MDE is requesting $3 billion for FY 2023 from state lawmakers.
As Mississippi lawmakers begin to craft the next fiscal year’s state budget, members of the Joint Legislative Budget committee heard from representatives of nearly a dozen agencies in September. Agency representatives presented what they project their budget needs will be for FY 2023, as well as discussed increases, decreases and other adjustments from FY 2022.
The Mississippi Department of Education requested a total of $3,023,543,172 for FY 2023, a 12.56% increase from FY 2022. The amount requested was $379,637,714 more than the FY 2022 budget request of $2,549,020,179.
The Department’s $3 billion ask includes increases and the full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) at $2.7 billion, $86 million for career and technical education, $18.9 million for the Chickasaw School Fund, $175 million for State Schools/School Attendance Officers, Flow Through Programs, and Direct Support to School Districts. MDE also requested $37.7 million for general education and the department’s operations.
The Department of Education’s request of $2,857,705,090 for FY 2022 was a 10.87% increase over the FY 2021 appropriation.
Over the last couple of years, the appropriated base student cost has risen as follows:
- FY 2019 – $5,467
- FY 2020 – $5,626
- FY 2021 – $5,829
- FY 2022 – $5,874
It was preliminarily estimated that the appropriated base student cost for FY 2023 would be $6,221.
Mississippi’s graduation rate has risen to 87.7%, up from 84% in 2019 and 85% in 2020.
In the 2020-2021 school year, there were 442,627 students enrolled in public school in the State of Mississippi, a decline of over 5% from the previous year. The number of K-12 students was 466,002 in 2019-20 school year and 471,298 in 2018-19.
MDE’s analysis of public-school enrollment for the 2020-21 school year shows that a drop in kindergarteners and spike in homeschoolers have driven the statewide decline in enrollment last year.
Homeschool enrollment increased from 18,758 in 2019-20 to 25,489 in 2020-21, removing an additional 6,731 students from public-school attendance rolls.
Enrollment for the current school year will be posted later this month by the Mississippi Department of Education. State law requires children ages 6-17 to be enrolled in public or private school or a homeschool program.
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee will release its FY 2023 Legislative Budget Recommendation (LBR) in the coming months. The LBR will serve as the starting point for development of the FY 2023 budget during the 2022 Legislative Session.
Anne Summerhays
