Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
April 28
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal on advancing to the fourth grade:
Mississippi has made it more challenging for its students to advance to fourth-grade.
Since 2015, the state’s third-grade students have been required to pass a reading test in order to be promoted. Starting this year, they must achieve an even higher score to pass the test.
The so-called third-grade reading gate was modeled on a program from Florida. The idea is that after third grade, students begin reading for comprehension, rather than learning to read. Thus, it is a disservice to promote students to fourth-grade until they have a strong foundation in reading or they will be overwhelmed by the material and fall further behind.
For the test’s first four years, students had to reach the second, or basic, level on a state test scored in five tiers. This year, they must reach the third level. Those who fail will still have two chances to retake the test, and some students can qualify for good-cause exemptions for various reasons.
We salute Mississippi for raising the bar and holding its students to high expectations. One of the fruits of the law has been an increased emphasis on reading instruction, including more state support and training for teachers. Literacy is the building block to a successful education, and Mississippi is right to focus on it.
That said, if Mississippi is going to have high standards, it must also place a proper emphasis on the foundational basics.
That starts with a more robust state-funded pre-K system that ensures students are ready to learn when they start school. Research has shown that the first four years of a child’s life are the most important for his or her brain development. It also has shown children in lower-income households tend to hear millions fewer words in their first four years than their more affluent peers. This discrepancy creates a language gap that is very difficult to close as the children move through school.
If Mississippi is expecting all of its students to be reading at a high level by the end of third grade - and it should have this expectation - it also must do its part to ensure they are prepared when they begin kindergarten.
The state must also drill down and ensure it is teaching the basics during the primary school years, making sure its curriculum is extremely focused on the foundational skills of reading, reading comprehension, core mathematics and writing.
More than 35,000 Mississippi third-graders took the reading test last week, the first group to be held to the new higher standard. When their results come back, the state must carefully study that data to determine where gaps exist and where it needs to invest more money for reading coaches or teacher training.
Mississippi students will benefit from being held to a high standard, but only if the right foundations are in place.
Online: https://www.djournal.com
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April 26
The Greenwood Commonwealth on the Mississippi Department of Education’s numbers:
The mathematically challenged Mississippi Department of Education has done it once again.
It has created some heartburn by not accurately keeping up with its own numbers.
This time, it failed to provide state lawmakers, when they were trying to decide how big a raise to give Mississippi’s schoolteachers, an accurate figure of how much it would cost. Initially, MDE said a $1,000 pay raise would cost just more than $50 million. Then, it came back and said it miscalculated, that the state could actually increase the raise to $1,500, and it would only add another $8 million to the first estimate.
Lawmakers were relieved, since they were being lambasted by schoolteachers for allegedly being miserly. They approved the higher amount and went home, feeling that even though teachers might continue to grouse, the political damage would be minimal in this election year.
Now we learn MDE’s second projection was way off. The $58 million in the budget is not going to cover the $1,500 raise next year. It’s about $10 million to $15 million short because MDE failed to correctly count the number of teachers who are paid with state money.
We are all human, and we all make mistakes. But MDE seems to make more than its share.
It happened in 2015, when the department approved after-school grants for 45 school districts but failed to account for another 65 districts whose grants were being renewed. As a result of the $19 million error, all 110 districts got a lot less money than they expected.
A systemwide audit last year by then State Auditor Stacey Pickering found MDE to be one of the worst agencies at keeping its accounting straight.
As far as the shortfall on teacher raises, Gov. Phil Bryant and the Republican leadership have told school districts and school teachers not to worry, pledging that the state will make up the deficit in a special appropriation when the Legislature convenes next January.
Still, the skeptics at the Capitol would not be blamed for wondering whether MDE’s undercount could have been intentional. There was no way, once the Legislature enacted the $1,500 raise, that it was going to roll it back. MDE would know that.
Careless or devious, take your pick. Neither reflect well on that agency.
Online: http://www.gwcommonwealth.com
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April 25
The Natchez Democrat on state Auditor Shad White:
Mississippi State Auditor Shad White is not afraid to ruffle feathers when it comes to protecting taxpayer dollars.
Less than a year after being appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant, White has made headlines after launching investigations into stolen and misused government funds. Since starting in July 2018, White has investigated everything from the spending of the former Director of Accounting and Finance at the Mississippi Board of Animal Health to the payment of employees in the Lincoln County Chancery Clerk’s office.
Most recently White issued a report examining the rise of spending in school administration in the state’s K-12 schools compared to the spending on classroom instruction.
White’s three-page report suggests that spending on school administration rose 17.7 percent in the last decade while spending on instruction rose 10.6 percent - even when the state has seen an overall decline in K-12 student enrollment.
Such numbers are not surprising in our corner of the state. A 2017 investigation of similar spending in the Natchez-Adams School District revealed that despite losing more than one-quarter of its enrollment in the last decade, the school district’s annual expenses rose by nearly $3 million in the same period. Much of the increase was due to a 20% rise in non-instructional expenses. Since releasing his report, White has been under fire from supporters of the state’s adequate education program, accusing White of creating cover for Republican lawmakers who they say passed an inadequate $1,500 pay raise for teachers.
White’s critics charge the state auditor of ignoring inflation and of suggesting federal money be used for purposes other than what they were intended to make his argument. Many of the points made by White’s critics may be valid and deserve to be studied and openly debated.
From our standpoint, White is doing the right thing asking questions. Because without asking questions, we will never know the answers and will never move past the status quo - even if it ruffles a few feathers along the way.
Online: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com
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