From left, Rep. Rob Roberson and Rep. Kent McCarty will introduce HB 1453, which would replace the current MAEP funding formula with the INSPIRE Act, on the House floor on Wednesday. (Photo by Jeremy Pittari | Magnolia Tribune)
- The new INSPIRE Act proposed in the House could add $240 million in K-12 funding, while Senate adjustments to MAEP could increase education spending by $210 million. be.
Two bills that would change the way Mississippi's education funding system operates have survived past legislative deadlines for committees to report on general legislation. Another bill that could create a form of public school choice received some attention Tuesday.
Senate Bill 2332 and House Bill 1453 passed out of committee in their respective chambers before Tuesday's deadline. Both aim to change how states fund their education systems.
HB 1453, also known as the Investing in Student Needs for Prioritizing, Impacting, and Reforming Education (INSPIRE) Act of 2024, advocates say will improve the state's K-12 education We will be creating a weighted system that we believe will better fund the system.
The bill, authored by state Rep. Rob Roberson (R-HD 43), chairman of the House Education Committee, is what many lawmakers believe is an outdated and ineffective Mississippi Appropriate Education Program (MAEP). The bill addresses this issue and was introduced for the first time in this Congress. A financing method established in 1997.
If passed, INSPIRE would replace the current MAEP formula and potentially provide an additional $240 million in education funding to school districts that need it most, especially those with lower ad valorem tax bases. will be able to receive funds reliably. That means some school districts would see less funding, but those with the most need would see more funding, as the hold harmless provision expires in four years as part of the bill.
After the bill was introduced on the House floor Wednesday, state Rep. Kent McCarty (R-HD 101), vice chairman of the House Education Committee, said school districts with the strongest tax bases would receive less state funding. He said it would be less. An example of a school district receiving less funding through the INSPIRE Act is a school district that currently benefits from the Hold Harmless Provision under MAEP. INSPIRE intends to set a four-year period for him in which the Hold Harmless Clause will phase out each year. Retaining the harmless provision benefits districts with declining enrollment.
Rep. Roberson's funding formula in the INSPIRE Act increases the base amount of $6,650 per student to $6,600 and applies weighted percentages above that number for certain metrics. For example, low-income students receive a 30% weighting on the base amount, while students learning English as a second language receive a 20% weighting. The highest weighting covers a range of disabilities that students may face, and the lowest weighting provides funding to ensure gifted classes are offered. Percentages are included for career and technical education courses, and for school districts with less than eight students per square mile to support sparsely populated areas.
After more than an hour of debate on the House floor Wednesday afternoon, the bill passed by a vote of 92-13.
In the Senate, SB 2332, authored by State Sen. Dennis Dever (R-SD 43), chair of the Senate Education Committee, would maintain the structure of MAEP but provide an additional $210 million in education allocations. The formula is adjusted to At the same time, it provides superintendents and other district administrators with a clearer financial picture to plan for staffing and other expenses before the start of the school year.
Dever's bill is similar to one he introduced during the 2023 session that failed in the House.
As previously reported, SB 2332 would increase the base student fee by 25 percent of the previous fiscal year's base student fee multiplied by 20 for each fiscal year between base student fee recalculations. I am proposing that. -year Average annual change in inflation rate. Currently, the annual growth rate for non-recalculated years is 40%.
Another MAEP change proposed in the Senate bill relates to the local contribution each school district provides, increasing it from the current 27 percent or 28 mills to the lower of 29.5 percent or 28 mills. I'll pull up. The goal is to make it more fair for all school districts.
The Senate has not yet taken up SB 2332 on the floor.
School Choice Variation Bill
A school choice bill was also passed this week, passing the deadline process.
SB 2691, also authored by Senate Education Committee Chairman Dever, was taken up by the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. The bill proposes changes to current statutes that allow students to attend a public school district other than their assigned one, by stripping the student's current school district of the veto power it currently holds. First, it makes commuting to school easier. However, the receiving school district is obligated to honor the transfer request by the district's next school board meeting. If the issue is not taken up by the school board at that time, the request will be automatically denied.
Sen. Dever said that before a school district considers accepting a transfer request, the district should determine how many students it can effectively educate within the district before considering accepting a transfer student.
If the student lives more than 30 miles from the transfer school, the family is responsible for providing transportation to the school. There is no limit to the distance between schools that you can transfer.
That student's MAEP dollars will be passed on to the new district, and it will be up to the district to determine the cost of tuition, if any, Sen. Dever added.
In relation to limiting when a student-athlete can join a team at a new school, this bill would change the Mississippi High School Athletic Association's current rule that students are ineligible to participate if they transfer mid-year. It turns out. Play sports for a year at your new school. Dever's bill would make those students eligible to participate in their new school's athletics program in the fall of the next school year.
“That means if a student plays football in Greene County in the fall, they cannot transfer to Petal or Sumrall to play baseball in the spring. Your athletic eligibility is determined by your fall enrollment,” said Sen. Dever. said. “Currently, I think the High School Athletic Association requires a one-year leave of absence if you transfer. This lifts that ban. We don't want to penalize students for transferring to the school they want to transfer to. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
The bill currently awaits consideration by the full Senate.