Gov. Haley Barbour has revealed a new state budget for the 2008 fiscal year that increases funds in education and other various areas. The new budget increases funding for healthcare, anti-drug efforts, state employees, foster care and a civil rights museum.
During Barbour’s time in office, K-12 education funds have increased 19 percent. The new budget proposal calls for an increase of $158 million and provides a 3 percent pay raise for public school teachers.
State economist Phil Pepper said education is vital for Mississippi’s success.
“An educated population is a fundamental building block for the state,” Pepper said. “However, the benefits of the state’s economy will take years, even decades, to evolve.”
The new budget also provides $5 million for early childhood development programs to prepare young children for school.
“Since 80 percent of our 4-year-olds are already being served by child care centers, Head Start or pre-kindergarten, we should improve the infrastructure, which is already in place by including more educational content,” Barbour said.
State Rep. Dirk Dedeaux said he questions the governor’s full funding of the Adequate Education Act, which provides money to local school districts unable to fund themselves.
“The most important question to the House is this: Is the Adequate Education Act being fully funded or underfunded?” Dedeaux said. “I doubt that the governor’s budget fully funds the act. I don’t think he has made a serious commitment to it.”
Along with funding for early childhood development, Barbour’s proposal gives about $221 million in funds to community colleges and about $755 million to universities in Mississippi.
Funding for higher education is just as important as K-12 education, Gov. Barbour said.
“I believe when you’re trying to fund education, it isn’t just K-12,” Barbour added. “We are not robbing or shortchanging higher education in order to fund K-12.”
Anti-tobacco and other health programs such as a school nurse program, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and a cancer institute at the Mississippi Medical Center will each receive $5 million as part of the new budget proposal.
State employees will each receive a $1,000 or higher pay raise and will be provided with 100 percent health insurance and retirement expenses.
The new budget proposal also provides increased funds for foster care services. The Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services will receive a $16.5 million increase. These funds will be spent on hiring direct service workers and given to foster families for financial support.
“The Department of Human Services has been cut so bad that they have a lack of direct social workers to check on children in situations of child abuse,” Dedeaux said. “It’s good that the new proposal will fund foster care services, but I think the Department of Human Services should be given funding for other areas as well.”
The governor proposes $5 million each to tobacco prevention programs, including a school nurse program and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. The money previously had gone to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi.
Partnership communications director Sharon Garrison said the organization had operated tobacco prevention programs for the last eight years.
“During that time, we have cut the cigarette smoking rate of Mississippi’s middle school students by one half and of high school students by one third,” Garrison said. “By reducing the number of kids who smoke today, we are saving lives and saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Funding for a national civil rights museum will also be provided to the Department of Archives and History.
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