/Lawmakers mum on EdBuild school funding contract

Lawmakers mum on EdBuild school funding contract

The details of how legislators selected a company for the analysis of the funding formula for public school are still unclear. However, Mississippi Today spoke with key players who shed light on the matter. Top lawmakers announced earlier this week that EdBuild Inc. from New Jersey would be awarded the $250,000 contract to study the Mississippi Adequate Education Formula (or MAEP). Mississippi Today requested records that detail the process of reaching these decisions. The Legislature has exempted itself in the past from certain provisions of the state’s open meetings and public records laws. Government observers have raised concerns about the lack of transparency, particularly considering that special committees of Congress spent late summer and early autumn looking through the working budgets nine state agencies to find, as Lt. Governor. Tate Reeves, R-Clinton and Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) have called for transparency and called for “unnecessary spendings” and “ways of spending our money more efficiently.” They summoned nine state agency heads to the Capitol to ask them questions about their contracting processes. For example, why were they spending “X” amount of money on “Y” service and why out-of-state contracts were not awarded. Reeves, Gunn and others took a break during the sessions to announce the EdBuild contract. The two men said that the non-profit company would evaluate the state’s controversial school funding formula, called the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. Both men suggested that EdBuild could develop a new formula, with proposed modifications being presented to the Legislature for approval in the 2017 general session. Gunn stated Tuesday that the EdBuild contract was not subject to a bidding process. According to state law, a bidding process is not required for contracts commissioned by the Legislature. Mississippi Today requested a copy the contract both informally as well as following the procedures established by the state’s open records law. Reeves spokeswoman Laura Hipp, Gunn’s spokeswoman Meg Annison replied that the Senate Rules Committee had received the request for public records for the contract. Thursday’s question regarding whether the Legislature should use the same contracting procedures as state agencies was not answered by either office. Gunn was asked about the selection and how it was found during the Tuesday press conference. Gunn stated, “We looked around for the past few months and did an internet search to see what was out there.” “I can only recall that there were only a few. There wasn’t a lot of people to choose from. They were the ones that we felt were the best.” EdBuild chief executive officer Rebecca Sibilia said to Mississippi Today that she was contacted by Gunn, Reeves and their staff “a few weeks ago”. After an “in-depth discussion”, they were informed that they would like to move forward. The second week of September saw rumors of closed-door meetings, indicating that a small number of lawmakers were contemplating a rewrite. Mississippi Today reached out to several officials about the meetings, including Gunn, Reeves and Rep. John Moore (chairman of the House Education Committee). Reeves’ spokeswoman on Sept. 15 stated that the lieutenant governor had long desired “to spend more money inside the classroom and less in the district office.” Meg Annison’s spokeswoman for Gunn also noted efforts to reform the funding formula. Annison sent an email explaining that bills were passed in both chambers to update Mississippi’s almost 20-year-old funding formula. “Since then, a informal group of members have met with national experts in order to discuss ways to increase funding for the classroom. These conversations are ongoing.” Mississippi Today asked Annison for further information. She replied that she “imagines there will soon be more information.” Moore, a Brandon Republican, stated that there was no official schedule for meetings and that no work had been done except to look into who could help in the examination of the formula. Moore spoke to Mississippi Today by telephone on Thursday. He said he had attended “some” of the meetings but not for all. Moore stated that the meetings were essentially informal discussions about other stuff. I believe this process was very similar to other processes that were used. There are some that only look at information. To be honest, you can’t have 200 people in a room deciding who gets the contract. The speaker and the lieutenant governor made the call about this at the end of the day.” He couldn’t estimate the number of companies that were being considered, in addition to EdBuild. Mississippi Today received a statement Thursday from eight lawmakers representing the Senate Education Committees or House Education Committees that they were not part of the contract discussions. The Senate Rules Committee and House Management Committee approved the contract Tuesday morning. Notices of the Senate meeting were posted to the Legislature’s website last week. The House Management Committee meets on Tuesdays. Senator John Horhn (D-Jackson), who is a member of the Senate Rules Committee, didn’t know about the EdBuild contract until Tuesday morning when the Rules Committee met. Although he was informed about the meeting, he didn’t know what the topic matter was. Horhn stated that he supports efforts to modify the formula, despite being out of the loop. Horhn stated that he supports any funding increase for Mississippi public education. Other groups, such as the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents to Empower Mississippi have also praised the review. Mississippi Today asked Hipp & Annison the following question the day after the announcement: “How many meetings were held and which lawmakers were involved in the decision-making process?” Hipp replied, “Senate Rules Committee (and House Management Committee) voted on Tuesday Oct. 11 to hire EdBuild in an Open Meeting posted on the Legislature’s website.” “The Lieutenant Governor and his policy staff participated in many, if not hundreds of meetings over five years to discuss ways of improving educational achievement in Mississippi.” Hipp responded.