forum. The forum was Shed’s idea, something born out of a desire to get his peers more civically engaged.

“We’re the age group that oftentimes, we don’t vote, or sometimes we say, ‘My one vote doesn’t matter, or I’m just the 1%,’ but it does matter,” Shed said. “Voting is an essential power that you have as an individual living right here in our capital city, and your vote can impact so much more than what you think.”  

Shed coordinated with the school district to host the event, but much of the credit is due to his perseverance. He said he emailed, called and texted with most of the candidates.

“Far too often we don’t get the chance or we don’t have the space to voice our opinions or to say, ‘OK. I want to ask the candidate this question,’” Shed said. “Eighteen is the group where students don’t particularly vote in the municipal elections, because we feel like what they say doesn’t concern me. My vote doesn’t count. I don’t have a voice. It’s not going to impact me, and the truth is it will impact you later and greater down the road.”

Shed prepared his questions based on what his peers were most concerned about: the failing water system, youth crime and changing the narrative that JPS schools are unsafe or of poor quality.

“It gave students a fresh perspective on all candidates, and they got to kind of tune in, ask their own set of questions, and they got to get a different perspective and a different outlook on the Jackson mayoral race,” Shed said.

When student representatives from schools around the city had their chance to ask questions, most were centered around justice and gun violence. Others touched on mental health, infrastructure and creating community spaces for teenagers. 

“What are some thoughts and ideas you have to improve school funding, so we have better environments for our scholars?” one Murrah student asked independent candidate Rodney DePriest.

The contractor and businessman respond with an answer about reducing crime and improving infrastructure, saying, “Without that, we will not have the jobs we need to grow a tax base. We wouldn’t have the job we need for the young people in this room to be able to have an internship, to find out the value of work and the dignity that comes with it.”

JPS Superintendent Errick L. Greene said he’s proud of Shed and his JPS scholars for taking the lead on becoming more engaged with voting and the elections. 

“It wasn’t something that was on our radar, or something that we were intending to do, but when the idea came to me, I jumped on it and said, absolutely. It’s something that I’d support,” Greene said. 

Malaya Tyler, who attends JPS-Tougaloo Early College, said this forum gave her an opportunity to hear from candidates as she makes her decision of who to cast a ballot for in her first election. 

“As a person who is voting on April 1st, it was a great opportunity for me to see each candidate and see their plans and hear what they had to bring to the city,” Tyler said.

She said she was concerned about infrastructure and higher education, as she’s on the cusp of heading to college. 

“Internships are a big thing for me and different job opportunities, just trying to see where I want to go with my future, so I feel like that was a big part for me,” she said.

But one student said he felt some of the candidates didn’t directly respond to the questions.

“I just feel as if you are a potential mayor of the city of Jackson, if you can’t give a straight answer then it’s kind of like hard for me to understand your clear vision for the future for me and for students in Jackson Public Schools and people who plan to stay in Jackson,” said Charles Travis, a student at Callaway High School and Jackson Middle College. 

Travis voted for the first time last year in the presidential elections, but he said that local elections matter just as much.

“My peers should understand a bigger picture of all elections,” Travis said. “It can affect you directly or indirectly. They should think about their family members, their fellow peers in the classroom and their future as citizens in the United States.”

The post Jackson teens ‘Take the Lead’ and the mic, confronting mayoral hopefuls about youth issues appeared first on Mississippi Today.

It was like seeing the writing on the wall and waiting for the worse to happen. 

Family members and friends said they saw signs of physical, mental and other domestic abuse, and searched for ways to keep their loved ones safe: home security, a trip out of town, a firearm. 

Some of the individuals experiencing the abuse turned to the legal system by seeking a protection order. Others looked for a way out of the harmful relationship. 

But despite best efforts, some of those relationships ended in death.

Over 300 Mississippians have died from domestic violence homicides since 2020, according to an analysis by Missisisppi Today of data from the Gun Violence Archive, the Gun Violence Memorial, news articles, court records and obituaries. 

That number includes not just those who experienced the abuse and those who perpetrated it, but also collateral harm to children, other adults and law enforcement caught in the crossfire. But it doesn’t reflect those who bear the pain and loss – children growing up without a parent, parents burying their child.

That has driven some survivors to become advocates and spread awareness about domestic violence. 

It has touched people like Renata Flot-Patterson who lost her daughter and grandson in 2021 in Biloxi, and has gone on to organize domestic violence benefit concerts and helped create a mural that honors them. 

And Tara Gandy who is teaching others about signs of abuse after her daughter’s death in 2022 in Waynesboro. 

And Elisha Webb Coker, who as a teenager watched her mother experience abuse at the hands of partners and die in front of their Jackson home. 

