EdBuild, a New Jersey-based company, has been contracted by the Mississippi Adequate Education Program to examine whether it is the best formula for funding schools. After years of criticisms of the funding formula by lawmakers, and a 2015 statewide referendum called Proposition 42 that called for full funding of MAEP, the move is now. Gunn states that EdBuild and a foundation will each pay half of the $250,000 research, while the state will cover the rest. The study will be open to the public at later dates. The details of how lawmakers chose EdBuild remain hazy. Mississippi Today asked for a copy of this contract informally as well as following the procedures set forth in the state’s open records law. Gunn claims that the EdBuild contract was not subject to a bidding process. However, it is not required for contracts commissioned by the Legislature. The contract was approved by the Senate Rules Committee and House Management Committee on Tuesday morning. The teacher who was caught on camera pulling a student with special needs across the Greenville High School gym floor may have had her teaching license suspended or revoked. Linda Johnson was fired, and Greenville School Superintendent Leeson Taylor was placed on paid leave.