Jackson Free Press

The Clarion-Ledger editorializes about the upcoming legislative "Katrina session" today:

The $4 billion 2007 budget that the 2006 Legislature meeting Tuesday will approve for the fiscal year starting July 1 hinges on federal relief. Even so, Medicaid and funding for public education remain touchy subjects. Mississippi got a huge Christmas present with the crucial, but tardy, $29 billion federal aid package to help the state rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The influx of dollars should solve a lot of issues when the 2006 Legislature convenes Tuesday and, as a result, the 90-day session will probably be called "the Katrina session." [...]

MAEP is still a question mark. It has only been fully funded once. Legislators began reviewing the funding formula last year following complaints that it penalizes rapidly growing districts. But, so far, there has been no promise by the governor and legislative leaders that they will fully fund this formula either. Fully funding schools is a promise that must be made in the 2007 budget, and kept.