“It’s because the system is just the system,” the Gulfport resident said about the need for change around how domestic violence is addressed in the state. 

“My mother was murdered in 1999,” Webb Coker said. “It’s still the same.”

The Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which represents shelters, advocates and other support for survivors and victims, is backing efforts to study domestic violence deaths, with the hopes of building a better network to help people stay safe and prevent future deaths. 

What started out as a pair of bills has come down to one, Senate Bill 2886. Lawmakers will need to agree on a final proposal in conference by the end of the month and then pass both chambers before it can reach the governor’s desk. 

It’s an effort that some families of domestic violence homicide victims believe can lay out patterns of abuse and responses to it and show missed opportunities to step in.

At the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence in Biloxi, several women directly impacted by domestic violence homicide spoke to Mississippi Today. The center is supporting the legislation and has support services including a homicide survivors program.

Prince charming turned into a monster

In the wake of her daughter and grandson’s deaths, Flot-Patterson is left with questions: Why didn’t police intervene when her daughter’s former partner had served time for aggravated domestic assault? Why didn’t the hospital hold him for a mental evaluation when he threatened his child’s life?

She would like the state to pass a law that would take threats to a child’s life seriously and require the person who makes the threat – including a parent – to undergo a mental health evaluation. Flot-Patterson would name it “Brixx’s Law.” 

Her daughter Keli Mornay and her 7-month-old grandson, Brixx, were both of her babies: Mornay was the youngest of her four children and at the time Brixx was the youngest grandchild. 

Mornay had a beautiful personality and poured herself into helping others, sometimes putting them before herself, her mother said. She was family-oriented and fiercely proud of her children: Brixx and his older brothers. 

It was that nature that drew her into problematic relationships.

Mornay met Byrain Johnson and liked that he was older and had his own children and grandchildren. He was a hard worker who showed signs of being a good man, and Mornay wanted to help him become a better person, Flot-Patterson said. 

Within two months, the relationship began to go downhill and Johnson changed, Flot-Patterson said, noting earlier signs of abuse: the time he broke Mornay’s laptop. Another time  he kicked down her bathroom door and took her clothes. It escalated to threats of violence and physical abuse. 

“He was like the prince charming at first and then he turned into the monster that basically ruined everybody’s lives in my circle,” Flot-Patterson said. 

In February 2020 during the drive home from a trip, Johnson and Mornay argued and he beat her and left bruises, cuts and broken teeth, Flot-Patterson said. But it was her daughter who was charged with domestic violence and spent a night in jail – charges brought by Johnson, according to court records shared with Mississippi Today. 

In a domestic abuse protective order Johnson filed against Mornay, he listed a number of allegations, including violence and how she filed false charges against him. A judge denied the order because Johnson did not prove the allegations. 

Mornay’s charge was dropped after her parents took her to the hospital and additional information was submitted to police, including pictures of Mornay’s injuries, Flot-Patterson said. 

That night in jail, Mornay was given a pregnancy test and learned she was expecting. 

Flot-Patterson remembers telling her that a child would tie her to Johnson for life. Her family and friends already feared for her safety. But Mornay said a child is what she needed to get her life back on track. 

“She said, ‘This baby is going to ground me.’ Those were her words,” Flot-Patterson said. 

Yvonne Del Rio met Mornay in 2018 when she relocated to the Coast after divorcing a partner who she said abused her physically, emotionally and financially for over 20 years. 

She said Mornay’s personality and smile radiated like sunshine, and they became close. Del Rio was also concerned about how Johnson treated her and was scared for Mornay’s safety when her friend shared her pregnancy. 

As threats to Mornay’s safety escalated, her family helped her get security cameras and locks at her home. 

When Brixx was several months old, Mornay went to court and was awarded joint custody with her as the primary, custodial parent. 

A few weeks before their deaths, police came to Mornay’s home where Johnson had showed up uninvited, assaulted her in front of her infant and 10-year-old son and yelled at the boy. 

Johnson then left with Brixx, and police and others had to negotiate with Johnson, who over the phone threatened to kill himself and the infant, before police detained Johnson and returned Brixx to Mornay, court documents state. 

Police took Johnson to the hospital because of the threats he made, but Mornay told Flot-Patterson he was released without a mental evaluation or arrest. 

“Me and my family have had enough and are terrified of what he may do next,” Mornay hand wrote in a May 28, 2021, petition for a domestic abuse protection order in Harrison County. 

“His behavior is extremely violent and out of control.” 

Mornay’s parents helped arrange for her and her sons to leave for Utah. The older boys would stay with their father and Mornay and Brixx would stay with some of her childhood friends. 

The court approved an emergency protective order and within a week, it was served to Johnson. 

