BILL CRAWFORD: Legislature beating MAEP proponents in state court
Legislature 2, MAEP proponents 0.
That’s the score as judges bat around lawsuits surrounding efforts to get the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) fully funded.
Last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that nobody had standing to appeal Attorney General Jim Hood’s ballot title for Initiative 42A, the Legislature’s alternative to the citizen-sponsored Initiative 42. Proponents of Initiative 42, hoping to mandate full funding for MAEP, had gotten Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd to rewrite the title.
So, the 42A title goes back Hood’s language, “Should the Legislature provide for the establishment and support of effective free public schools without judicial enforcement?”
This will be on the November ballot along with the 42 title, “Should the State be required to provide for the support of an adequate and efficient system of free public schools?” Missing from this title, but included in the underlying amendment, is a provision that gives chancery courts authority to enforce the amendment.
Daily Journal
8/17/15
Magnolia Tribune
