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Schools

MUW Name Change Stalls Again

7

Thu, 02/22/2024 - 07:55 PM

Mississippi University for Women President Nora Miller says the “strategic pause” in the name change effort is to regroup and consider all perspectives.

A week after announcing its second attempt to rename the school, Mississippi University for Women President Nora Miller has released a statement saying they are taking a “strategic pause” in the effort.

Schools

New scholarship program looks to increase, retain social workers in Mississippi

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Thu, 02/22/2024 - 07:45 PM

The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services looks to increase social workers in the state through Mississippi Academic Pathways program.

The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) announced a new federal scholarship program to aid the next generation of social workers with financial resources, experience, and placement where needs are the greatest.

Opinion

Carswell: Mississippi Needs a New School Funding Formula

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Thu, 02/22/2024 - 07:35 PM

Below is an opinion column by Douglas Carswell:

Mississippi Center for Public Policy’s CEO Douglas Carswell says MAEP is hideously clunky and complicated. He says a new transparent, easily understood system is needed.

Remember 1997? Actually, a great many Mississippians under the age of thirty won’t. That was the year Mississippi created its current school funding formula, the MAEP, or Mississippi Adequate Education Funding Program.

House Speaker Jason White recognizes dignitaries in attendance for Gov. Tate Reeves' inauguration ceremony at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

House Republican leadership files school voucher bills

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Thu, 02/22/2024 - 07:05 PM

Even as the Mississippi Supreme Court considers whether it is constitutional for the state to provide public fund to private schools, the House leadership is filing legislation to provide vouchers for students to attend private schools.

House Education Committee Chairman Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville, has filed legislation to allow vouchers — public funds to private schools — with no limitations.

But Roberson stressed that he is not sure what if any voucher legislation will pass this session. He said he filed the legislation “to start a conversation.”

Perkins and Johnson

MJH Receives Generous Support from Surrounding Churches

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Wed, 02/21/2024 - 11:24 AM

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at Mendenhall Jr. High School (MJH) would like to recognize two churches of the Simpson County community for their generous support of its school and students.

SCS Students Compete in MS History Day Competition

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Wed, 02/21/2024 - 10:56 AM

A group of eighth graders from Simpson Central School (SCS) recently competed in the Mississippi History Day competition, sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the University of Southern Mississippi School of Humanities, on Feb. 17.

Rep. Rob Roberson listens as arguments are made concerning Hester Jackson-McCray's House of Representatives seat Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, at the State Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

House leaders want lawmakers, not an objective formula, to determine ‘full funding’ for public schools

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Wed, 02/21/2024 - 04:31 AM

House leaders filed a bill Tuesday that would ditch the objective formula that has for decades determined the funding level for Mississippi’s public schools and instead leave it to lawmakers to annually determine how much to give schools.

The bill, which would scrap the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), is sponsored by House Education Chair Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, and is supported by first-year House Speaker Jason White.

Politics

New Legislation Would Create Universal School Choice Program in Mississippi by 2029

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Wed, 02/21/2024 - 04:11 AM

The Mississippi House of Representatives is poised to consider legislation that would allow all Mississippi students to select the school setting that works best for them within five years.

Speaker of the House Jason White said in the lead up to the legislative session that the creation of education scholarship accounts for Mississippi’s students was a top priority. The Mississippi Student Freedom Act, filed by House Education Chairman Rob Roberson (R), suggests his commitment to the concept stands.

Politics

Speaker Jason White says House will work to scrap, rewrite public education funding formula

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Wed, 02/21/2024 - 03:31 AM

First-year House Speaker Jason White said his intention this year is to “scrap” and “rewrite” the formula that funds Mississippi’s public schools.

The speaker’s blunt statement about the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which has been in place since 1997, signals the continuation of a decades-long debate that has gripped the state’s lawmakers for decades.

“We are going to pass that probably in the next two weeks in the House,” White told SuperTalk on Monday of a House plan to rewrite the funding formula.

Schools

With new solar panels, Mississippi State is taking strides towards carbon neutral goal

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Wed, 02/21/2024 - 02:21 AM

Mississippi State University, home to the largest undergraduate student body in the state, made strides earlier this month towards its goal of being carbon neutral by 2042.

