The discussion of a state rewrite in K-12 education was a common theme at Monday’s panel discussions at Coahoma Community college pinnacle. Jay Hughes, a state representative, said that he was supposed to give an update to y’all about the good things that happened in K-12 education. It will be short compared with (the other speakers). House Bill 957 was passed in the House. However, it died in the Senate. It would have replaced Mississippi’s current funding formula with The Mississippi Uniform Per Student Funding Formula Act of 2018. This bill would have replaced the Mississippi Adequate Education formula with a weighted formula that would provide an initial $4,800 per student. Hughes claimed that the House has a supermajority. “They’re going get rid of adequate funds and we’re coming up with a new goofy formula that every school must come beg, and in seven years we’re going have to give you less.” “When they stand and say, “I’m pro education. Hughes asked them whether they were pro-public education. They killed the mandatory pre-K bill. They killed the bill to mandate kindergarten. They also killed the bill to raise teacher salaries. They also killed the bill to raise the salary of teacher assistants. Hendrix said that teacher shortages are very real in the Mississippi Delta. This is why lawmakers have filed numerous bills this legislative session to address issues such as licensing and assistant teacher pay raises. Paden introduced HB160 which would allow teachers to be licensed even if they do not meet the state’s requirements. The bill was killed in committee. Hendrix stated that these bills failed to pass, but that more bad bills were defeated due to strong coalitions at the Capitol and in the communities. Hendrix stated, “We know that education is the key to real change in Mississippi.” “It takes an entire community to ensure that every child receives a high-quality, excellent education.” Hughes responded yes to questions from the audience about charter schools. If you have 500 children, 100 of them will leave your school district. Hughes stated that they have $500,000 less to operate. Hughes stated that the charter school does not reduce the number or number of teachers, buses, maintenance costs, electric bills, or cafeteria staff. It does nothing but take money away. That’s why I don’t think charter schools are bad. But, I do think that charter schools can be a good idea. The first charter school in rural Mississippi was approved last fall and will open in this area this Fall. Another hot topic was transportation, roads and bridges. Governor Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency earlier this month. Phil Bryant declared a State of Emergency, ordering the Mississippi Department of Transportation to immediately close 83 county and city bridges that had been cited as insufficient by the federal National Bridge Inspection Standard and the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction. This was done a week after U.S. Department of Transportation informed the state that the Federal Highway Administration believed that bridges that were still open posed a unacceptable safety risk and required immediate federal, state, and local action. More than 100 bridges in cities and counties across the state are now closed. I agree that our roads and bridges are not being maintained well. This is an issue we must address as we are constantly trying to attract businesses to our state,” stated David Baria (D-Bay St. Louis), to the crowd of 240. “This is something that everyone agrees we need to do and there’s absolutely not reason why we haven’t done it.” Baria stated that there have been many discussions about fixing crumbling roads and deficient roads and that there were a few Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review reports (PEER) conducted to assess MDOT’s efficiency and determine if funding streams are sufficient to keep roads safe. When people began to complain about the state of our roads and bridges, the first thing that came out of their mouths was “Well, MDOT should be able to spend a lot of money.” “Someone’s wasting their money.” PEER’s 2013 report revealed that they had allocated $150 million per year for pavement projects. However, the report estimated that $1Billion was required to repair pavements and $400 billion annually to maintain and maintain them in good condition. Baria stated that MDOT allocates approximately $50 million annually for bridge projects. However, they estimate $2.7 billion is needed to replace or repair bridges and $200m annually to replace damaged ones. Blueprint Mississippi was a 2015 report by the Mississippi Economic Council. It stated that it would cost $370 million per year to keep the investments in place or they will get worse. What has the Legislature done to address these findings since then? Baria said that not much. Baria stated that PEER had done another report during the 2016 session. This answered the legislator’s question about how much money was being spent on transportation between schools to avoid the bridges. He also mentioned safety concerns about bridges that could be dangerous, which would have a significant impact on the school budget. He said that the legislators had not done anything at this point. A member of the audience asked whether the state is liable for automobile damage caused by hitting a pothole. Baria said that there are instances when the state fails to maintain roads or bridges, and people are injured or killed. However, generally speaking, if