Jackson Free Press

Believe it or not, the Mississippi Legislature's refusal to adequately fund public schools and its attempt to derail a proposed constitutional amendment to require such funding isn't about differing philosophies about how to fix the state's educational system.

It's not really about what's best for schools. It's not even really about children. It's about dirty politics, pure and simple.

Consider from whence the Republicans that hold Mississippi's political power come. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, Gov. Phil Bryant and House Education Chairman John Moore all hail from Rankin County, which has good schools. House Speaker Philip Gunn is from Clinton, which has good schools. The Republican-led delegation from DeSoto County, the largest and one of the best school districts in the state, wields enough influence that the region is paid a fair amount of deference in legislative deliberations.

In the meantime, many schools throughout the state have to choose between patching leaky roofs and hiring art teachers. A review of crowd-funding websites such as DonorsChoose.org reveals the lengths to which educators will go to cover even basic classroom expenses.

So any leveling of the playing field, which the Mississippi Adequate Education Program seeks to accomplish, would unquestionably make families think twice about jettisoning Jackson and its struggling public-school system and shake the foundation of the ruling political class.

This is the best explanation we can muster for Gunn and Reeves' hissy fit over "one Hinds County judge" thwarting their plans for the GOP's confusing alternative proposed amendment to Initiative 42.

If successful, Initiative 42 would require adequate education funding through a constitutional amendment, which the courts could enforce. The Republicans' alternative, 42A, leaves funding decisions up to the Legislature and removes the ability for courts to enforce the law so they can break it.

The state Supreme Court could ultimately decide the fate of Initiative 42, but the most important players are the very young people that all this political wrangling most affects.

This generation of citizens (and future voters) thinks differently than many of the men who now hold power in Mississippi on a number of key issues (see: this week's hearings over the future of same-sex marriage, which most young people support, even ones raised in conservative homes) and is interested in leaving the bedroom communities where they grew up to move back into cities.

If you thumb through our annual Amazing Teens issue (pages 14-21), you'll read about high-school students from all over the Jackson metro who are achieving great things in spite of the budgetary odds their schools are up against.

With adequate investment, just imagine how many more amazing teens Mississippi could produce and how great that would be for all of us.