Ed formula rewrite efforts emerge early in '18 session with EdBuild set to return

Efforts to rewrite Mississippi’s school funding formula are expected to ramp up next week as legislators meet with an education consultant advising on the effort, sources have told the Clarion Ledger.

In 2016, lawmakers hired EdBuild, a New-Jersey based nonprofit which advocates for equitable school funding, to recommend changes to the state’s 20-year-old school budget formula.

The group proposed legislators fund a base amount for each student and allocate supplements for students who need additional resources, such as special education students and students from low-income households.

Lawmakers left town without acting on the group’s suggestions, and work on the rewrite has been in the hands of the Capitol’s third floor where the offices of Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves are housed.

Read more: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/05/mississippi-school-funding-rewrite-advances/1009409001/