A special session must happen before July 1, but the Mississippi Adequate Education formula and the recommendations to change it may not make the docket.
House Education chairman John Moore says that the House and Senate education committees will be working together, but for now, the altering of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program formula has still not been confirmed as a talking point for the yet-to-be called special session.
“We have funded for the next (fiscal) year,” said Moore. “And I’m sure my counterpart, Senator (Grey) Tollison and I will begin discussions soon to prepare for the changes that need to be made.”
Moore said that he is unaware if any meetings are taking place between lawmakers and EdBuild, the non-profit slated with revamping the MAEP formula.
“Whether or not that will be in the special session is yet to be determined,” said Moore. “Once the school districts have been allotted their funds, it is hard to go back and change that, because the teacher contracts are already being put in place… they have to know how much money they have to spend.”
Moore said lawmakers don’t want to put districts in a bind by changing the formula in the middle of the year.
“(The contract process) is already putting teachers in a bind,” said Moore. “Some of them don’t know if they’ll have a job next fall.”
Related:
Special session relies on upcoming deadline
Special session now required to finalize AG, MDOT budgets
EdBuild makes recommendations on how to change funding formula
