Sen. Hob Bryan not happy about additional funding for MAEP
Funding for public schools is expected to be about the same in the coming year as it is this budget year.
During a debate last week, Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, criticized budget writers for moving $20 million out of a fund for public school buildings. The money is being routed into the schools’ basic funding formula, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
MAEP is designed to give each school district enough money to meet midlevel academic standards, but it has been fully funded only twice in more than a decade. The formula was not fully funded during the current year, and top lawmakers say it won’t be in fiscal 2014, either.
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Terry Burton, R-Newton, said legislators for years have been moving $20 million from the school building fund into MAEP.
Mississippi Pep
3/19
Magnolia Tribune