Days later on June 6, 2021, Flot-Patterson remembers seeing a missed call from her 14-year-old grandson. She tried to reach him, but didn’t get an answer, so Flot-Patterson tried calling Mornay’s phone. 

Instead of her daughter on the other end, it was Johnson, who had broken into Mornay’s home. He told Flot-Patterson he killed her daughter and that he and the children would be dead. 

Flot-Patterson and her husband raced to Mornay’s Biloxi home. Police found her dead from a gunshot wound and Johnson was dead after turning the gun on himself, but not before shooting Brixx. The baby was still alive and rushed to the hospital but died before he could be transported out of state for more intensive care. 

Mornay’s older sons had run from the home to safety and called 911. 

“When she died, I said, ‘This baby grounded you.’ That’s the first thing that came to mind when the police told me she was dead,” Flot-Patterson recalled. 

In 2021, at least 50 other people died in domestic violence incidents across the state. 

Flot-Patterson learned more about the abuse Mornay endured through pictures on her daughter’s phone, the text messages she sent and journal entries.

Years later Flot-Patterson still has questions about how the situation Mornay was in was allowed to escalate until it was deadly. 

Johnson served nearly six months for aggravated domestic violence against another person, according to Harrison County jail records. Why didn’t police arrest him each time they were called to Mornay’s with that charge on his record? Flot-Patterson asks. 

Why wasn’t Johnson held at the hospital and given a mental health evaluation after making threats to his son’s life and his own, she wonders. 

During grief, Flot-Patterson dove into sharing her daughter’s story and raising the issue of domestic violence, including organizing concerts to benefit the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence and establishing a foundation in Mornay’s name. 

She is at the point now that whatever she can do to bring awareness and education about domestic violence, she will do it. Flot-Patterson has had conversations with survivors and met families of other domestic violence homicide victims. 

“This is surreal, and I’m not the only one,” she said about meeting other families who lost someone to domestic violence. “I’m not the only one suffering.”

Memories of her daughter is all she has left

Joslin Napier didn’t want to be treated differently as she lived with sickle cell disease. The condition took a toll on her body when she became pregnant and gave birth to her son in 2019.  

“She wouldn’t let her sickle cell stop her,” her mother, Tara Gandy, said. “The thing I thought was going to hurt her the most was not what hurt her.”

Chance Jones, an ex-partner, faces a capital murder charge for shooting Napier on Oct. 4, 2022, while in commission of a burglary. His indictment came on the year anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

He has also been indicted for aggravated domestic violence for an incident in June 2022, when he pointed a gun at Napier and stomped on her head, according to court records.  An indictment came Oct. 12, 2022 – less than a week after Napier’s death. 

Napier is among the nearly 40 people who died in 2022 in domestic violence incidents in Mississippi. 

Gandy declined to comment about her daughter’s case that is set to go to trial in May.

Prosecutors plan to present to the jury evidence of domestic violence allegations Napier made against Jones to give the jury “a full picture of the circumstances” around her death, according to an August 2024 filing. 

The state noted six times when police were called to Napier’s home about Jones within a span of six months.  

When she ended the relationship in April 2022, Napier told police Jones came to her home in the early hours of the morning, banged on the door and threatened to hurt her. He broke in through the front door, flipped over her nail salon tables and shelves and took her car keys. 

Napier took action, filing for a protective order against him and purchasing a firearm, court records state.

Jones was also arrested twice, in May and August 2022, accused of violating the protection order. 

Gandy said there was a lot of guilt and grief their family had to face, and they continue to navigate her loss. 

Napier, the only girl of her family, was a butterfly who made you feel welcomed, said Gandy. She taught herself how to do makeup and nails professionally and was in the process of getting her nail technician license. 

Napier was also a loyal friend who saw the good in others – something Gandy said she taught her daughter. Like her mother, she also saw potential in others and often fell in love with that potential. 

Gandy has let the pain of her daughter’s death push her into purpose. She has been spreading awareness about domestic violence, joining groups and sharing tools and resources – all of which she wished she had access to earlier to help Napier. 

She’s also a domestic abuse survivor herself and uses that experience to help others. 

“So I keep my daughter’s memories alive, because those are the things that I have left,” Gandy said.

‘I feel like the system failed us’ 

The loss from domestic violence widens with the inclusion of family violence. 

Webb Coker remembers her mother, Patrice, as a smart, strong woman who taught her so much. She was a parent, but also a best friend. 

Patrice Webb worked to support her family while also pursuing her dreams: to become a nurse and help people with mental health issues. 

She was killed in Jackson Sept. 24, 1999 by her partner, Gregory Ephfrom, who hit her on the head, pushed her out of his car and ran her over on Powers Avenue. 

Webb Coker said her mother’s death shattered the lives of her and her younger sister and brother, who were spread across the country to live with their fathers and other family members. 

