The state’s two K-12 education bodies are asking lawmakers for only slight increases in their budgets for the coming fiscal year.
The Mississippi Department of Education is asking for a $33 million, or 1% increase, to its $3.31-billion budget. Many of the agency’s spending priorities are directed to classrooms, not administration, and aimed at continuing improvement in education, State Superintendent Lance Evans told legislators.
“We won’t be satisfied until we lead the nation,” he said during a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on Jan. 14.
A new adolescent literacy initiative would build on a 2013 literacy act — which established a third-grade reading gate and helped Mississippi gain national attention for improvement. Expanding the program to higher grades would cost $9 million. That money would add assistant directors, regional coaches and literacy coaches to support teachers and comprehensive statewide professional development. A similar math initiative would cost $3.48 million, the agency said, which would fund coaches’ salaries and travel, screeners and statewide training.
The agency wants to continue its new virtual teaching program, which would cost $2.1 million. The program, called the Mississippi REACH Remote Synchronous Teaching Initiative, is one of the agency’s attempts to respond to the teacher shortage affecting swaths of Mississippi schools. It puts educators, based in rooms at Mississippi Public Broadcasting, on classroom screens throughout the state.
The education agency is also addressing teacher shortages by investing in its workforce. Officials want to spend $3.5 million on the Mississippi Teacher Residency Program and more than $500,000 on training for school leaders and superintendents.
Another classroom initiative is $3.6 million that would be directed to expanding the state’s early childhood programs.
The money would fund 33 early learning coaches to serve 40 collaboratives — a state and taxpayer funded pre-K program established by the Legislature in 2013 that created education partnerships in communities across Mississippi. It would also serve 33 state-invested pre-K programs — a similar program with less red tape that doesn’t require collaboration with Head Start centers — throughout the state, about 494 classrooms in total.
Other funding initiatives include college-and-career readiness programs, equipment for driver education, the administration of state and federal tests, and support for the office of accreditation to better monitor compliance.
The state’s student funding formula accounts for $2.974 billion of the agency’s total request for next year, compared to its $2.965-billion formula appropriation this year. The $9-million decrease is due to lower enrollment and fewer students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, agency officials said during their meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.
MDE also wants to pay for more school attendance officers, or truancy officers. The department is requesting additional funds to add capacity for SAOs across the state, as well as to fund more early childhood education employees.
The charter authorizer board, tasked with approval and overseeing the state’s charter schools, has only marginally raised its request compared to what it was appropriated this year. For the coming year, the board is asking the Legislature for $1,403,231, or a $3,321 increase.
The increase is due to slightly higher salary costs, which officials said were due to employing people with higher degrees.
Lisa Karmacharya, director of the board, told Mississippi Today that the agency’s priorities remain the same this year as they’ve been for years past: quality oversight, support and accountability for the state’s charter schools.
Hence then, the article about state public education and charter school boards ask lawmakers for slight spending increases was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( State public education and charter-school boards ask lawmakers for slight spending increases )
Also on site :