First state initiative of 2015 certified in Mississippi
December 22, 2014
By Tyler King
Critical of the Mississippi government's failure to fund public primary education at a level required by the state's education spending formula, a coalition formed to sponsor an initiative requiring the state to fund "an adequate and efficient system of free public schools."[1] Better Schools, Better Jobs, the coalition sponsoring Initiative 42, collected about 200,000 signatures, although the Mississippi Secretary of State only declared 116,570 valid on December 19.[2][3] Nonetheless, supporters needed no more than 107,216 valid signatures, a number they exceeded by 9,354. Initiative 42 was the first, and the last, citizen-referred measure to make the 2015 ballot in Mississippi. The deadline for initiative campaigns to submit signatures was October 8, 2014. Initiative 42 was also the first statewide initiative certified for a 2015 ballot in the whole country.
Although the Mississippi Legislature passed the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) in 1997, a statute-based formula for funding public education, the state has fallen short of the formula by about $1.53 billion over the past seven years. The demands of the MAEP formula have only been met twice, and both in election years.[4][5] Initiative 42 would engrain "an adequate and efficient system of free public schools" into the state's constitution, which the MAEP legislation did not do. Also, the initiative explicitly empowers the Mississippi Chancery Courts to enforce the amendment's mandate.[1]
Opponents in the legislature, arguing the amendment would wrongly transfer spending powers from the legislature to judges, might propose an alternative, competing measure to Initiative 42. According to House Education Committee Chairman John Moore (R-60), 2015 may be the first year legislators utilize this power. Patsy Brumfield, spokesperson for Better Schools, Better Jobs, replied to the idea, saying initiative proponents "are laser focused" on preventing a competing legislative referral.[6]
See also
- Mississippi Public School Support Amendments, Initiative 42 and Alternative 42 (2015)
- Mississippi 2015 ballot measures
- Laws governing the initiative process in Mississippi
- Signature requirements for ballot measures in Mississippi
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "Public Schools Funding Initiative," accessed December 13, 2014
- ↑ Jackson Free Press, "Education-Funding Initiative Gets Enough Petitions to Make 2015 Ballot," October 7, 2014
- ↑ WLOX, "MAEP vote headed to 2015 General Election ballot," December 19, 2014
- ↑ WDAM, "MAEP supporter calls potential legislative alternative "dirty, political trick," December 18, 2014
- ↑ Hattiesburg American, "State certifies school referendum for 2015 ballot," December 21, 2014
- ↑ Hattiesburg America, "Analysis: School budget prop could get alternative," November 30, 2014