Looking back, she said there were missed opportunities to intervene. Her mother sought help for the domestic abuse and shared with family members, including Webb Coker, that she was scared. 

“I feel like the system failed us,” Webb Coker said. 

Ephrom was initially charged with first degree murder, according to Clarion Ledger stories in 1999, but weeks later that charge was reduced to manslaughter. 

He pleaded guilty to a reduced sentence and received 10 years, with most of it suspended. Webb’s family thought he had served at least a year, but WLBT reported last year that he was in jail for four days. 

Webb Coker was upset, but she wanted to use her grief and anger to advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, which she has experienced herself in relationships. 

She is studying to become a nurse, following in her mother’s footsteps.

Webb Coker’s children ask about their grandmother and like to hear stories about her. 

But it’s also been an opportunity to teach them about domestic violence and dating violence, especially because she has a 21-year-old son and five girls ranging in age from 8 to 18. Some of the older children witnessed former partners abuse Webb Coker. 

“The red flags: I have to pay attention to this time,” she said. 

‘These people make choices … that impact us’

Domestic violence doesn’t always involve intimate partners. Sometimes it can be between family members.

Van Marske‘s death came at the hands of his son, Noble, in September 2021. Noble, who is now 45, pleaded guilty to second degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in 2023 and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Marsha Schmitt carries around a folded program from Van Marske’s funeral service because she likes the picture of him. It’s a reminder of her younger brother who was a woodworker, carpenter and fisherman. He was someone she depended on. 

He brought his adult son to live with him when Noble was battling addiction and having other troubles, Schmitt said. 

But over the years, Noble Marske began to threaten his father. She knew her brother was scared and was trying to get his son to move out of the house, and he tried to file a restraining order. Schmitt said that was not successful, and her brother was told he could not get one because Noble lived with him. 

In Mississippi, family members related by blood or marriage who currently or previously lived together can apply for a domestic abuse protection order. 

“(But) my brother never believed up to the end that he would actually do it,” Schmitt said about her nephew’s threats against his father. 

Van Marske went missing after Labor Day, and nearly a week later authorities searched a marsh area in Harrison County – where Noble Marske told police his father went fishing – and found Van Marske buried in a shallow grave. 

In a statement given in court during her nephew’s guilty plea, Schmitt said he does not deserve to be called “Noble” because of what he did. She added, during an interview with Mississippi Today, that Noble was her mother’s name and she doesn’t believe her nephew is worthy of it.

“He chose, and that’s what’s important here,” Schmitt said about her nephew’s actions. 

“These people choose. And we have to remember that their choices impact us.”

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Today, after months of campaigning on “giving education back to the states,” President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to totally dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

There are serious questions of constitutionality that will need to be worked out in the courts, and Congress likely needs to sign off on the elimination of a federal agency. Who knows if this, like so much of what Trump and Elon Musk have been cutting, will actually go through. 

Nonetheless, Trump kept another major campaign promise — one that was directly forecasted in the Project 2025 manifesto that Trump’s top advisers helped write. Congratulations to you, I suppose, if you think this is a good idea.

My plea to you now: Play this out a little further and consider the critical, unanswered questions about what this is going to mean for states like Mississippi.

Let’s acknowledge this frankly: Our track record running our own public education system is god-awful. Last time Mississippi managed its own schools system without the federal agency in place, it was failing dramatically:

• Educational standards set by state leaders were woefully low. How low? Routinely, the Mississippians lucky enough to earn high school diplomas were illiterate when they entered the workforce. That low.
• Schoolhouses were falling in and barely usable, hungry kids were too ill to return to class, and special education programs for our most vulnerable students literally did not exist.
• Traditionally overlooked communities were wildly undereducated, with fewer than half of rural Mississippians and fewer than half of Black Mississippians holding high school diplomas.
• The political power structure set or influenced state’s curricula. Just one example of how this played out: In America’s Blackest state and the heart of the civil rights movement, public school students were only taught one white version of history. Can we really feel OK about that?

In so many ways, the founding of the U.S. Department of Education in 1979 created transformational guardrails for Mississippi that curtailed most of these travesties. Yes, we implemented our own changes at the state level, and yes, nothing is perfect now. But without the critical framework of the federal agency and its funding prowess, we never would have taken those steps. For decades now, only because of the federal agency, we have been assured that:

• Poor, rural school districts would get the funds they needed — funds they weren’t getting from legislative leaders of America’s poorest state.
• Critical special education — programs that did not exist because they were not being funded by Mississippi — would be funded with that money being distributed equitably.
• Annual standardized testing would show us whether we were ahead of, on par with, or falling behind the performance of students in other states. You remember the “Mississippi miracle,” the dramatic reading improvements that were a key point of pride for virtually every 2023 political campaign? We literally wouldn’t know the miracle existed without this critical federal benchmarking.
• Adequate funds would be distributed to ensure that students of marginalized communities — minorities, migrants, students with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness — got the extra support they needed to succeed, and the white political power structure wouldn’t focus only on students who looked like them.