a pothole is created and damages a car, the state is not going to be held responsible. Senator Derrick T. Simmons briefly spoke about bills relating to juveniles and criminal justice. Simmons noted that corrections costs have increased and that HB585 was passed in 2014. This coincided with the goal to reduce the cost of corrections. HB387, which implements retroactive parole elgibility to nonviolent offenders, was adopted this year. This was because in HB585, sentencing reforms for property crimes and death crime sentences began July 1. Therefore, a provision was not made in the system for individuals. Simmons explained that if an individual is on probation and fails to report to court or tests positive for drugs, HB387 allows the court to treat them as a technical violation, rather than revoking their license. The gang bill, SB2868, would impose severe penalties on adults who get youth involved with gangs. It defined gangs to include those with identifying colors, clothing, and signs and that they engage in “criminal Gang Activity.” Simmons said to the crowd, “It was disproportionally focused on impacting communities and color through prosecutions and punishment.” The Senate passed the bill, but the House killed it. Since several years, legislators have introduced bills that would guarantee equal pay and equal work for women throughout the state. Baria and his colleagues, supported by Treasurer Lynn Fitch, and State Rep. Becky Currie stated that their goal this year was to get a bill passed and out of committee. Baria said they wanted to create a state law that is similar to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009, which was passed under President Barack Obama’s presidency. House votes 84-32 in favor of equal gender pay law. This vote was made during debate on a bill which would have prohibited local governments from setting their own minimum wages. Rep. Alyce Carle (D-Jackson) offered an equal pay amendment. The final action on the bill was delayed after a point-of-order was raised about another aspect. Baria stated that “We are still one of the two states in the country that doesn’t have a law on state, which mandates that employers pay women the same amount that they pay men for the exact same work.” Steve Allen, executive director of the Department of Mental Health, stated that although there have been several budget cuts in the last year, their goal is to provide more resources for local communities. The Medicaid technical bill that described how the agency would spend $6 billion was passed in this session. The bill includes provisions that allow providers to be reimbursed for opioid addiction treatment, increases the reimbursement rate for Mississippi’s rural hospital, and requires that the division revise its hospital reimbursement formula. Allen stated that they will move $8 million to community mental hospitals centers, shift $2,000,000 to home-based labor, decrease the need for inpatient care, and allow 782 people to receive services locally. Allen stated that $800,000.00 will be provided to the region for crisis stabilization beds. Allen said that a bond bill gave the department $1million to help with forensic issues. Allen stated that there are only 35 beds available to care for the entire state of Mississippi. “When you go there, it’s not the most secure area in the world,” he said. He acknowledged that they are making progress but still have a lot of work ahead. The Congressman Bennie Thompson provided some tips for attendees and highlighted some of his legislation. According to Congressman Bennie Thomson, Washington is proposing several things in order to help pay for tax cuts. These include cutting social security and medicare benefits and increasing SNAP requirements. Thompson stated that “Most of the people on Medicaid, Number One”, are children. The second group are disabled. So we make sure children go to school and the disabled go work.” Thompson stated that while wealthy farmers in the region will see an increase, they will also penalize people on food stamps and children who receive free or reduced lunches and summer feeding programs. Thompson indicated that he is currently working on a bill that would lower student loan interest rates down to two percent. Your student loans are being made by the government right now. … I borrowed money while I was in college but my loan did not start until I graduated. The Republicans have made it so that your interest begins the day you receive the loan. He said that this was not an incentive to me to get a loan. Thompson used examples to “craft an image” for his audience of the problems Washington is facing with President Donald Trump, such as not inviting congressional Democrats to the state dinner or passing a tax bill without going through committees. My grandson is twelve years old. Never in my entire life have I seen a president so frightened of my grandson that I had to tell him to leave the room. Thompson stated that this is not the president we need. Despite the state and federal issues surrounding these issues, Dr. Corey Wiggins of NAACP Mississippi State Conference stressed that lawmakers must think in terms of adequate funding. Wiggins stated that the main focus of this conversation is the need to have more resources and the need to be involved civically. “While we do our best to ensure that people are registered to vote, and as we continue to work to get people to the polls to vote we must also continue to do work to hold those who elected us accountable.”_x000D