Jackson Free Press

CLARKSDALE, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers start their three-month session at noon Tuesday, and they face a long agenda. They'll write a budget, seek ways to control prison costs, debate education policy and argue about health care.

Katisha Ray, a 27-year-old Clarksdale resident, said she wants them to consider creating college scholarships for people with financial need. The state puts some money into scholarships now, but they're not need-based. Rather, they're for students who finish high school with top grades or for people who want to enter specific fields, such as teaching. With tighter limits on federal Pell grants in the past couple of years, some lower-income students are having a harder time paying for college.

Ray started studying mass communication at Alcorn State University but says she moved back home to Clarksdale in 2008 after her father suffered a stroke. She has a part-time job and student loan debt. She said she's about a year short of completing her bachelor's degree and wants to finish but doesn't know how she can afford it.

"It would be extra hard for me to get assistance," Ray said as she stood among the racks of suits and sweaters at New York Hi-Style, the downtown Clarksdale clothing store where she works 20 to 30 hours a week.

One of the store's owners, Richie Shingrani, said he wants lawmakers to increase the pay for elementary and secondary teachers.

"If they don't pay a proper salary, nobody is going to come here," said Shingrani, who has operated his store in the same location for 28 years, during which he has seen Clarksdale go from almost a ghost town to a place that now boasts several bustling blues clubs and restaurants and even an upscale spa just down Yazoo Avenue.

Top lawmakers, including Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, are discussing teacher pay raises. However, there has been little talk about creating need-based scholarships for college students.

This is the third year of a four-year term, and many believe this is a good time to get things done: First-term legislators are comfortable in their jobs, and 2015 election-year pressure is still a somewhat distant concern.

Legislators are expected to fight over education funding as they write a budget. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and the Republican-led Joint Legislative Budget Committee propose a few million more dollars for specific education programs, such as intensive literacy training in early elementary school. However, neither the legislative plan nor the governor's plan would fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which is the largest chunk of money for elementary and secondary schools.

MAEP is a complex funding formula designed to ensure each district receives enough money to meet certain academic standards. It became law in 1997 but has been fully funded only twice, during election years. The formula was designed to help Mississippi avoid an equity-funding lawsuit after such suits were filed in other states challenging the disparity between wealthier and poorer districts.

Legislators are trying to control prison costs that have grown steadily, and eaten a larger share of the state budget, during the past two decades.

They could argue about increasing the gasoline tax to pay for highway construction and maintenance or expanding Medicaid — an option under the federal health reform law. However, neither issue appears to have enough votes to pass.

Although a few lawmakers argue a higher fuel tax would help improve the safety of roads, many say drivers are taxed enough. And while many Democrats say expanding Medicaid is a bargain with the federal government paying most of the immediate cost, Republicans who control the House and Senate say the state can't afford to add hundreds of thousands more people to the program.

Legislators have an early April deadline to adopt a budget for fiscal 2015, which begins July 1. Gov. Bryant and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee have separate budget proposals. Both seek to reduce the state's use of "one-time money," such as winnings from lawsuit settlements, to pay for recurring expenses.

"My number one budget priority is to do what we told the taxpayers we'd do in 2011 — that is, get to a structurally balanced budget where recurring revenue equals recurring expenditures," Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said.