Democratic rep: Too many school districts in Miss.

State News

October 23, 2009

Anonymous Picayune Item Fri Oct 23, 2009, 07:32 AM CDT

JACKSON — Mississippi can’t afford to keep all 152 school districts, eight public universities and an extensive system of community and junior colleges, a leading Democrat on the state budget committee said Wednesday.

Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, told several hundred people at the Mississippi Economic Council’s annual Hobnob social event that in a state with 82 counties, there’s no need to have hundreds of superintendents, other administrators and assistants. He was just one of several officials who talked about trimming the costs of government.

“Shouldn’t the money be going to the classroom with the students?” said Flaggs, who represents an area where two school districts — Vicksburg and Warren County — consolidated during the late 1980s.

His remarks drew applause from the business-friendly audience at the gathering sponsored by the state’s chamber of commerce. Some spectators munched peanuts as they listened to politicians’ speeches under a white circus-style tent on a parking lot at the state Agriculture museum.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour told the crowd what he has been saying for months: He believes state spending will be tight for the next couple of years. He has already cut nearly $172 million from the $6 billion budget that started July 1, and he has said more cuts are likely.

“This is serious business and we can’t address it by saying, well, let’s just save a little here and there,” Barbour said.

About $452 million of federal stimulus money went into Mississippi’s budget this year for education, Medicaid and other services, and that will all disappear during the next two years, officials said.

Barbour said some agencies might have to combine or to share services. He said no state agency will be exempt from finding ways to save money.

“It is much, much better for the taxpayers and the people of Mississippi to have a government they can afford than to have a government that has to take more and more and more from them so that we don’t have a healthy economy in the state,” Barbour said.

Barbour said the state collected about 12 percent less revenue during the first three months of this fiscal year than during the same period a year ago. He said he expects another decrease next year.

State Treasurer Tate Reeves, a Republican, said Mississippi has never had three consecutive years of shrinking revenue.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, also a Republican, said the state could save up to $150,000 to $200,000 by shortening the 2010 legislative session from 90 days to 60 days. He said he also wants state agencies to be more specific in setting goals as they ask lawmakers to approve their spending plans.

Text Only

State News

Pardoned killer to fight return to Mississippi
A convicted murderer who left Mississippi after being pardoned by former Gov. Haley Barbour seems poised to fight attempts to force him to return from Wyoming. Joseph Ozment’s attorney, Robert Moxley, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will defend Ozment’s freedom if he decides to try to stay in Wyoming.

February 3, 2012
Universities say financial aid fund running short
Recipients of state scholarships could see their aid packages trimmed unless the Mississippi Legislature puts more money into financial aid. That includes the more than 20,000 students who receive the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant.

February 3, 2012
Bad info infuriated kin of pardoned man’s victims
In another twist in the often confusing aftermath of pardons granted by former Gov. Haley Barbour on his way out of office, Mississippi corrections officials said Tuesday that victims’ relatives were given bad information by the state that fanned their outrage.

February 2, 2012
Bryant’s 1st Miss. budget carries ’lots of cuts’
Gov. Phil Bryant proposed Tuesday to cut state spending by $26 million to $5.49 billion in 2013 while also insisting on building $100 million in state reserves.
The newly inaugurated Republican summarized his first budget as a “lot of cuts,” saying he won’t raise taxes and that state revenues have yet to recover from the recession.

February 2, 2012
Miss. schools request more cash in lean budget
Mississippi’s top education official is asking for an additional $305 million for the coming year — a request he acknowledges is unlikely to be fulfilled. State Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham told House budget writers Tuesday that the biggest part of the request is $255 million to meet requirements of a complex funding formula, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.

February 1, 2012
Major GOP ‘super PAC’ raised $51 million in 2011
American Crossroads, the Republican “super” political committee that plans to play a major role in this year’s presidential campaign, raised more than $51 million along with its nonprofit arm last year, The Associated Press has learned.

February 1, 2012
Miss. AG: Pardoned killer found in Wyoming
A convicted killer pardoned by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was in Wyoming with his fiancee and tried to flee when he was found Sunday by investigators who served him with a court summons, authorities said Monday.

January 31, 2012
Experts: US ill-prepared for oil spill off Cuba
The U.S. is not ready to handle an oil spill if drilling off the Cuban coast goes awry but can be better prepared with monitoring systems and other basic steps, experts told government officials Monday.

January 31, 2012
Bryant salutes racial reconciliation group
Gov. Phil Bryant said he plans to continue activity with a Christian group promoting racial reconciliation.
Mission Mississippi honored Bryant Friday, hosting the Governor’s Prayer Luncheon at the Jackson Convention Center.

January 28, 2012
BP veiled spill rate: emails
On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico, BP officials warned in an internal email conversation that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the U.S. government ultimately estimated spilled daily from the site.

January 28, 2012
More State News Headlines

State News

Search Results

Democratic rep: Too many school districts in Miss.

Site Map

Contact Us