Two potential charter schools in the Mississippi Delta and Canton made it to the final step of the application process, officials announced Monday.
The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board approved the applicants to move forward at their regular board meeting on Monday afternoon:
SR1, a K-5 school to open in the Canton Public School District that would serve 450 students
Voices for Education, a proposed 300 student school for grades 7-12 in North Bolivar Consolidated School District.
Southwest Leadership Academy also submitted an application, but failed to meet all but one of the application thresholds, according to the board. SR1 is the only operator who applied in last year’s process but was denied for various reasons.
Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America
Students step off the school bus to attend Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School.
The most recent charter approved was Leflore Legacy Academy, serving grades 6-8 by 2023. It will open this school year as a middle school with just sixth grade in the Greenwood Public School District. This past school year, Mississippi had six operating charter schools – five in Jackson and one in Clarksdale.
Charters are public schools that do not charge tuition, and are held to the same academic and accountability standards as traditional public schools. By law, charter schools have the capacity for more flexibility for teachers and administrators when it comes to student instruction. Unlike traditional public schools, charters do not have school boards or operate under a local school district, although they are funded by school districts based on their enrollment.
Charter schools can apply directly to the authorizer board if they’re planning to open in a D or F district. If an operator wants to open in an A, B, or C district, they need to get approval from the local school board.
Each year the authorizer board goes through a months-long process to screen potential operators and grant them the authority to open a school in Mississippi. This year the timeline for the 2020 application cycle has been slightly pushed back because of the pandemic.
Operators submitted their applications in June. The board announced the schools moving forward on Monday afternoon. These potential operators will hold public meetings in mid-September and go through interviews and evaluations with the board and an outside evaluator, who looks at the applications on the merits of their educational program and proposed financial and operations program. The board’s final decisions will be announced on October 12.
Good Tuesday morning everyone! Temperatures are in the mid to upper 70s across North Mississippi. We will see partly sunny skies, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph. There is a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms mid to late morning through the afternoon. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A chance of showers and thunderstorms will be possible tonight as well, with mostly cloudy skies, and a low around 72.
The chance of showers and thunderstorms will go up through the remainder of the week. Some thunderstorms could be strong with gusty winds and heavy downpours
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Gov. Tate Reeves and former AG Jim Hood
During last year’s gubernatorial election, Republican candidate Tate Reeves could not find much positive to say about his Democratic opponent Jim Hood’s four terms as state attorney general.
But now Gov. Reeves is relying heavily on a 2009 official opinion from Hood’s AG office to ensure the public schools are funded during this unprecedented time in state history when the kindergarten through 12th grade education system has effectively no legislative appropriation.
The fact that this non-funding is occurring while local districts are struggling with decisions over if and when to start the school year in the midst of COVID-19 only exacerbates the uniqueness of the problem.
The Legislature in late June did provide a $2.5 billion budget for education. But Reeves partially vetoed about $2.2 billion of the appropriation because the budget bill did not provide funds for the School Recognition Program, which provides essentially Christmas bonuses for teachers and certified staff of top performing and improving school districts.
Before Reeves vetoed the bill, House Education Chair Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said the Legislature’s failure to fund the program was an oversight and that it would be fixed.
“We informed the governor’s staff that legislative clarification will easily fix this matter and that a veto was unnecessary,” Bennett said.
At that point, Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said the governor should have declared victory. But instead, Reeves decided “to grandstand” by partially vetoing the education budget, Bryan said. Coincidentally, the bulk of the $2.2 billion vetoed portion of the bill went for teacher salaries – all of their salaries not just the merit bonuses.
Reeves argued the veto was the best way to ensure the teachers received their merit pay bonuses, which as he points out were promised in earlier sessions.
Now almost a month into the new fiscal year, Reeves is citing the 2009 opinion from Hood to maintain he has the authority to provide funding on his own for the schools.
Hood, as Mississippi’s chief legal officer, maintained that while it is clear that the sole responsibility to appropriate state funds rests with the Legislature, there are certain services spelled out in the state Constitution that must be provided regardless of whether there is a legislative appropriation.
Indeed, the Constitution does mandate that there be public schools.
The question is at what level should the system be funded? Reeves reasoned, again based on the opinion of his former rival, that it should be funded at the level it received in the last legislative appropriation, which was in the 2019 session.
That is what Reeves said he is currently doing.
“Because the providing of funds for schools by the state is a constitutional issue, I have provided a letter…to make the transfer…There will be a transfer to the local school districts,” Reeves said
The 2009 AG’s opinion was written in the middle of a monumental standoff between then-Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, and a Democratic Party-controlled House. Barbour wanted a tax imposed on the state’s hospitals. The House opposed the Barbour plan.
The disagreement on the hospital tax resulted in the inability to reach an overall budget accord on issues ranging from health care to law enforcement to education.
In 2009, the opinion was a legal theory but never was put into practice because of a late night budget agreement only hours before the clock struck midnight on July 1 to start a new fiscal year.
This year, Hood’s opinion is no longer a theory but the law of the land unless it is challenged in court and struck down by the judiciary.
In recent weeks the Legislature has been beset by a COVID-19 outbreak within its own ranks, further exacerbating an already difficult situation. But at some point the Legislature will return to deal with Reeves’ veto of the education budget. Legislators’ options then will include:
Doing nothing and hoping how the schools are currently being funded without a legislative appropriation will hold up if challenged in court.
Overriding the governor’s veto.
Overriding the governor’s veto and passing a separate bill to provide the bonuses for teachers.
Passing a new appropriation bill, that includes the School Recognition Program.
If the Legislature does opt to override Reeves, it will mark the first time since 2002 for a governor’s veto to be overridden. Republican Govs. Barbour and Phil Bryant each served eight years each without having a veto overridden.
It could happen to Reeves in his first year in office. Of course, he would argue that the indignity of a veto override was worth it to ensure funding of the School Recognition Program.
But Bennett and others would argue it would have been funded without the veto and without Reeves having to depend on his old rival to ensure the funding of public education.
Good Monday Morning North Mississippi! Temperatures are comfy and in the mid 70s this morning. We will see mostly sunny skies today with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph. We have a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Tonight, we have a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Otherwise, mostly cloudy skies, with a low around 71. We will have cooler temperatures over the next couple days, but the rain chance goes up with some heavy downpours at times.
Tyree Irving, 74, was elected chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party on Saturday.
Former Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Tyree Irving was elected chair of the Mississippi Democratic Party on Saturday, becoming the first Black leader of the party since 1998.
Irving, a 74-year-old Greenwood native, received 54 votes on the 80-member Democratic executive committee in a virtual Saturday meeting. He defeated longtime state Rep. Earle Banks, who received 21 votes.
“I thank you for the trust and confidence you’ve placed in me,” Irving told committee members shortly after his election.
The party chairman typically serves as the organization’s face, communicating the party’s policy goals, raising money and ensuring political operations are running smoothly. Irving replaces Bobby Moak, who served as Democratic chairman since 2016 and abruptly withdrew his bid for reelection on Friday afternoon.
Though at least 70 percent of the Mississippi Democratic Party’s voter base is Black, the last six party chairmen, including Moak, have been white. Just twice in the modern history of the Mississippi Democratic Party has an African American served as chairman. From 1987-1994, Ed Cole, a Black man, served as chairman. And from 1994-1998, state senator Johnnie Walls of Greenville held the seat.
Others also decried a lack of leadership in the party and support for candidates, particularly amid the party’s dismal showing in the 2019 statewide elections. Republicans swept all statewide offices last year, solidifying supermajority control of the state Legislature and increasing down-ticket wins on the local level.
Speaking with Mississippi Today earlier this week, Irving said: “My vision is turning this state blue.”
“I know most people would say, ‘What did this guy drink or eat that he things that can be done?’” Irving said. “I’ve always been forward looking and optimistic, believing against all odds that we can achieve our goals.
“We have got to have a really good messaging program going, and we’ve got to convince a lot of white Mississippians that they are constantly voting against their economic interests. That’s a tall order. The problem is the white leadership that you have. If they have tried, they have failed at it.”
Irving continued: “They’ve been running away from the national party all the time — at least the white politicians in recent times have. We’ve got to change that culture if we are going to build this party and have any chance at statewide elections.”
Irving was elected to the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 1998, and reelected in 2002 and 2010. He retired in 2018.
