Wanted: Ideas, bucks for education

By By Buddy Bynum / editor
October 28, 2004
JACKSON The message resonated at a quiet breakfast in the Governor's Mansion and, later, in a hotel ballroom filled with classroom teachers, superintendents and administrators:
Against a backdrop of dire predictions on state finances and a no tax increase pledge, Gov. Haley Barbour wants new ideas on how to improve education in Mississippi. He's particularly looking for innovations that won't cost a lot of money.
Barbour held the fourth in a series of education summits here Wednesday, outlining a variety of new incentives designed to free classroom teachers to do what he says they do best: teach.
But money underpinned the discussion.
State Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton, said legislative analysts have determined the state would need as much as $900 million in new money next fiscal year to fund all of the agencies' requests. Burton said not even a 30 percent increase in every tax levied by the state could raise such funds.
Barbour said his approach to improving education extends beyond the K-12 years, where most of the state's recent efforts have been focused. State funding for community colleges and universities, for example, is $103 million less than it was five years ago.
At the summits which have been privately funded by seven banks and Chevron/Texaco in Pascagoula Barbour has asked educators, legislators and parents to help come up with a comprehensive plan that will include not only K-12 but also community colleges and universities.
He has been told by teachers that maintaining discipline in their classrooms is a major problem; he pledged to propose a solution in the 2005 legislative session.
He said he will also likely propose more pay for higher teacher performance and new ways to retain experienced teachers, whose retirement system currently encourages them to leave public schools after 25 to 28 years in the classroom.
He said Mississippi needs about 3,000 new teachers a year and the state's education schools are graduating about 1,200, with fewer than 1,000 staying in Mississippi. He said he would propose how to fill the gap, including alternative certification to open the field to non-education majors.
Barbour suggested that the eventual package may also include expanding Head Start in numbers of children and educational content, and adding educational components to private child care.
He may also propose "home rule" for successful schools, taking them out from under some state Department of Education regulations.
Despite what veteran lawmakers predict as a tough budget year, Barbour was applauded at the summit when he said he will support the last of the scheduled incremental pay raises for teachers. The last installment would cost $100 million and give teachers an 8 percent raise in the budget year that starts July 1.
Barbour said he has not finalized his education package so there was no immediate indication of its cost or specifically from where the money might come, absent a tax increase. He used the Department of Corrections as an example of where better management has resulted in savings.
Prior to the summit, Barbour hosted a breakfast for a group of about 20 superintendents and summit sponsors that featured former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, who is nationally recognized as a pioneer in education reform. The breakfast was also attended by Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and the chairmen of the House and Senate education committees, Rep. Randy G. "Bubba" Pierce, D-Leakesville, and Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg.