Jackson Free Press

What's in a name?

Well, a rebranding of the local the mass-transit system, JATRAN, got under way quietly with a press release from the city this morning.

The Transit Services Division wants public input on what to rename the authority. The public-comment period last through October. Citizens can vote through on online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ST7X9ZZ.

From the survey, you can suggest your own name (e.g. "Jumpin Jack Flash," "The Ripper," or some such) or pick from one of these pre-fab/suggested names:

• Jackson Jazz • Jackson Area Express • Jackson Metro • Pearl RiverRunner • CityBus • CityLink • Beat • Blues • CAT (Capital Area Transit) • GoJackson • JBus • The J • Magnolia Ride • The Ride

The results of the survey (which, face it, will probably be Jumpin Jack Flash) will be shared with the Jackson City Council at their Tuesday, November 17, 2015 meeting.

According to the city, "the person who suggests the best name for JATRAN and is approved by City Council will receive a special prize." (Editor's note: should be free bus rides for life).

Happy voting.

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RePublic Schools Inc., the charter management organization that opened one of two charter schools in Mississippi, received a $9.6 million U.S. Department of Education grant. RePublic Schools was one of twelve organizations selected for a Charter School Program Grant this year.

The grant will be issued over a five-year period, and RePublic Schools Inc. was allotted $1.76 million in Year One. The Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board approved two more RePublic Schools, Smilow Prep and Smilow Collegiate, earlier this month. The schools will open in Jackson in August 2016.

In a press release, CEO Ravi Gupta said, "We are grateful to Secretary Duncan (the U.S. Secretary of Education) and his team for recognizing RePublic's efforts to expand high quality, 21st Century educational opportunities for children in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana."

RePublic Schools has opened schools in Tennessee and Mississippi thus far, but the press release mentions Louisiana as well.

A top city economic-development official says retail is alive and well in Jackson.

Jason Goree, Jackson's economic development chief, tweeted this afternoon that a Burke's Outlet store is coming to Jackson.

"It's gonna happen!!!!! Retail ain't dead in the Capitol," Goree posted to Twitter.

The city has struggled with attracting and retaining big-box retailers in recent years. Following the closure of Sam's Club, the Best Buy store on County Line Road announced this year that it would close. And after Jackson had been courting Costco, one of the nation's largest companies, that company is now in talks with the city of Ridgeland to build near the Renaissance.

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Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves seems less concerned with creating a budget this year than he is with making sure Initiative 42 does not pass in November. During the Legislative Budget Office hearings on Monday and Tuesday, while most department heads were able to fend off taking sides, they were forced to answer obviously leading questions, primarily orchestrated by Reeves.

When the Department of Education presented their budget on Monday, they asked for the full funding of MAEP and funding for several additional programs including: the third grade reading gate, the MSIS system, state special schools and early education pilot programs.

Reeves asked state Superintendent of Education, Dr. Carey Wright several questions about the effectiveness of the additional programs in a way that indirectly asked about MAEP.

After questions from representatives and senators, Reeves asked several of his own. A small portion of the back-and-forth is below:

Reeves: How long have you been in Mississippi now? Has it been two years?

Wright: November the 11 will be two years.

Reeves: So you’ve had an opportunity to be in lots of school districts and a lot of schools across our state, my question is do you think Mississippi has an efficient system of public schools?

Wright: (Pause) Can you define efficient?

Reeves: Let me ask you a follow-up, can you define efficient?

Wright: Thinking about it from a superintendent’s hat, if I was a district superintendent, efficient to me would be am I utilizing funds the way they should be utilized, do I have an appropriate number of people at the school and central office level and am I efficient in my time and my management, and how I am executing my plans...

The verbal sparring continued, but few questions were asked about the extra $250 million that the department is asking for (over the FY16 Level of funding). Reeves' questions stem from the assumption that if Initiative 42 passes, the Legislature will be court-ordered to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Formula (MAEP), which has been fully funded only twice since 1997. Republican leaders, mainly Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, have vocalized what they see as the danger of Constitutional power transferring to the judicial branch of government.

For more MAEP coverage visit: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/maep/

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood defended his decision to defend Mississippi in a lawsuit against the state's same-sex adoption ban today, calling it a procedural issue.

The Campaign for Southern Equality recently sued the Mississippi Department of Human Services to challenge the constitutionality of the ban, the last law in the nation that still has an absolute ban preventing same-sex couples from adopting regardless of the couples' qualifications.

In a motion filed Sept. 11, Hood stated that Mississippi is not required to allow same-sex couples to adopt, maintaining that the state should continue to encourage adoption by opposite sex couples.

In an interview with the Jackson Free Press this afternoon, Hood said the plaintiffs should have gone through a chancery court and initiated an adoption proceeding. He added that it's his responsibility to defend the state in the case.

"That's who applies that law, not the attorney general not the Department of Human Services," Hood said, referring to chancery court. "There's a difference between gay marriage and gay adoption and they need to be in the proper forum, in state court."

Hood's motion states: “While the Supreme Court’s decisions in Obergefell v. Hodges and United States v. Windsor recently established that the federal and state governments must recognize valid same sex marriages, and states must license them, over-extending those decisions to purportedly invalidate Section 93-17-3(5) through a preliminary injunction would be entirely inappropriate."

Hood leans on a decade-old decision from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court, Lofton v. Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, in which the court upheld a Florida ban on adoption by same-sex couples because LGBT couldn't marry at the time.

“Governor Bryant and Attorney General Hood continue to demonstrate that they’d rather continue legal discrimination against LGBT families than give children in need the best chance of finding a loving home,” said Rob Hill, state director of the Human Rights Campaign Mississippi in a statement. “Despite this discriminatory ban, Mississippi has one of the highest numbers of LGBT people raising children than anywhere in the country. Every major child welfare organization agrees that same-sex couples are just as capable of raising loved and well-adjusted children and their hetereosexual counterparts. Shame on the governor and attorney general for asserting otherwise, shame on them for not working in the best interests of children, and shame on them for continuing to keep the Magnolia State tethered to a discriminatory past.”

Jonathan Compretta and Michael Rejebian, co-campaign managers for 42 For Better Schools, filed an 11-page lawsuit today asking a judge to order that the Initiative 42 ballot measure's full text be printed on the Nov. 3 ballot. Currently the ballot states the initiative title, the section of the Constitution being amended and the Legislative Budget Office Fiscal Analysis.

After a denied records request and the Legislative Budget Office analysis changing (since the March version) on the sample ballot released last week, 42 For Better Schools is hoping to bring clarity to the November election ballot by putting the full text of their proposed change to Mississippi's Constitution in writing.

The plaintiffs cite Section 273 of the Mississippi Constitution as the basis for their legal action. In this section, the Constitution states that:

"The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the text of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required to implement the initiative. If the initiative requires a reduction in any source of government revenue, or a reallocation of funding from currently funded programs, the sponsor shall identify in the text of the initiative the program or programs whose funding must be reduced or eliminated to implement the initiative. Compliance with this requirement shall not be a violation of the subject matter requirements of this section of the Constitution. "

42 For Better Schools argue that the approved ballot does not contain the original initiative language proposing a multi-year phase-in to fully fund K-12 schools, which have been fully funded only twice since the 1997 passage of the MAEP, the funding formula. Initiative 42 proponents have previously stated that their intention is not that the Legislature fully fund public education immediately, and they understand that if excess funds are used, it might take almost seven years to fully fund MAEP. The House Appropriations Committee still met to discuss budget cuts, however, and have maintained that if the initiative passes, they will have to cut almost every state agency's budget.

This is a verbatim statement from Jackson City Hall:

City of Jackson crews are patching potholes across the city.

• Crews repairing potholes on areas Oak Forest Drive & Haynes Street, Woody Drive, Monroe Street, Glenrose Drive, FDR Drive, Mayes Street, Meadow Road.

• Crews repairing utility cuts on Hanging Moss Road, Saratoga Drive, Farnsworth Street, Hialeah Drive and Briarfield Drive.

• Crews backfilling/repairing driveway on Meadowridge Drive and Village Drive.

Statement from Jackson's Department of Public Works:

Due to unforeseen, external conditions impacting raw water intake at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant, the water in the distribution system has a slightly brown appearance. The Department of Public Works’ lab resources have reviewed the water quality and with further consultation from the Mississippi Department of Health, the water from the plant has been deemed safe for consumption.

Crews are in the process of flushing the lines to improve the aesthetic of the water and will continue the mitigation process through the weekend. The water is clearing up and full improvement is expected by early next week.

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The Jackson City Council passed the compromise budget they worked out with Mayor Tony Yarber's administration.

"This budget is as barebones as it gets," Yarber said after the council voted 5-2 on a nearly $400 million spending plan Thursday morning.

To close a $15 million deficit, Yarber initially proposed the tax increase along with furloughing most full-time workers one day each month.

Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps and Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes voted against the budget, which still relies on furloughs.

"I don't think we should balance the budget on the backs of the people," Stamps said in the meeting.

Last week, after a very short public hearing last night on the proposed millage rate—the amount per $1,000 used to calculate local taxes on property—the Jackson City Council approved a millage rate of 58.03 with anticipated revenues of $1.14 million per mill.

Nonetheless, the city will rake in at least $926,000 less in property taxes because the overall assessed value of property in Jackson went down, officials said.

Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, who had been hospitalized, did not attend but participated in the meeting via speakerphone.

Mississippi public schools will administer new assessments for 3-8 grades called the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) this year, and the Mississippi Department of Education released blueprints for the tests today.

