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- Chief Accountability Officer Dr. Paula Vanderford told the State Board of Education that the most recent MAAP assessment does differ from prior years, adding that this year’s testing should be considered a transition year.
An update on the issues that led to the Okolona Separate School District being taken over by the Mississippi Department of Education last year was provided to the State Board of Education on Thursday.
The Board also discussed the latest Mississippi Academic Assessment Program scores, which stayed mostly the same from the prior year in spite of a minor change.
Okolona School District
Back in November 2025, the State Board of Education made the decision to move the Okolona Separate School District into a District of Transformation classification for financial reasons. It was not the first time the Board had to take such action in that district.
“This was the Board’s second intervention in the district,” Kym Wiggins, MDE Chief Operating Officer described. “The state also took over Okolona School District in 2010 due to academic and financial impairment.”
The last audit completed in Okolona was for fiscal year 2021.
While official audits for subsequent years are now underway, findings have revealed clues to what caused the district being in a $1.25 million deficit causing the MDE takeover.
Stephanie Palmertree, founder and partner with NOVUM CPA, found that during fiscal year 2025, the district only had an 86.9% revenue coverage on expenses, and there was an 83.3% increase in expenses per student between fiscal years 2020 to 2025.
“That’s a large increase and higher than the average increase for inflation or any items of that nature,” Palmertree said.
Relying on the $4.3 million the district received in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is part of what led to the deficit. Instead of using those funds for one-time expenses, the monies were used to cover recurring expenses.
Student enrollment also declined by 11.5% from FY 2020 to FY 2025, while spending per student increased.
Palmertree said the district was spending much more than the state average per student, and more than the national average. The average spent per student in the southern region of Mississippi is $14,153. The national average is $17,619.
“What Okolona is looking at for its amount of expenditures per student is $18,000,” Palmertree said.
Those increases were noted to have taken place primarily in travel and consulting fees. Palmertree said there was a 229.6% increase in consulting spending and 241.1% increase in travel expenses between fiscal years 2019 to 2025.
She noted the consulting expenses were not instructional nor were some of the travel expenses.
“It’s not consulting that aids the students, it’s consulting that aided the administration and the teachers,” Palmertree described.
Travel expenses of concern were those to conferences for administration and support services, line items that should have been reduced as funding dwindled.
“So, when we talk about the increases in consulting and the increase in this travel, these are services that we need to weigh carefully to do a cost/benefit analysis to determine if these expenditures outweigh our instructional expenditures that we need to pay for these students,” Palmertree said.
Other issues noted so far in the financial review include missing invoices and an overall lack of adherence to school board-approved budgets.
Joel Cunningham is conducting the past due audits. Palmertree assured the Board he will do a good job.
As part of the recovery plan, there has been a reduction of staff in the district, adjustments to spending to obtain items and services cheaper, and an effort to ensure that every dollar spent has funding to back up the expense.
To keep the district operational, MDE has sent the district $1.5 million of the $3 million approved by the Board. Wiggins said the district will pay that money back to MDE.
“They’ve agreed to pay $300,000 over five annual installments to begin June of 27,” Wiggins elaborated.
MAAP Scores
In other business, the State Board of Education heard the results of the most recent Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) testing.
Chief Accountability Officer Dr. Paula Vanderford noted that while the scores cannot be compared to previous years due to the lack of a writing component in the applicable grades, the results show the state is staying mostly level in proficiency rates.
“The resulting scores do provide a valid and consistent measure of student performance for 2026, but because this assessment does differ from prior years you should not make those comparisons and this year should actually be considered a transition year,” Vanderford said.
The percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in English Language Arts for 2026 stands at 47.5% under this year’s assessment, a 0.1% increase over the prior year. That rate was at 34% in 2021 and rose to a high of 47.8% in 2024.
In math, the results showed 53.9% of students were proficient or advanced under the new assessment in 2026. The year prior, that score was 54.5%. Back in 2021, MDE recorded 35.1% of students testing proficient or advanced, rising to a peak of 56.3% in 2024.
Students tested in science showed that 64.1% were proficient or better in 2026. That rate was at 50% proficient or better in 2021, before rising to a high of 63.4% in 2024. The rate in 2025 was 60.9%.
Mississippi is still out of compliance with federal caps concerning administration of the alternate MAAP test given to students with cognitive disabilities. Vanderford said the rate is at 1.9% currently, above the 1% federal cap.
“Part of the consequences of exceeding the cap is the Department of [Education] can deny your waiver and some of your [federal] funds can come with conditions, and that’s where we are right now,” Vanderford explained. “So, we’ve been at this 1.9% rate for the past couple of years. “
Efforts are underway to decrease the rate, but Vanderford is unsure how Mississippi will get below the 1% cap.
“I personally do not think 1% is appropriate,” State Superintendent Dr. Lance Evans said. “I’ve asked multiple times how that 1% became to be the 1%. You don’t really get a direct answer.”
With writing being left out of this year’s assessment, Vanderford presented the Board with a temporary amendment to the policy to allow districts to use the higher of two ELA scores from previous years.
“The ELA assessment results provided to districts and schools excluded the writing portion of the assessment because of the field test. As a result, of the field test and absence of writing in the operational test form, the MDE is recommending that districts and school be assigned the higher of the 2025-2026 or the 2024-2025 proficiency rate, growth score of all students and growth score of the Lowest Performing 25 percent subgroup in ELA for the calculation of the school/district summative ratings in 2025-2026,” MDE’s backup material states.
That approved amendment will only apply for one year.
