Southern Poverty Law Center

Financing a better future: Mississippi must equitably fund its public schools

By Julian Miller | Read the full story here

Friend,

Walk into most public schools in the rural Mississippi Delta and compare them to schools in more affluent districts, and you’ll see the gross disparity in the state’s public school funding. You’ll also notice that the state’s inadequately funded schools are mostly populated by Black students, who suffer the most from the state’s inequitable, local tax-funding formula.

Kids in districts with high poverty rates often have old or no textbooks, sit in unsafe buildings that flood or leak sewage, have long-term substitute teachers, and lack computers and internet service at home. Meanwhile, kids in more affluent districts have safe buildings, the latest educational resources and extras like drama club and band. They also have home computers and high-speed internet.

This disparity is nothing new.

Mississippi ranks 47th in the nation for per-pupil funding at $9,284. That’s $4,000 less than the national average. The state has underfunded its schools since the Civil War ended. It was a means of keeping a strong labor force of Black people for low-paying jobs in manual labor and similar positions. The underfunding has been so bad that even white kids couldn’t get into the state’s flagship schools.

In late February, I testified before the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, where I explained my plan for the state to stop relying on local tax revenue from towns, cities and counties for school funding.

The current funding formula benefits wealthier families, who own more valuable properties and live in communities with higher tax revenue. Instead, I urged the state to use its highest per capita student expenditure as the benchmark for providing a flat, equitable, grant-like amount to school districts. My plan would limit the local contribution for public schools and use state and federal funds to make up the difference.

The funding disparities I spoke about that day are highlighted in a new Southern Poverty Law Center report, Learning Gap: Mississippi’s Education Funding Disparities Deny Opportunities for Students of Color, released this week. My colleagues and I hope that the findings we outline in the report will convince legislators and policymakers to take a more progressive approach with funding.