He was the first African American to clerk at the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1975 and in 1978 became the first African American assistant U.S. attorney in Mississippi since Reconstruction.
“I just wanted to congratulate (Irving) on his victory,” Banks said to the party’s executive committee shortly after the election. “Our problems and issues are not with each other. We have to work together to defeat the Republicans. I look forward to working with you and whoever else is elected.”
The Mississippi native and 10-time Country Music Association Musician of the Year recipient has lived to tell a story of gratitude and Mississippi roots.
Even the simplest question can get sidelined into story time with a native Mississippian like Mac McAnally, who has long parlayed that skill and considerable musical ones into a decades-long country music career.
His latest album, “Once in a Lifetime,” is due for release July 31. It’s his 15th album right? Well, he counts studio albums and live albums as different, he says, working his way down a mental list. “The first one came out in ’77. Whew, that makes me feel old and irrelevant,” he says with a chuckle and the easy charm that, second only to his guitar work and songs, make his live shows so appealing.
“Once in a Lifetime.” Obviously not a reference the Country Music Association Musician of the Year Award, of which he has enough to last a lifetime. Ten of them. “I don’t know that I deserved a single one, but I do know that I appreciated them.” The title track embodies his positive outlook on each new day.
“I can’t find a reason not to keep on smilin’, come what may, cause every day is once in a lifetime,” he sings in the single that came out in June.
“I wrote that song with my friend Drake White (also featured on it), a great country act on his own,” McAnally says. “We just happened to run into one another at a restaurant in town, having breakfast at separate tables. I was saying ‘Hey’ on my way out of the building, and he asked “How’s everything going?’
“I said “Awesome. Every day is once in a lifetime,’ just as small talk. That’s also how I look at it. I’ve always looked at every day as a singular privilege to be here and make things better, and do something good.
“That’s kind of the way I’m raised, and I give Mississippi a lot of credit. That’s a big part of how I look at life.”
McAnally is a Hall of Fame songwriter, but it was Drake who pounced on that comment, “Aw, man, we need to write that! Or at least, you need to write that!”
“I give him a lot of credit” for recognizing the potential, McAnally says. “Turns out, we wrote it together, and he was gracious enough to sing on it, too. He’s a way better singer than me. We had a big time singing together.”
The song’s lively spirit uplifts another theme alongside optimism: Appreciation. Again. “If you flirt with not being here …” says McAnally, who nearly three years ago suffered four heart attacks over the course of a weekend, “And, lived to tell the story.
“The men in my family, we tend to just sort of drop in the yard at 60 years old. I like to say it’s out of courtesy. We don’t want to be any trouble to anybody,” he says. “We just sort of collapse. That’s probably what, genetically, was supposed to happen three years ago.” But he got the 100 percent blockage cleared, denying the “widowmaker” its due.
“I’m in the bonus round,” McAnally says, still able to play a show and walk a golf course, “And, I’m so blessed for many reasons beyond that.” That in mind, “It goes all caps that every day is once in a lifetime.”
Jeff Fasano
Optimism and hope are just part of McAnally’s make-up. Growing up, his folks wouldn’t let him watch the news, because of how deeply he’d take its conflicts to heart. ‘I can’t really stand for anybody to be on the short end of the stick or for people to not get along.” That makes these divisive times tough. “We have to find a way to emphasize what we have in common. … I believe we’re more equipped to do that than ever before.
“Americans are particularly blessed to be in America. Earthlings are particularly blessed to be on Earth. We’re in a good spot,” he says. “Sometimes we take way too much for granted.” He likes to put some hope out into the world in all of his shows, such as singing a song like “What a Wonderful World,” made famous by Louis Armstrong. “I try to sing somebody else’s positive song, but in my own way, about how proud I am to be here, how lucky I am to be here, and the lot of things I have to be thankful for.”
McAnally co-produced Jimmy Buffett’s new album, “Life on the Flip Side,” along with Michael Utley — a No. 1 country album and No. 2 pop album released in late May. “I’m proud of Jimmy. I’m proud of all of us,” says McAnally, a longtime Coral Reefer Band member. “To be a first-year Baby Boomer and to have a No. 1 album is pretty impressive in your seventh decade. It is an awesome thing.” McAnally was finishing up that project in the early days of the COVID pandemic, then immediately turned to work on his own album for the summer release.
