News & Resources

MDE Presents FY 2013 Budget Request

09/23/2011

The State Department of Education presented its FY 2013 budget request to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Thursday, September 22. This budget request submitted is a preliminary estimate for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, as the estimate will be revised in December before the Legislature convenes in January. The information needed to calculate the MAEP formula will be more complete and accurate in December. The preliminary estimate requested by the State Department for the FY 2013 MAEP is $2.29 billion, and the MAEP Base Student Cost is $4,999.98. This is an increase of $12.8 million over what was needed to fully fund MAEP in FY 2012. However, MAEP was underfunded by $237.4 million in FY 2012, so in order to fully fund the program for FY 2013 the Legislature will need an additional $250.2 million above what it provided for the current school year. Full funding of MAEP tops the list of the Mississippi Board of Education’s 2012 Legislative Priorities, but the State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Tom Burnham, said that they are well aware of the current economic conditions. In addition to the previously mentioned $250.2 million the State Board of Education is requesting for MAEP for FY 2013 over FY 2012, they are requesting $50 million in state funds over FY 2012 for other funding priorities. These priorities include the restoration of diverted funds such as teacher supply funds ($18.7 million) and the public school building funds ($20 million). The funds for these items have been used in recent years for the MAEP formula. New items for which the State Board is requesting funding include professional development for the implementation of Common Core State Standards ($3 million) and a Superintendents Academy that would provide professional development and training for aspiring superintendents ($2.5 million). The State Department’s total FY 2013 state funding budget request is $2,558,233,084, which is an increase of $300,301,326 over FY 2012. This is a 13.01% requested increase, 10.8% of which is for MAEP. See the attached document for details.