The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Editorial, 1/25/9
Mississippi’s undeterred public education community has set its sights on restoring virtually full 2009 funding to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the bedrock state funding formula cut $76.6 million by Gov. Haley Barbour to rein in spending in a recession-crunched state budget.
We support those efforts.
The House on Thursday passed an appropriations bill with a bipartisan, strong majority (82-37, with all Northeast Mississippi representatives supportive except Sid Bondurant, D-Grenada, and Gary Chism, R-Columbus) that would restore $68 million to the 2009 MAEP budget. It is not contingent on passage of a tobacco tax increase, but it is tied in debate to an 82 cents-per-pack increase, to $1 per pack.
The tax would begin March 1 and bring in $68 million by June 30, the end of fiscal year 2009. The bill does not touch any revenue in 2010, when a $1-per-pack tax would generate a projected $200 million. The 2010 budget will be debated and funded in separate bills, probably toward the end of the 2009 session.
