Mississippi schools are going into the new academic year with holes in their budgets, thanks to the federal government’s decision to freeze billions in education dollars.
Across the country, about $5 billion is on hold — money that pays for professional development, adult literacy and programming for English language learners. Of that amount, $51 million is frozen for Mississippi.
The federal government announced its decision to “review” the funds in a three-sentence email on June 30. The frozen funds originally totaled more than $6 billion, but after U.S. senators across party lines called for the Trump administration to release the money, which Congress had allocated in March, $1.3 billion for afterschool programs was released. That includes $17 million for afterschool programming in Mississippi.
A coalition of attorneys general and governors from 24 states and Washington, D.C., have filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision and seeking the release of the rest of the money.
Mississippi is not one of those states.
The state education department hosted a virtual meeting about the funding two weeks ago for Mississippi school superintendents and federal programming directors, who still have many questions. Nearly 500 people attended, state Superintendent of Education Lance Evans said at a recent state board of education meeting.
The issue came up repeatedly, too, at the annual Mississippi Association of School Superintendents convention last week because there’s no guarantee when or if the funds will be released.
“The Mississippi Department of Education shares the same level of anxiety and frustration as our school districts during this process,” Evans said in an emailed statement. “We hope the U.S. Department of Education will expedite its review and see fit to release the funds, which are essential to providing education services on the state and local levels in Mississippi.”
Though the amount is just 1.5% of the state’s overall $3.32 billion education budget, the decision is already impacting school districts. And it comes at a critical time — just days away from the start of the school year, when many districts are hosting professional development sessions for their staff — and at a confusing time, as school leaders are still trying to understand the full impact of other federal spending decisions on their districts.
Sunflower County Consolidated School District’s new superintendent, James Johnson-Waldington, has had to grapple with the loss of Title II funding, which pays for professional development, during his first few days on the job.
The district is still hosting professional development sessions for its teachers — it can’t afford to lose its well-fought ‘B’ rating from the state education department — but will have to use local funds to do it.
“Hopefully if the funds are released, we can get reimbursed,” he said. “But in the meantime, we just have to do what we have to do for the wellbeing of our staff and students.”
The Union Public School District in central Mississippi isn’t cancelling the professional development sessions they have planned this week, but they have decided to handle it all in-house to save some money.
The district receives about $75,000 in Title II and IV funding, which pays for student support services. Because the district is relatively small, Union often has to outsource for professional development needs. That’s mostly what the $47,000 it receives in Title II funds goes toward, and it’s historically the only pot of money that pays for professional development within the district.
As a response to their students’ mental health needs during the transition period between elementary school and high school, the majority of the system’s Title IV funding goes toward paying for their middle school counselor to be full-time. The counselors at the other two schools are part-time.
Now the district will have to dip into its own pockets to pay the rest of that counselor’s salary.
“She’s already employed, and we’re going to do right by people,” Superintendent Tyler Hansford said. “When you make a commitment to someone, we try to honor it here in Mississippi.”
While it might seem like $75,000 is just a drop in the bucket for a district that operates on an $11 million overall budget, Hansford said every dollar counts. For example, while that counselor’s services are much-needed in the district, whatever money they’ll use on her salary means that’s less money to use on other needed resources at the district, such as a new assistant teacher.
“It’s always a numbers game,” Hansford said. “It’s like putting together a puzzle. This money is that missing piece. You can’t complete the puzzle without it.”
Update: An earlier version of this story contained information and numbers that have now changed on the federal level. It has been updated with new figures.
-- Article credit to Devna Bose for Mississippi Today --
