Jackson Free Press

It was as if State Rep. Charles Young, D-Meridian, had conjured it all up: this meeting, for the first time, of Mississippi's three houses of education: K-12, Community and Junior Colleges, and Universities. The day before this Feb. 19 meeting, Young had told the House Universities and Colleges Committee, which he chairs, that the state's children and its workforce suffer because there is no "bond" or "seamless" transition from one area of education to the other. He did not know that State Superintendent of Education Henry Johnson had planned this education summit.

Everybody there agreed that the three houses should have been working more closely together all along, and have known that for a while. So the billion-dollar question is: If they all knew better, why haven't they been doing better?

"We've worked together some, but not like we need to," Johnson said. "I really just wanted to at least get us all talking."

If nothing else, Gov. Haley Barbour's plans for education, or rather lack of them, might force the houses to work more closely. Barbour, one of the speakers at the conference, briefly explained the reasoning behind his budget for education, which proposes that community and junior colleges and universities be given $100 million for workforce training even as he accepted the Legislative Budget Committee's recommendation to under-fund K-12 $164 million. Barbour said his budget took into account that junior colleges are currently receiving $103 million less than they did four years ago while, he said, K-12 is getting 21 percent more now than then. He did not mention the $150-million cut universities are currently operating under, but $71 million of the $100 million dollars in his budget for higher education would apparently be allocated to IHLs (institutions for higher learning). Barbour bragged that the Senate has already overwhelmingly passed the education part of his budget, but it might not be smooth sailing in the House.

Speaker of the House Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, who also spoke at the meeting, said the four horses of the Apocalypse—"war, famine, pestilence and death running roughshod—would have to take a back seat to what we're dealing with now," he said of trying to fund public education. He assured educators that the House would try to find the best solutions for every area of education. "We'll be looking at some revenues sources, as well as expenditures." That day, Barbour's proposal didn't seem to cause strain between the houses. Publicly, everybody was supportive. "I was glad to hear everybody saying that they hope all areas of education get the funding they need," said Jayne Sargent, former superintendent of Jackson Public Schools, now associate director of GEAR UP Mississippi, an acronym for Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, aimed at students in grades 7-12.

The governor's budget provides little guidance for educators, but, if passed, could affect the way the segments interact; no one has figured out exactly how, yet.

But statistics gathered over a decade by the Education Trust really brought home how critical it is for the three houses to collaborate. Katie Haycock, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based organization, said at the summit that success in education was based on a simple formula: good teachers plus a strong curriculum plus high expectations equal children, of all cultures, economic backgrounds and geographic locations, achieving in every area.

Haycock shared statistics and examples showing schools, districts, regions and states that have turned their education systems into powerhouses. The most successful let nothing, even the lack of money and resources, stop their progress.

The least successful continued the national pattern for students who come from the worst home conditions, who are already behind academically: they are given the least experienced teachers, much less support and, most damaging, very little is expected of them. They perform exactly as would be expected under such conditions.

Mississippi educators said they were not surprised by Haycock's statistics. But, again, the question: If they knew, what has stopped them from turning that knowledge into more positive results?

There are signs that it is beginning to happen. While Mississippi usually has been ranked at the bottom nationally for its public schools' performances, it has moved to the top in terms of the amount of progress that has been made in the last few years, according to Haycock.

"We're pleased about that progress, but we can't become complacent," Johnson said. "We're still ranked among the states at the bottom."

Haycock's findings suggest how the three education houses should work together. Universities and colleges have to train good teachers; secondary schools have to recruit them, and most critically, provide them with generous support; and teachers have to set high standards and expect all students to meet them.

In the warm glow of this education summit, suggestions for continued collaboration between the houses flew. The idea of creating one board of education came up, as it has before. But that might be a little too much togetherness for some.

State Board for Community and Junior Colleges Executive Director Wayne Stonecypher, for instance, believes the education segments have unique functions and that their autonomy should probably be maintained.

"My theory is that if you had one board, you might get some leadership in there that would favor one area over the other," he said. " It would just depend on the leadership."

Which brings us back to Rep. Young's point: It is crucial that these three houses figure out how to create a strong, effective public education system for Mississippi that works in sync. Absolutely everything depends on it.