Nov. 3 will be a day that could possibly change education for the state of Mississippi. Initiative 42 and Initiative 42a will be present on ballots as voters decide which is more important for the future of the state. One initiative wants to keep the current educational system and funding in place while the opposing side would like to hold lawmakers accountable for the money promised to the education system. For once, the saying “Think of the children,” comes into effect as future students of the public education system in Mississippi will either benefit or continue to suffer as voters decide their academic fate.
Supporters in response to Initiative 42 added initiative 42a to the ballot. 42a would keep the status quo the same for Mississippi’s educational system. The move has garnered critics and supporters. Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour was a guest columnist in the Oct 24 edition of The Clarion Ledger where he stated reasons why Initiative 42 should not be supported.
Barbour said, “As governor, I had to reduce spending across the board in FY 2010 by 9.4 percent in order to meet our requirement of having a balanced budget. Consider the consequences if Initiative 42 had been the law at that time: Instead of all departments and agencies sharing in the 9.4 percent cut, K-12 (which absorbs about 40 percent of our state’s general fund budget) would have been exempt from cuts, and every other function of government — universities and community colleges, mental health facilities and public safety — would have had to be cut nearly double, or approximately 18 percent.”
Barbour feels if Initiative 42 were to take effect it would strain other departments around Mississippi. Initiative 42 does not take into account the economic situation the U.S. or Mississippi could face in the future. His point of view is understandable because to guarantee money to one department would be asinine. The state would be disregarding the other departments that would have to double their budget cuts to compensate for the blow the K-12 department would not feel, as their money would not be affected thanks to Initiative 42, even if the economy is down. Barbour is just one of many critics who feel this way about the initiative.
Sam R. Hill, writer for The Clarion Ledger, also feels the initiative is not a good response to the 47th rank out of 51 (including the District of Columbia) school systems in Mississippi. He wrote in the Oct. 24 edition of The Clarion Ledger that, “As it is written, it allows for too many unintended consequences.” In his article, he sees what both sides are attempting to accomplish, but he feels Initiative 42 has too many holes in it that can cause unforeseen consequences when trying to correct the educational system of Mississippi. Every law has its downfalls, it is up to the voters of Mississippi to decide what they believe is best for their family.
Those in favor of Initiative 42 believe the state has had enough time to improve it’s education system for K-12. Over 106 Methodist pastors signed a letter saying they support Initiative 42 because they believe that no matter the economic background, race, or gender of a child, they deserve to have adequate resources to have a good education. Portion of the letter, that was published in The Clarion Ledger, said, “Because we believe that every child in Mississippi has a right to a great education, we will be voting in favor of Initiative 42 when we go to the polls Nov. 3. Initiative 42 will require our legislators to follow our state law and fully fund public education based on the MAEP formula. Our legislature has failed to honor this law nearly every year since its adoption (by our Legislature!) in 1997.” These pastors have taken a stand in saying education is key to a brighter future and to promise money to the system in 1997 and only actually fully pay the money to the department twice in 18 years is unacceptable. The initiative raises no taxes; it only holds lawmakers responsible for what they have already promised school systems. If the proposition does not pass, lawmakers would then have to raise local property taxes to cover the financial gaps.
Without Initiative 42, schools in small towns suffer from the lack of funding. The Washington Post published an article this month that talked about life after graduation for students such as Jadareous Davis who attended Ruleville Central High School. The article describes the hardships that people like Davis face all the time when trying to make it in a small town with an underfunded school system. Sunflower County, Mississippi has a poverty rate nearly three times the national average at 36 percent, according to The Washington Post. The article says the school was so “strapped” for cash in 2014 that seven teachers from India were hired in the middle of the semester to teach their math and science classes.
After reading the article, how could someone not want to vote for Initiative 42? Children should be a top priority. When you do not correctly educate them you continue the cycle of students graduating into a world that does not care about them coming from a state that ranks low in education. It is the school system’s job to educate students as best as possible.
If you have unprepared students entering the world they just continue to add to the unemployment rate, homeless rate and incarceration rate. To vote for Initiative 42 is a step in the right direction because it forces funding to be provided to these small systems, such as the one Ruleville Central High School is in. Every child deserves an equal opportunity in this world and he or she should not be defeated before they even graduate just because a school system is underfunded. It is unacceptable for these trends to continue in a state that needs the help so desperately.