The MAP tests will be conducted primarily on computers, with the exclusion of the English language portion which will be handwritten. Tests will be administered at the end of the 2015-1016 school year and will include multiple choice, constructed response, writing, technology enhanced, and performance task questions.

The tests will be administered by Questar Assessment Inc., a Minneapolis-based assessment provider who won a $122 million contract with the state in April. The tests are aligned with the Mississippi College and Career-Ready Standards (MCCRS) for English language arts and mathematics. MAP will replace the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Mississippi is no longer a member of the multi-state consortium, according to the Mississippi Department of Education's press release.

Third graders are still required to take an English language arts assessment this year, and in the 2016-2017 school year, superintendent of education Dr. Carey Wright said she will recommend to the Mississippi Legislature in the 2016 session that the law be amended to make student proficiency the goal and keep testing third graders in following school years.

In the MDE's press release Wright said:

“If the goal is to ensure that our students are successful in 4th grade and beyond, we need to set high expectations for them to be proficient readers. The current law doesn’t say that students need to be proficient in reading to move to the next grade level. The students who met the minimum passing score last year will still need instructional support this school year."

92 percent of Mississippi third graders in public schools passed the so-called "3rd Grade Reading Gate" assessment according to the latest results released by the Mississippi Department of Education. Over 35,000 students statewide scored high enough to pass the test, and the average state test score was higher than the minimum score needed to pass.

Only five districts had over 20 percent of their students fail the test, and statewide, 2,907 students did not pass. Jackson Public Schools, the district with the most schools and third graders assessed, had an 86 percent passing rate.

To see how your school district scored, view the full report here.

The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board unanimously approved an application for two new charter schools to open in Jackson. RePublic Schools Inc. will run both schools: Joel D. Smilow Collegiate and Joel D. Smilow Prep. RePublic Schools Inc. is the charter management organization that opened one of the first charter schools in Mississippi this year, Reimagine Prep.

Smilow Collegiate will be serve grades K-8, and Smilow Prep will serve grades 5-8. The schools will grow by a grade level each year until they reach 8th grade. The two charter schools will be located on the same campus at Northside Drive on the old campus of Wesley Biblical Seminary. By 2023, both schools could have an enrollment of 1600 students.

The two charters will have to pass all of the requirements and inspections as prescribed by Mississippi's charter school law of the board before officially opening. Any student within the Jackson Public Schools district will be welcome to apply, and applications will go into a lottery only if the number of applications received exceeds the number of slots available.

Dan Aykroyd, best known for his work as a ghostbuster, Canadian vodka mogul, and supporter of outgoing Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, still wants to help end gun violence in Hinds County.

Aykroyd, whom Lewis deputized into the reserves last year and hit the campaign trail for Lewis earlier this year, made a plea on his Facebook page yesterday:

"Congratulations to the new Sheriff Elect for Hinds County Mississippi. When he persuades enough Supervisors to alter the by-laws so that 'Gas for Guns' can proceed then I'll free up my $10,000 but not until it's perfectly legal as per stipulations pointed out by state Representative Gibson (sic). I believe this initiative and more like it are essential in a state where gun violence exceeds most of that in the entire Western world. I believe in the future of Hinds County."

As a point of clarification, Victor Mason, who defeated Lewis in August still has to get by Les Tannehill to be the sheriff for real for real.

But the stipulations Aykroyd is referring to came a few months ago when Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, and chairman of a House judiciary committee, put the kibosh on a plan for Aykroyd to provide $10,000 in gasoline gift cards in exchange for guns. Gipson intervened, issuing a statement saying that gun buyback programs are illegal. In 2014, after a few years of trying, the Legislature passed a bill outlawing gun buyback programs.

"I think it's a dangerous thing," Gipson, who sponsored the 2014 bill, told WLBT last year. "As we have seen in other states, it has the potential for corruption, the potential to increase crimes with stolen guns to be brought in. That's the reason we have the law."

It was a bill that legislators like Gipson and Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, chairman on the House Insurance Committee, filed that the National Rifle Association has pushed for years. The JFP reported when the bill was going through the legislative process:

Doug Bowser, president of the Mississippi chapter of the NRA, told the JFP in 2012 that such programs are a "swindle" and "a feel-good thing" that do little to deter violent crime.

"I think the worst part is that people bring in unserviceable guns, and they get money for them," Bowser said. Bowser said he believes local governments should put more resources on imposing harsher penalties on criminals.

The 2010 report "Trace the Guns: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Trafficking" determined that Mississippi supplied 50 out-of-state "crime guns" per 100,000 residents--triple the national average of 14.1.

In 2011, the NRA has also weighed in against a proposal for a pilot gun buyback program in Delaware in a statement at the time: "This legislation is nothing more then an expensive solution in search of a problem.

"While proponents of this bill claim it will reduce crime in Delaware, it will only serve as another drain on taxpayer money that could be better used by police to …