Education Funding for FY14 and the State Budget

posted 4/26/2013, updated 5/14/13

For Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14 - the 2013-2014 school year), the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) will once again be underfunded, this time by a whopping $292-million. Click here to see how much funding each school district will receive and how much each district has been underfunded in each of the last four fiscal years as well as the statewide totals. Over the last six years, public schools have lost $1.3-billion due to underfunding by the Mississippi Legislature. See graph.

Of note is the fact that the 2013 Legislature declined to appropriate all available funds, putting another $250-million into the state's savings accounts and refusing to adjust the Fiscal Year 2013 revenue estimate upward despite current year receipts being above projections by over $132-million at the end of February. (The amount of state funding available to be appropriated is based on revenue estimates.) In addition, the 2013 Legislature passed millions of dollars in corporate tax breaks that will reduce the revenue available to appropriate in future years.

To see what each district will be allocated in Education Enhancement Funds (EEF) for Fiscal Year 2014, click here.

The final K-12 budget that was adopted by the 2013 Legislature includes the following for the 2013-2014 school year:

  • Level funding of MAEP - same next year as this year (MAEP will be underfunded by $292-million)
  • $27-million - increased retirement costs
  • Full funding - Chickasaw Cession
  • Full funding - National Board Certification program
  • $10-million - teacher supply fund (an increase of $2-million over current year)
  • $9.5-million - literacy initiative
  • $3-million - pre-k matching grant program
  • $3-million - Mississippi Building Blocks (pre-k)
  • $1.5-million - merit pay pilot program in four districts (Clarksdale, Gulfport, Lamar County, Rankin County)
  • $1.5-million - teacher scholarship program
  • $6-million - Teach for America
  • $5.5-million - Mississippi Community Oriented Policing Services in Schools program
  • $2-million - digital learning pilot program in two districts (Booneville and Hattiesburg