FOCUS: Medicaid Expansion • Pauper’s Field Burials • State Legislature • National News • Fact Checks • #MSWelfare/TANF Scandal • Jackson Water • Race & Racism
Educators would experience yearly pay raises and significant boosts every five years under a new proposal Mississippi Senate leaders unveiled Monday. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, the Senate president, announced the plan alongside Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville.
Advikaa Anand reflects on times in her life when she was bullied, remembering the effect it had on her self-esteem and overall mental health. She encourages parents, teachers and neighbors to proactively validate children’s experiences, protect them and provide just consequences for bullying.
Dr. Lisa Karmacharya, executive director of the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board, writes that the board established by the Mississippi Legislature authorizes high-quality charter schools that expand opportunities for underserved students and increase access to good public schools.
Gov. Tate Reeves is picking public fights with President Joe Biden to distract the people from his utter failure to properly manage the reopening of schools during the delta wave. Reeves seeks to distract Mississippians from the consequences of his refusal to enact a statewide school mask mandate. The fact is, our governor failed to protect our children when they needed it the most.Â
Since COVID-19 spread, teachers experienced even higher levels of stress and burnout than before the pandemic. This in turn has raised concerns about a potential exodus of teachers as well as teacher shortages, reducing teachers’ commitment to remain in the classroom.
As many kids resume instruction this fall, schools can serve as critical access points for mental health services. But the intensity of challenges students face coupled with school mental health workforce shortages is a serious concern.
The Mississippi Lottery Corporation raised $80 million for state highways and almost $59 million to support public education during its first full fiscal year. The education funds will go to the state’s Education Enhancement Fund, which supports the Early Childhood Learning Collaborative, which is a state-funded pre-K program, and the Classroom Supply Fund.
As part of the American Rescue Plan passed in March, the Biden Administration increased the Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and middle-income workers. We are going to see millions of lives improved over the next year because of these changes, only to be erased when these provisions expire in 2022. We cannot let that happen. We must make these provisions permanent.
For Black men, trauma and not just exposure are factors when choosing to become a teacher. The same schools that make a point to punish our boys seem to also be unwelcoming places for our Black men to work. Imagine the strength it takes to return to sites of trauma as champions of the education system—to be cursed Americana wrapped in enough patriotism to educate America’s future.Â
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