Look, we have the right to know that our tax dollars are being spent efficiently and appropriately. Looking under the hood is indeed desperately needed across government at every level.

And truly, what better way to spend those dollars than on the education of our children? In so many ways, our state’s future hinges more on this basic function of government than any other spending. Do you want a stronger economy? More jobs and better jobs? Vibrant and well-run towns and cities? Functioning health care and economic systems? There’s no room for debate: All of that starts with providing our children with a quality education.

So call me cynical, liberal or just plain crazy, but as we’re staring down the barrel of one of the most dramatic public policy shifts in American history with this latest move by the White House, we need to get so many questions answered, or Mississippi could be set so far back in time that we’ll never recover. Our kids’ livelihoods are on the line here, and our collective success as a state is at stake.

Here are a few of those critical questions that come to mind.

Can Mississippi really manage up to $1.5 billion in federal funds on our own?

Mississippi, the state that relies more on the federal dollar than any other state, right now ranks 45th in the nation in public education funding. That’s already far too low.

But included in that total is $1.5 billion that the U.S. Department of Education sends Mississippi each year. If you’re counting at home, that represents 30% of the state’s annual spending on public education. That money is split up into grants and other specifically designated programs, so the state has little leeway in deciding how it can be spent. 

Trump and his administration have given virtually no specifics of how this post-DOE iteration of things will work — an extremely concerning reality in itself — but experts suggest that instead of funds being sent to states through the federal agency, Congress would send that money directly to the state in the form of block grants — or grants that have some general parameters on how they can be spent but fewer strings attached by way of accountability. One would assume that the Mississippi  Departments of Education would take on the responsibility of doling this funding out.

This is where Mississippi’s education structure comes into play. Our state Department of Education is run by the Board of Education, a nine-member political board appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House. If these Trump-decreed changes go into effect, these nine people seemingly will, overnight, have a $1.5 billion weight on their shoulders.

We have every right to be concerned that these board members would act as if they were beholden to the politicians who appointed them — a long-standing reality across our state government system that has harmed Mississippians in just so many ways. The potential for corruption and misspending here is immense. (In case you’re wondering about Mississippi’s recent track record on doling out federal block grant funding, ask the handful of people who are awaiting federal sentencing in the state’s welfare embezzlement how they’re doing lately.)

A few more money-related questions that no one seems to be asking: How often will the feds send us this money — monthly, quarterly, annually in one lump sum? How quickly might it then make its way to school districts that desperately need it to provide these critical educational services? Who is watching our leaders to ensure the money is being spent how Congress dictates and how Mississippians need? Will Congress or our state Legislature create some sort of guardrails to ensure misspending doesn’t become commonplace? Without federal lobbying that happens on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education each year, will Congress appropriate the same amount of funding for Mississippi? Will anyone in the Mississippi power structure stand up if political influence of this spending becomes a problem?

Can Mississippi really be trusted to spend federal funds appropriately?

Yes, the U.S. Department of Education controls so much of how the federal funding gets spent. Again, in so many cases, that is a necessary and good thing, especially considering Mississippi’s problematic record spending federal dollars effectively.

Here’s just a sampling of what Mississippi receives from the U.S. Department of Education in fiscal year 2024, according to a Legislative Budget Office report that was requested by state Rep. Daryl Porter and shared with Mississippi Today:

• $236 million for Title I grants aimed at improving academic achievement and providing a high-quality education to students from low-income families. 

In the 2021-22 school year, 737 of 1,040 schools in Mississippi were eligible for Title I funds. What could go wrong in Mississippi, the state home to the very most children living in poverty, without this funding?

• $134 million for special education grants — the vast majority of the state’s overall special education program spending. 

Last year, the federal government deemed Mississippi in need of consecutive years of assistance to meet the goals of the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act, which was passed to create better outcomes and opportunities for people with disabilities.

• $56 million to provide vocational services for individuals with disabilities so that they may prepare for and engage in competitive integrated employment or supported employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Again, an area of need in Mississippi that could not be met in any other way than through federal education grants.

• $29 million for Effective Instruction State Grants, which aim to reform teacher and principal certification programs, provide support and professional development for teachers and principals. Other aims of this grant include recruiting and retaining effective teachers and principals, providing professional development for teachers and principals, and reducing class size. 

Our state, which has for years been dealing with a critical teacher shortage, has one of the lowest average teacher salaries in the nation. These certification programs provide salary increases to teachers and better prepare them for the challenges they face in the classroom. God knows what it would mean for them if federal assistance disappeared.