His song, “Alive and in Between,” is another of those point-in-life musings. Southern imagery swirls in it — kudzu vines and June bugs, religion and football. The song had its start in an art exhibition, called “Trio,” some years back that paired a literary work with a visual artist and a musical artist to create works in response.
McAnally was matched with Mississippi-raised writer Harrison Scott Key’s memoir, “The World’s Largest Man.” “Somebody knew me pretty well to pick that book,” says McAnally, who grew up in Belmont and shares its north Mississippi backdrop.
“He wrote beautifully about our area of the state. It also woke up a bunch of childhood memories and stories from Belmont. It’s not a lot different than it was then, and what is different I don’t even see it. When I go there, I’m still a 10-year-old walking down Main Street.” The book brought a brighter focus on that time, he says, and its intro is a guitar lick he’s used tuning instruments for years.
A line in its chorus, “The clock ticks whether you laugh or cry. … Like a June bug in late July, I downplay what it means,” has that gentle nod to mortality. As McAnally says, good-natured as always, “Whatever halftime is, I’m past it.”
But also, as always, he tips his hat to those Mississippi roots for the impact on his musical success. He notes its rich tradition of storytellers (“I don’t know that I’m particularly smart, but I was smart enough to shut up and listen”) and the tight-knit community of his childhood. “You can see, in a small town, how we sort of need one another. A community figures out a way to get along with everybody, because it’s your community.
“I think that gives you a vantage point in life that benefits not only you, but who you come into contact with in life. I’m so grateful that’s where I come from.”
Check out Mac McAnally’s Zoom Tour interview with Mississippi Today’s Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey:
I was asked last year to take headshots for Becky Weatherford at the Talbot House. Since then, I have learned more about Talbot House and what a great place it is.
Becky started Talbot House in 2015 as a recovery center for woman. There were many centers for men but nothing specific to woman. She saw a need in the community and decided to do something. Talbot House Sober Living was created along with Talbot House Bakery and Cafe to provide jobs for the women in their program.
Becky recognizes that it takes a team to see out her vision. She says she is always surrounded by smart, talented and good people that help to keep her grounded when her “vision” gets out of hand. She has wonderful mentors and people that challenge her to find the answers.
Becky says that the most rewarding part of her job is to see a woman that was broken by addiction make her way back to health. She feels blessed to be a small part of that journey and that recovery.
More than anything, she has learned empathy through this venture and that we are all different. Becky says that she learns something new everyday and could probably fill a book. I’m sure that would be an amazing read.
Becky would love for people to know that “…People with addictions have a disease that can be treated given the right circumstances and opportunities. The women we serve are our daughters, sisters, mothers, friends and no different than anyone of us. There is no pity, only love, encouragement, accountability and opportunity. When you purchase something from the bakery and café, you are helping us provide some of those opportunities.”
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Gov. Tate Reeves answers questions during a press conference concerning the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Tate Reeves late Friday announced his three appointments to the commission tasked with coming up with a new state flag design to put before voters — a week after the deadline to make the appointments per a bill he signed into law.
The new commission this week held its first meeting without the appointments of Reeves, who had opposed the Legislature removing the 1894 state flag with its divisive Confederate emblem, saying voters should have decided whether to remove it.
The commission has another meeting scheduled for next week, and plans to approve a new flag design by Sept. 2. That design will go before voters on Nov. 3, for an up-or-down vote. If voters reject it, the commission will work on a new design to put before voters in 2021.
Reeves for the last two weeks had offered little explanation why he hadn’t made his appointments, other than he was busy with the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues.
Although he had signed the flag commission legislation into law without raising such issues, he questioned on Wednesday whether lawmakers have the “constitutional authority to call a meeting of an executive branch entity” or to make appointments to such a commission.
Reeves, as the law stipulated, named his three appointees to the nine-member commission from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Arts Commission and Mississippi Economic Council. Reeves had expressed displeasure that the Legislature restricted his appointments to these groups and placed no restrictions on House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who chose the other six members.
Reeves appointments to the flag commission are:
Mississippi Department of Archives and History: Betsey Hamilton.
