Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi Legislature has one of its busiest days today as committees scramble to pass most general bills. State lawmakers have until midnight tonight to get committee approval for any non-revenue bills originating in their own chamber. That means that many contentious measures may die tonight for lack of progress.

Among many issues at stake today is Gov. Haley Barbour's call for consolidation of state universities. Rep. Kelvin Buck, D-Holly Springs, has made it clear that no merger bills will pass the House Universities and Colleges Committee, which he chairs, but a bill could emerge from the corresponding Senate committee today. Rep. Doug Davis, R-Hernando, has sponsored three bills that would merge the administrations of Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University with Jackson State University and the Mississippi University for Women with Mississippi State University. If no Senate measure survives, though, then Barbour could only push university consolidation by calling a special session of the Legislature.

Likewise, bills to consolidate the state's 152 school districts must pass either the Senate or House Education Committees today. Thus far, none have received committee approval. Barbour has established a commission to study consolidation, which will deliver its findings on April 1, though, and the governor has signaled his willingness to raise the issue again in a special session.

A less-publicized consolidation moved forward today, though, when the House Education Committee passed a bill that would relocate the Mississippi School of the Arts to the campus of the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. Education Committee Chairman Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, sponsored that bill, as he did in the last two legislative sessions.

Created by an act of the Legislature in 1999, and opened in 2002, the School of the Arts is a residential magnet high school for 11th and 12th graders. It currently serves 170 students.

In his Nov. 16 budget recommendation, Barbour called for merging the School of the Arts with the Columbus-based Mississippi School for Math and Science, another residential magnet high school. Barbour suggested that the move could bring over $1 million in savings, but MSA Executive Director Suzanne Hirsch said that it would likely cost the state more—millions of dollars, even—to move the School of the Arts. MUW would have to upgrade heating and cooling in the spare dormitories that MSA students would occupy, Hirsh said. The logistics of completing a move over the summer are complicated, too. State and federal law requires a minimum number of employees to be present whenever students records are transported outside the school's vault, for example.

"Our summer's filled already, so if you add any of that stuff in there, you're talking about a nightmare," Hirsch said. "You're not going to save money this year, anyway. Even if they made us go July 1, the moving expenses alone are going to negate any savings. And then you've got facilities that have to be renovated. The state doesn't usually work that fast. We feel that the facts should weigh on our side."

Tonight's deadline also threatens a number of legislative requests from the city of Jackson. Jackson Democrats Sen. David Blount and Rep. Credell Calhoun have sponsored legislation in their respective chambers that would add U.S. Highway 49 to the state highway system. Since the 1970s, Jackson has paid for maintenance to the road, which includes portions of Medgar Evers Boulevard and Woodrow Wilson Avenue.

Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, has sponsored a bill that would allow riverboat casino gambling along the Pearl River near Jackson. The Senate Finance Committee must pass that measure today.