• $10 million for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which serves as the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to afterschool programs.

Getting kids into afterschool programs not only increases their ability to succeed in the classroom, it keeps them entertained and deters them from committing crime.

So, a few more questions: Will anyone — Congress, the state Legislature, the governor, anyone — closely monitor how our Board of Education will spend these important federal funds? Can we trust Mississippi officials to treat every Mississippi child equally in funding schools and education programs? Can we continue our special education programs? Can we sustain support for rural districts and special education? Can we fully support our teachers?

As you can see, there are endless questions and few answers. A concerning reality is that no one, seemingly, has these answers. Perhaps the most concerning reality is no one in Mississippi leadership has tried to find the answers.

We’ve known for months that this was Trump’s play. He’s promised it. Yet to date, the Mississippi Board of Education has not publicly discussed any of this in a public meeting. The state Legislature, too busy fighting over cutting state revenue and spending, has not debated the federal education cut publicly. Congress has obviously not vetted this at all, and the federal courts have yet to weigh in. 

As is the case with so many other things that Trump has done in the past two months, we don’t know what’s happening. That is by design.

But we Mississippians better figure it out. Because of our past failures, the burden on us here is heavier than in most places. The future of Mississippi is on the line here, and we must get this right — and quickly.

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Mississippi Senate leaders have said a House plan to eliminate the state income tax over about a decade was foolhardy, and instead proposed a much longer, more cautious approach.

But the Senate had a few typos in the bill — errant decimal points — that instead of drawing out the phase out of the income tax would speed it up, nearly as fast as the House proposal, multiple lawmakers confirmed to Mississippi Today.

The House ran with it. It realized the Senate’s error and passed the measure on Thursday.

Now, if the House leadership wanted, it could send the measure to Gov. Tate Reeves, who could sign it into law. The measure was held on a procedural motion that could allow the House to reconsider and continue negotiations.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Tate Reeves went radio silent after the House unexpectedly concurred with the Senate proposal on Thursday morning. Early Thursday afternoon, House and Senate leaders were meeting behind closed doors, and many lawmakers had no idea about the snafu.

Later Thursday afternoon, Reeves posted on social media that he was looking forward to receiving the bill on Friday and signing it into law and, “Today is a day for celebration!”

Hosemann and White’s offices on Thursday afternoon did not immediately respond to a request for comments about the situation.

The intent of the Senate’s “cautious” plan to eliminate the state individual income tax over many years would only eliminate it if economic growth “triggers” were met. After an initial four-year reduction in the income tax rate, the triggered phase out would require revenue growth to far outpace spending.

READ MORE: House votes to send Senate income tax elimination plan to governor. But is debate really over?

But instead of saying revenue growth over spending reached 85% of the cost of a drop in income tax, the bill accidentally said .85%. This means a very small amount of growth would trigger large income tax cuts, eliminating it far quicker than the Senate had wanted. Similar typos were in other metrics of the trigger language.

Jared Walczak, Vice President of State Projects at the Tax Foundation, said the error could have harmful consequences for Mississippi’s economy.

“If implemented as-is, the law could trigger tax cuts when Mississippi can’t afford them,” Walczak wrote in a social media post. “Twenty-eight states have cut (personal income tax) rates since 2021, including Mississippi. They’ve mostly done so responsibly. With this drafting error, the Mississippi legislation would break from that pattern of responsible tax relief and could put the state in a very rough spot.”

It’s unclear whether the House would really send a bill with obvious unintentional flaws — dealing with a major overhaul in the state’s taxation — to the governor.

Another bill remains alive — the one with the House’s most recent counter offer — before the Senate.

Lawmakers could reconsider passage of the bill with typos, or let it die, and hold more negotiations between the House and Senate. Or, both chambers could unanimously agree to fix the typos and send what the Senate originally intended to the governor.

Or, the largest tax cut in Mississippi history, coupled with one of the largest (gasoline) tax increases, could become the law of the land because of a few typos. If it did become law, lawmakers could come back sometime in the next four years before the growth triggers take effect and change them.

In Reeves’ social media post he said: “I hear there are those who desire future tweaks to this law, and those can certainly be considered in future legislation.” He thanked White and House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar.

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The House on Thursday morning voted 92-27 to agree with the Senate’s latest proposal to eliminate the state income tax and increase the gasoline tax.  

But the House GOP leadership held the bill on a motion to reconsider, and another version of the tax bill remains alive. After the House passed the measure, the top legislative leaders and the governor went quiet, and declined to comment.

“Let’s end the tax on work once and for all in the state of Mississippi,” House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar said.

If the measure does become law, then oddly, a handful of Senate Democrats would have been crucial in passage of the largest tax cut in state history, and a sea change towards more regressive taxation that puts more burden on the poor and those of modest means through increased consumption taxes.

The vote was a surprise. The House and Senate up until the vote had appeared to still be far apart on particulars of a tax overhaul. The bill approved Thursday was held on a motion to reconsider by the GOP House leadership, and Gov. Tate Reeves, House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann all declined comment on the issue — bizarre for such monumental policy.

It’s unclear whether Reeves would sign the measure if it makes it to his desk.

Despite calling for elimination of the income tax, Gov. Reeves has in the past vehemently opposed “tax swap” increases in gasoline or sales taxes along with cuts, and has declined comment on whether he would support the House or Senate proposals with included tax increases. He has not publicly offered any specific plan of his own as lawmakers haggle.

Senate Finance Chair Josh Harkins said he and Lamar exchanged text messages Thursday morning, and Lamar indicated a motion to concur might be coming. Harkins sees the motion to reconsider as a procedural hurdle, and that the Senate bill wouldn’t change.

“I think they passed the negotiated version, I think that’s the final version that you’re going to see. That was a product our talks and discussion,” Harkins said. “I’m pleased that they concurred on the changes that we made and came up with through discussions. They’ve got one more hurdle to clear with tabling the motion to reconsider, and then it will be more final than it is right now.”

In  their conversation on Thursday, Harkins said Lamar was excited about getting a final product across the finish line: “I think he was relieved after a lot of work on this over the last several years,” Harkins said. “Their goal was elimination, and they got a plan to eliminate.”

Rep. Karl Oliver, a Republican from Winona who is part of House leadership, held the bill on a procedural motion, meaning lawmakers could still debate and work on the proposal before it goes to the governor’s office for consideration. This would be a somewhat odd move if the Republican House leadership wanted to move the bill on to be signed into law.

The proposal would decrease the 4% income tax rate by .25% each year from 2027 to 2030 and leaves it at 3% in 2030. After it reaches 3%, the income tax would be reduced with “growth triggers” or at a proportional rate depending on the difference between the state’s revenue and spending plans that year. 

The proposal also would reduce the sales tax on groceries from 7% to 5%, increases the 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax by 9 cents over three years and change benefits for government employees hired after March 2026 to a more austere retirement plan.

Gov. Reeves and Speaker White, a Republican from West, have forcefully pushed lawmakers to eliminate what they refer to as the “tax on work.” Hosemann and the Senate had been reluctant on full elimination of the tax, urging caution in uncertain economic times and calling for only a cut to the tax instead. However, the Senate this week had passed a counter offer, that would eliminate the income tax over many years, provided economic growth “triggers” are met along the way.

The plan the House voted to send to the governor — pending the holding motion — on Thursday would increase the tax on gasoline by a total of 9 cents a gallon over three years, then increase along with road construction prices thereafter. The House had at first proposed a 5% sales tax on gasoline, then countered with a 15 cents a gallon increase.

The Senate had refused to entertain the House’s proposal to include an increase in the state’s sales tax. The latest House offer would have increased sales taxes from 7% to 8%. It’s original proposal would have increased it to 8.5%/

Mississippi is perennially among the most federally dependent states, receiving nearly a 3-1 return for every dollar in federal taxes it pays. Some Democratic lawmakers have said that, given the uncertainty surrounding the federal spending cuts, now is not the time to drastically rework the state’s tax code. Others had warned that a shift from income taxes to higher sales and gasoline taxes would help the wealthy and hurt those of more modest means and retirees.

The Senate’s “compromise” it passed this week — the first time the chamber had agreed to the House’s demands for income tax elimination instead of just cuts — barely squeaked by. It would have failed, due to a handful of Republicans opposing it or voting only present, had four Democrats not crossed the aisle and voted for it.

The Republicans opposed it primarily because it increases the gasoline tax. Four Senate Democrats crossed over and supported it for the same reason — they want a gas tax increase to pay for fixing roads.

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The mayoral candidates at the forum agreed: Poverty in Jackson is a reflection of how the government distributes its resources. 

Where they differed, however, was over where those resources should be targeted, if the city or state government is more responsible, and whether the current mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, has been doing enough to create economic opportunity in the city. 

At the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign forum on Wednesday night, poverty was the first of several topics discussed, including water, public safety, affordable housing and empowering the city’s youth. 

Six democratic mayoral candidates, who will face off in the April 1 primary against six others who did not attend, were asked about their specific plan to eradicate poverty in Jackson. They answered from left to right in the order in which they were seated, and their answers are listed here in that order. 