Hamilton is a retired public school teacher, real estate broker and appraiser. Hamilton serves on the board of the Union County Heritage Museum and as a member of the Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi. She has previously served as a founding member of the b of the Union County Historical Society and the Tanglefoot Trail. She was a trustee for the New Albany Public School District and a member of the Advisory Council for the New Albany Boys and Girls Club.
Mississippi Economic Council: Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben.
Ben is the fifth democratically elected chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. He took office in 2019, making history as the youngest chief. Ben is actively involved in mentoring youth in his community, is a life-long resident of Neshoba County and lives in the Pearl River community.
Mississippi Arts Commission: Frank Bordeaux.
Bordeaux serves as vice president of property and casualty for BXS Insurance. He has been involved with numerous civic and nonprofit organizations over the years, including serving on the Gulfport Youth Sports Association, as a past board member of Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen, and as a past board member of Lynn Meadows Discovery Center.
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Gov. Tate Reeves
Hours after the state health department reported the second most single-day cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced mask mandates for six more counties, as well as statewide restrictions for social gatherings and bars.
“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of spread in young people,” Gov. Reeves said in a press release. “By far, the group driving these high numbers is people in their 20’s. I’ve been talking for about a week about wanting to do something to curb the spread among young, drunk careless folks.”
Mississippians 18 to 29-years-old make up the largest chunk of infections, at 22 percent.
The order limits all social gatherings to 10 people or less indoors, and 20 or less outdoors. It also requires bars to only sell alcohol to seated customers, and to halt alcohol service at bars and restaurants from 11 P.M to 7 A.M. Previous measures, such as limiting those businesses to 50 percent capacity, ensuring 6 feet of separation, and limiting 6 people per table, remain in effect.
In addition to the 23 counties already under a mask mandate, Gov. Reeves’ new executive order applies to: Calhoun, Holmes, Lamar, Montgomery, Winston, and Yalobusha counties. The order goes into effect July 25, and expires Aug. 3.
Gov. Reeves signed a separate executive order extending the suspension of work search requirements for unemployed Mississippians until Aug. 8. The order addresses other unemployment policies, such as extending the suspension of the one-week waiting period requirement to receive benefits until Dec. 26.
Bobby Moak said he will not seek reelection as chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Moak, who has led the party since 2016, announced on Friday afternoon he would not seek reelection to the top leadership position — an abrupt decision that shakes up an already dramatic struggle for control of the party.
The announcement, which Moak sent to the party’s 80-member executive committee on Friday afternoon, comes just hours before the committee is scheduled on Saturday morning to elect its leader for the next four years.
Moak, who had previously announced his candidacy and asked for support, was being challenged by at least two people: former longtime Appeals Judge Tyree Irving and longtime state Rep. Earle Banks. In his email on Friday, Moak endorsed Banks for the top job.
“I will not seek the office of Chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party Executive Committee nor will I seek any elected office of this committee,” Moak wrote in a Friday afternoon email. “It is time we join together as a party and work toward helping our candidates, rather than suffering through petty, in-house political maneuvering. Now is the time for the party to unify behind a candidate that can bring the party together.”
Earlier this month, a group of Irving supporters on the party’s executive committee, who believed Moak was stalling the new leadership vote, utilized an obscure party constitution clause and garnered enough signatures to call their own meeting for Saturday. Moak, in turn, scheduled a meeting for Thursday — two days before the Irving supporters’ special meeting.
But on Thursday morning, Banks publicly announced he was entering the race, prompting Moak to cancel the Thursday meeting. Saturday’s previously scheduled meeting is still on, and committee members are expected to vote to elect their new leader.
Irving on Monday — before Banks entered the race and before Moak dropped out — told Mississippi Today that 45 members of the party’s newly elected 80-member executive committee have pledged support to him, and another eight have told others they’ll vote for him.
It’s unclear how the executive committee may vote now that Banks has entered the race and now Moak has withdrawn.
“It is no secret that during this election for the chair’s position of the Mississippi Democratic Party the process has become contentious and placed friends at political opposites,” Moak wrote on Friday. “The process devolved to something more than it should have. It certainly is not a way to bring the committee or Democrats statewide together. Campaigns like this should be reserved for taking on Republicans in elections around the state.”
