Commercial Appeal – Educators ask State legislators for more money
With the national recession declared officially over and Mississippi’s first two months of revenue collections coming in ahead of projections, the heads of the state’s various departments and agencies are parading before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee this week to make their case for more money.
State revenue collections in July and August, the first two months of the 2011 fiscal year, were $19.1 million, or 3.6 percent, ahead of projections.
Legislative leaders appear to be more accommodating this year than last, when good economic news was hard to come by.
House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, the committee chairman, was cautious in the discussions and in conversations afterward.
“Of course, I don’t want to say no to anybody at this time,” McCoy said at day’s end.
Still, he noted, the budget request from the state Institutions of Higher Learning was reasonable.
Commercial Appeal
9/22