The first to go, Marcus Wallace, a former mayor of Edwards, focused on what the city of Jackson could be doing to invest its $334 million budget in local businesses. Owner of a local construction firm, Wallace said he has been contracting with the city for 27 years, and it hurts him to see out-of-town companies taking work that could be done by Jacksonians. 

“We should do a better job in the city of protecting and preserving our businesses,” he said. 

Likewise, businesses should be incentivized to create more jobs in Jackson, said candidate Tim Henderson, a retired air force lieutenant colonel and U.S. Space Force consultant. He also advocated for raising the city’s minimum wage to $20 an hour. 

“We’ve gotta create those economic opportunities in south Jackson, as well west Jackson and northwest Jackson to give people an opportunity to make their money at home and not spend all their money traveling to Madison, Flowood and the other surrounding areas,” Henderson said.

Lumumba said that every city talks about incentivizing business, but he questioned whether businesses have the same care for the city, referencing the departure of Walmart-owned wholesale chain Sam’s Club.

“When Sam’s was in Jackson, they did very well,” he said. “The unfortunate thing was that they didn’t have value in our community, and they assumed when they moved to Madison that you would follow.” 

The city can also use revolving loan programs to invest in areas that banks won’t, he added. 

“The Fondrens, Belhavens and downtowns of the city of Jackson are considered ‘investor ready,’” he said. “It’s our communities that are often left in the fray.” 

Candidate Socrates Garrett, a longtime city and state contractor, spoke from experience when he said it is hard to build a business as an African American in the poorest city in the poorest state in the nation, even though a majority of Jacksonians are African American.

“If I was in Seattle, or if I was in Maryland, the whole opportunity would be tremendously different,” he said. “But in Jackson, Mississippi, it is twice as difficult, even though we are the majority in this city, and we’ve got to figure out why that is.” 

(Jackson is not the poorest city in the state by every metric, but its median household income of about $42,000 – which falls under a living wage – is lower than that of the state’s at $54,000.) 

“We don’t have an economy of Jackson, that’s the problem,” Garrett said. 

But the mayor can work to fix that, Garrett continued, by using his power to award city contracts to local minority-owned businesses. And Lumumba, he said, was not doing that enough. 

“Any contract under $50,000, this city has the ability to pick up the telephone and call three businesses of their choice,” Garrett said. “Without a bid, without anything other than just pick up the phone and call, and yet I don’t see no minority businesses.” 

The city can fund minority businesses even with a request-for-proposal process, he added. 

“It’s a puny contest. You choose who you want to do that work, and the mayor let folks get in his ears, started giving away the power of that office when he started going through his blind process,” Garrett said, referencing the city’s practice of scoring contract proposals without the names of the vendors attached. “We need a mayor that has his foot on what’s going on in Jackson and make sure that our people are working and that these contracts are benefitting them. Under my leadership, we will build and create our own economy with the dollars that we have.” 

In fact, much of Lumumba’s second term has been dominated by a battle with the city council over replacing the white-owned corporate behemoth Waste Management, who had long held the city’s garbage collection contract, with Richard’s Disposal, the Louisiana-based, minority-owned firm Lumumba’s staff selected. 

The mayor eventually prevailed with Richard’s Disposal receiving a 6-year, $64 million contract in 2024, Clarion Ledger reported.

Delano Funches, a personal injury attorney, talked about the power the federal government has to address poverty when he said Jackson should work with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create more affordable housing.

In contrast, David Archie, former Hinds County supervisor, mostly focused on the role of the state. He asked if everyone in the room understood that while Jackson is a Democratic city, the state is run by Republicans.

“With the biggest bank of free money that goes all over this state other than to Jackson, Mississippi,” he said. “That’s the first thing that you got to understand.” 

Number two, Archie said, is that the jobs are in Jackson, but the congestion on I-55 in the mornings and evenings is proof that Jackson’s jobs are not going to Jacksonians. 

“They come to Jackson to drain us every day like a vacuum cleaner, and nobody is saying anything about it,” he said.

On rebuttal, Lumumba got a chance to respond to Garrett. He reminded the audience that the biggest contract in this city does, in fact, go to a minority business — Richard’s Disposal. 

But Richard’s Disposal winning the contract was not about enriching individuals, he said. 

“I don’t have anything against a minority business that wants to do well, but my goal isn’t to make you rich, my goal is to make wealth generate in the community, right, and those are the things that we have to stand on,” he said. 

Timing of the years-long garbage conflict, in which Lumumba made bribery allegations against council members, seems to coincide with the FBI’s corruption investigation and undercover sting operation in Jackson that ensnared former Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee, who pleaded guilty, as well as outgoing Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks and Lumumba, both of whom pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. 

“The reason we had to do a blind bidding process is people are more loyal to their political connections,” Lumumba said, “than to a process that gave legitimate opportunity.” 

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