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Thursday, July 24th, 2014

Mississippi Cuts $1.3 Billion From Schools, Gives $1.3 Billion to Nissan

Author:     CARL GIBSON
Source:     Reader Supported News
Publication Date:     23-Jul-14
 Link: Mississippi Cuts $1.3 Billion From Schools, Gives $1.3 Billion to Nissan
Stephan:   Mississippi has been a bottom tier state for my entire life and, indeed, most of its history as a state. It is essentially a third world country whose failure as a society is underwritten by more successful states. And the corruption and bias of the state's government seems to be increasing, as this report spells out.

Mississippi has proved to us all that austerity, or the political ideology of ‘government living within its means,” is a farce. All austerity means is taking money away from public services, and giving it to private business. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and the GOP-led legislature illustrated that perfectly in two ways.

Since 2008, Mississippi has violated a constitutional mandate to adequately fund the state’s public K-12 schools. The Mississippi Adequate Education Program, or MAEP, was established in 1997 to make sure a proper portion of taxes went to fund schools. A community’s ad valorem taxes will cover up to 27 percent of the cost, while the state covers the rest. The state’s contribution is essentially the base student cost times the daily attendance in a certain school district. The mandated amount would be readjusted every five years for inflation. Mississippi has spent $648 less per student than it did in 2008. Currently, Mississippi has underfunded its public schools by at least $1.3 billion.

In May of last year, the United Auto Workers released a study showing that Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, plant was getting $1.33 billion in tax breaks from the state in return for Nissan’s promise to provide Mississippians with good-paying, full-time […]

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