The Flora Harvester has learned that Pelahatchie Mayor Knox Ross will announce his intentions to run for State Senate in District 20. Ross will look to replace Senator Lee Yancey who is running for State Treasurer. Ross formed a committee last year to run for State Auditor in expectation of Auditor Stacey Pickering's run for Lt. Governor, a move that never materialized.
More details on Ross as they become available.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Mississippi NAACP goes after charter school law
NAACP opposes Miss. charter school legislation
Members of the Mississippi NAACP met with lawmakers Tuesday, asking some to reject a bill that would expand the state's current charter school law.
Derrick Johnson, president of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said lawmakers should focus instead on full funding for public education. He said shortchanging public schools in a tough budget year would "create and maintain a permanent situation of second-class citizens."
This year's budget talks will moved into their final phases in the coming weeks. But the Senate was poised to consider a charter school bill that would open the door for such schools to open throughout the state.
The state's current charter school law, which went into effect in 2010, only allows charter schools to open in struggling school districts.
Charter schools typically operate with a combination of public and private dollars. Supporters have said the schools are free to use innovative teaching methods that could improve academic performance, such as longer school days or more focused fields of study.
Read more: WE
Members of the Mississippi NAACP met with lawmakers Tuesday, asking some to reject a bill that would expand the state's current charter school law.
Derrick Johnson, president of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said lawmakers should focus instead on full funding for public education. He said shortchanging public schools in a tough budget year would "create and maintain a permanent situation of second-class citizens."
This year's budget talks will moved into their final phases in the coming weeks. But the Senate was poised to consider a charter school bill that would open the door for such schools to open throughout the state.
The state's current charter school law, which went into effect in 2010, only allows charter schools to open in struggling school districts.
Charter schools typically operate with a combination of public and private dollars. Supporters have said the schools are free to use innovative teaching methods that could improve academic performance, such as longer school days or more focused fields of study.
Read more: WE
Bye Bye, Butch.
Not content to allow the MDOT Director to leave office on his own terms, the Transportation Commissioners have given Director Butch Brown until tomorrow to clean out his desk. Newly elected Northern Commissioner Mike Tagert joined Dick Hall in ousting Brown. Brown had said he would resign effective in June of this year.
MDOT commissioners vote to oust director BrownSH
Mississippi Transportation Commission voted 2-1 today to demand that Executive Director Larry L. "Butch" Brown submit his resignation by close of business Wednesday or he will be terminated.
A new commissioner, Norther District Commissioner Mike Taggert, was sworn in before the meeting and sided with Central District Commissioner Dick Hall on the move to replace Brown.
Southern District Commissioner Wayne Brown voted against the motion.
Backers make appeal to keep East Flora Middle School open
More time - that's what Flora parents and officials are asking of the Madison County School Board.
"Let us keep our children here, and we can work with them to get them up to par," Flora Alderman Mary Sumler said to school district officials Monday night at a public hearing on the possible closing of East Flora Middle School.
The school district has been underfunded by $7 million over the past three years, and district officials are looking to reduce costs if the state does not fund the schools at least at the same level as this year. East Flora Middle, the smallest school in the Madison County district, costs $1.1 million to operate, and closing it means a $750,000 saving, Superintendent Mike Kent said.
Kent said the board intends to decide at its April 4 meeting on whether to close East Flora and send those students to Madison Middle School next August.
Flora Mayor Leslie Childress asked the board to consider delaying any idea of closing the school, which has the Mississippi Department of Education rating of "academic watch."
Kent said the school is inefficient to run because of its small size, which makes the cost of educating each student about $14,000 compared to $7,700 in the rest of the district.
Academic performance of the students and low parental involvement also factor into the final verdict. "If performance of the kids goes up, that helps your cause," Kent said. "We have struggled over a number of years to bring the performance up."
Of the 17 who signed up to speak, only Lady Margaret Harvey asked the board to close the school so Flora students can attend Madison Middle School.
"Parents aren't going to send their children to a failing school if they can afford to send their children elsewhere. Tax dollars could be better spent," she said.
CL
"Let us keep our children here, and we can work with them to get them up to par," Flora Alderman Mary Sumler said to school district officials Monday night at a public hearing on the possible closing of East Flora Middle School.
The school district has been underfunded by $7 million over the past three years, and district officials are looking to reduce costs if the state does not fund the schools at least at the same level as this year. East Flora Middle, the smallest school in the Madison County district, costs $1.1 million to operate, and closing it means a $750,000 saving, Superintendent Mike Kent said.
Kent said the board intends to decide at its April 4 meeting on whether to close East Flora and send those students to Madison Middle School next August.
Flora Mayor Leslie Childress asked the board to consider delaying any idea of closing the school, which has the Mississippi Department of Education rating of "academic watch."
Kent said the school is inefficient to run because of its small size, which makes the cost of educating each student about $14,000 compared to $7,700 in the rest of the district.
Academic performance of the students and low parental involvement also factor into the final verdict. "If performance of the kids goes up, that helps your cause," Kent said. "We have struggled over a number of years to bring the performance up."
Of the 17 who signed up to speak, only Lady Margaret Harvey asked the board to close the school so Flora students can attend Madison Middle School.
"Parents aren't going to send their children to a failing school if they can afford to send their children elsewhere. Tax dollars could be better spent," she said.
CL
Baptist campus expanding
"As the market in Madison County has needs for more health care, we will build accordingly," Baptist Health System spokesman Robby Channell said.
Baptist has begun work on the ambulatory center on the ground floor of its building at 401 Baptist Drive. The hospital has held a certificate of need for the out-patient surgery center since planning the building that opened in 2007, Channell said.
Mike Stevens, Baptist vice president of development, told the Madison Board of Aldermen in January that the center will open probably around June or July.
"We don't have a definite date of when we will start treating patients," Channell said.
MCH
Mississippi House OKs plan for insurance exchange
The House, by an 83-33 margin Monday, passed a bill to enact a health insurance exchange in Mississippi.
Backers say the health insurance exchange is a critical part of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Aaron Sisk, senior staff attorney with the Mississippi Department of Insurance, says the exchanges are "a marketplace for health insurance ... a one-stop shop."
Presumably, people can get health insurance cheaper in the exchanges because the large volume of customers will drive down costs.
A similar bill is pending in the Mississippi Senate.
Under the federal law, states can either set up their own exchanges or leave it to the federal government to establish one.
Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who has filed a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the federal health care law, supports the exchanges and is requesting $1.5 million to put one in place in Mississippi.
Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said no state money would be needed for the exchange this year. He said that before 2016, the federal government would pay at least 95 percent of the cost of the exchange and might pay it all.
He said Insurance Commission Mike Chaney already has received a $1 million federal grant to begin work on enacting the exchange.
After 2016, the exchanges are required to be self-supporting.
Read more: SH
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