Executive Director's Message

From the Desk of Judy Rhodes, MPE Executive Director

This issue of the MPE Journal focuses on the state budget process and education’s share of the budget. I hope you found our five-part series of emails that we sent out in late October and November on this subject to be informative and helpful in your understanding of the budget process, as well as budget reductions. As we potentially face additional budget cuts and as the 2010 Legislative Session approaches, it is important that we all become well-informed of how the state budget process works, who makes the decisions, and the impact of those decisions, especially on our kindergarten through university classrooms and students.

Day-to-day references are often made regarding Education’s share of the budget with it normally being stated that Education (kindergarten through university) receives over 60% of the budget. This is true when you only consider General Funds. As explained in this issue, when you consider the TOTAL (i.e., General, Special State and Federal Funds) $19.8B FY 2010 state budget, education received $5.7B (29%) of appropriations.

Because of the economic situation, this will be a difficult spring and legislative session. Legislators and the Governor have a formidable task in front of them. With my many years of working with the Mississippi Legislature, I have come to respect the work that the members do on behalf of Mississippians. I encourage you to share your opinion with your local legislators, as well as the Lieutenant Governor and Governor. They value your input and your opinion. Remember that one of MPE’s founding principles is PROFESSIONALISM, so please be concise and professional in your communications.

There is a lot of excitement in Mississippi’s K-12 education system. In addition to the State Board of Education naming Dr. Tom Burnham as Mississippi’s new State Superintendent of Education on November 3rd, schools and districts received their accountability ratings in accordance with the new state accountability model in November. This new model provides communities with the information necessary to know if their schools are competing at, above or below the national average. While we are extremely proud of Mississippi’s approximately 170 Star or High Performing schools and 20 Star and High Performing districts, Mississippi has a lot of work to do. MPE participated in the MDE’s Recovery School District Planning Retreat to identify what we as a state should be doing to assist the approximately 200 schools and 50 districts rated “At Risk of Failing,” “Low Performing” or “Failing.”

Our MPE family continues to grow. As of November 16th, we have 8,971 members. I am especially proud to tell you that we have the largest student membership we have ever had with 647 student members. They are our future and we are very excited that they joined MPE. MPE continues to be the fastest growing organization for professional educators in the state. A major reason for our growth is that we provide twice the professional liability protection ($2M) compared to other organizations ($1M) for one third of the cost - $120 versus $408 (for certified professional). Encourage a friend or co-worker to join our family today!

To contact Judy Rhodes, please email her at judy@mpe.org