Mississippi Governor Advises Education Cuts
December 26, 2009
Gov. Haley Barbour is recommending a 68 percent cut to gifted, special and vo-tech education programs – a move that would result in a loss of $176 million in federal funds.
State Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham said such a cut would take the special ed and vo-tech programs below the minimum funding amounts required for federal support.
The cut is among a recommended $430 million less than fiscal 2010. It is designed to help make up for an estimated $715 million shortfall – $370 million of which state officials plan to make up with stimulus money.
Barbour’s proposed budget spells out a recommended cut of 12 percent across the board in K-12 education, but the cut actually would be about 15 percent, House Education Committee Chairman Cecil Brown said. In contrast, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, suggesting $310 million in cuts, is recommending a 5.9 percent cut for K-12 education and a 10 percent cut for most other agencies.
Barbour’s budget is only a proposal; it’s the job of lawmakers to craft a budget.
Ike Haynes, superintendent of the struggling Jefferson Davis County School District, said a double-digit cut "would put us in jeopardy of giving back all the progress we’ve made financially. We’d have to look at laying off teachers."
Barbour recently lifted the state of emergency declared on the district in 2007.
Haynes urged lawmakers to make sure the cut is smaller than 10 percent and to consider letting districts use a small portion of their 16th Section land reserve funding "to bolster us through this dire economic time that is unprecedented." Jefferson Davis holds $23 million in 16th Section land.
For most other agencies, Barbour is recommending a 12 percent cut. He is recommending a 5 percent cut for the Mississippi Development Authority, saying it creates jobs, and a 7 percent cut for the state auditor’s office.
Burnham said he’s learned through experience the numbers are just numbers at this point and can change through the legislative process, but he acknowledged layoffs at the state Department of Education and at school districts across the state are "a very real possibility" because of the expected cuts over the next two years.
Barbour’s deputy press secretary, Laura Hipp, said the state "is facing a mammoth budget shortfall in the next two years. The governor has laid out his plan for reducing spending and welcomes any other ideas. The Legislature has presented its budget. From here, they will work together toward one main goal – creating a balanced, responsible budget for the next fiscal year."
She said the governor looks forward to "working with the Legislature to make that happen."
Barbour has talked about schools having $500 million in rainy day funds they could use, but Brown, D-Jackson, said $500 million isn’t divided equally among all the schools. In fact, he said, one school district, DeSoto County, has $65 million of that.
In addition to districts being hit by losses in state funding, local ad valorem taxes are down because of the economic downturn, Brown said.
"Poorer districts aren’t making it now," he said. "Unless there are substantial changes made, between 60 and 65 districts will run out of cash."
With a 5 percent cut this past year, they’ve already used some of those rainy day funds to make ends meet, Burnham said.
Gifted, special and vo-tech education are part of what the stat e calls "add-on programs" and are made up entirely of teachers’ salaries.
Gail Hammond, a gifted education teacher at Rankin County School District and a past executive board member of The National Association of Gifted Children, said most of the attention in education today is focused on students who fall below minimal standards.
The assumption is children identified as intellectually gifted "will do well no matter what kind of education they receive," she said. "This is a myth that can result in underachievement and dropping out of school."
No Child Left Behind legislation suggests no child should be left behind, she said. "This includes our state’s intellectually gifted students."
Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents’ Campaign, said K-12 education should be cut less than other areas of government. "We know it’s a tough year, but we don’t believe that every state function is equally vital," she said.
Barbour is appointing a blue-ribbon commission to study consolidating school districts across the state, proposing the reduction of Mississippi school districts from 152 to 100 or fewer.
Burnham said the economy wasn’t great when he served a five-year stint as state superintendent starting in 1992, "but you could look ahead and know there are brighter days. This time you look out the window, and it looks pretty gloomy."
What worries him this time is "there’s no light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "We do not see this bottoming out. We do not see an upturn. That’s what gives us great concern."

 ; He recently has traversed the state, meeting with groups of superintendents who remain worried. "They are just weary and frustrated right now," he said. "They wonder, ‘How am I going to cope?’ They have great concerns about protecting the integrity of the classroom."
Superintendents typically prepare their budgets at this time of year, he said. "Their biggest question is how much do I cut? My advice was to take the worst-case scenario and work from there. If it ends up being not as bad, it’s always easier to work backward."
The problem is that superintendents already have cut all the things they can cut, such as travel, he said. Some have even started to collect copies made so they can use the paper a second time, he said.
"We applaud them for that," he said. "We’re doing that ourselves. We’re looking for every efficiency we can."
There’s little wiggle room to cut now because previous cuts already have been made, and about 75 to 80 percent of a district’s funding is already committed to salaries, he said.