Schools

Proposed revisions to Mississippi financial aid could expand help available to students

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Mon, 02/19/2024 - 02:41 AM

If HB 994 becomes law, low income students will become eligible for the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Program (MTAG) and size of grants will increase.

Last session, a bill to revise Mississippi’s financial aid program for college hit snags. Lawmakers are hopeful they can overcome those obstacles this year. Representative Donnie Scoggin has filed a bill, HB 994, that, if signed into law, would expand the Mississippi Resident Tuition Assistance Grant program.

Schools

House committee passes bill expanding college financial aid to adult, part-time students

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Wed, 02/14/2024 - 05:21 PM

The House Colleges and Universities Committee advanced a bill Wednesday to increase award amounts and expand eligibility to more Mississippians under the state’s largest college financial aid program.

Magee Lions Club

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Wed, 02/14/2024 - 08:35 AM

District Governor Lion Tom Corlett for District 30-S presented Past President of the Magee Lions Club Lion Tom Duncan with the Club of Excellence award in recognition of the club meeting service and membership goals.

Opinion

Smith: The Time is Now for Mississippi to Capitalize on School Choice

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Wed, 02/14/2024 - 01:51 AM

Below is an opinion column by Lucien Smith:

Mississippi could soon find itself surrounded on all sides by states that have embraced broad education freedom for students.

You have probably heard a lot of talk recently about school choice, parent choice, and education freedom. While there are some slight differences between those terms that I will not belabor here, the concept is largely the same: provide parents, particularly those who are low-income, the resources and freedom to select the best education options for their children.

Mississippi University for Women, founded in 1884 in Columbus, was the first public women's college in the country. Credit: Molly Minta/Mississippi Today

Wynbridge State University of Mississippi, proposed new name for MUW, has support from area lawmakers

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Wed, 02/14/2024 - 01:01 AM

More than 40 years after going coeducational, Mississippi University for Women will ask lawmakers this session to approve a new name: Wynbridge State University of Mississippi.

Schools

After Brightwell dims, MUW proposes name change to Wynbridge State University

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Tue, 02/13/2024 - 08:31 PM

One reason for the choice was the school’s recommitment to centering their brand identity as “The W.”

After its proposed name change to Brightwell did not go over as well as supporters would have liked, the Mississippi University for Women took another shot at the endeavor, this time offering three other options: Wynbridge, Wellbright and Wynbright.

Schools

‘A friend in a high place’: Alcorn State interim president could be latest internal hire by IHL

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Tue, 02/13/2024 - 08:01 PM

Alcorn State Univerity’s interim president appears to have at least some campus support if he wants the full appointment.

But if Mississippi’s public university governing board forgoes a national search and appoints Tracy Cook, it will mark the ninth time in 10 years that it has hired an internal candidate as a top leader.

One was a university president already. Some were acting or interim presidents when given the full appointment. Others had worked as commissioners within the Institutions of Higher Learning.

Schools

MDE presents legislative priorities to Senate Education Committee

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Sat, 02/10/2024 - 03:51 PM

Funding MAEP and providing avenues to increase workforce participation were two main priorities expressed to Senators this week by the Mississippi Department of Education.

During Thursday’s Senate Education Committee meeting, administrators from the Mississippi Department of Education submitted a request of nearly $3 billion to be funded under the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP).

Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., Tuesday, January 17, 2023. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Delta State looking for new dean but won’t say what role no-confidence vote played

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Sat, 02/10/2024 - 02:31 PM

Delta State University in Cleveland is seeking a new dean to lead the college of arts and sciences nearly three months after the faculty senate called for the current dean’s resignation.

The administration revealed the search for a new dean, along with five other executive-level positions, near the end of a town hall last week that was largely dedicated to the financial position of the regional college in the Mississippi Delta.

Schools

Mississippi Supreme Court hears oral arguments in private school funding appeal

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Fri, 02/09/2024 - 02:11 PM

Justices will decide whether a law to make $10 million in federal ARPA funds available to private schools for infrastructure updates violates the Mississippi Constitution.

The case of whether federal emergency response funding can be used for infrastructure updates by private schools is now in the hands of Mississippi’s Supreme Court.