Let’s work toward a school funding formula for all students

Teaching requires the kind of granular attention to detail that might be more readily associated with a botanist.

Lesson planning, grading assignments, creating slideshows, writing (and erasing) the daily agenda board, updating the data wall, analyzing test data: all aspects of the profession need constant focus. But the most important part of teaching, the one that requires all of my attention, are my students’ needs.

My classroom is made up of an eclectic mix of kids, all with different interests, priorities, and skill sets. Some students, like Jacob, need only a nudge to set them off on a new subject matter that will enthrall them for months.

Others, like Tracy, drag their desk next to mine every day in order to comb through each step of the activity, making sure they don’t get confused. Most students fall somewhere in between Jacob and Tracy, and it’s this attention to fairness that makes my classroom hum with excitement, frustration, laughter and learning.

This same attention to fairness should be applied to Mississippi’s school funding formula.

Since 1997, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) has governed how public schools are funded in Mississippi. The formula that MAEP uses to determine how much money each school district receives relies on the notion that schools should receive equal funding based on equal measures.

However, these equal measures have adverse effects. In the 26 years since MAEP was established, we have learned a lot about the importance of adequate and equitable funding for all school districts in the state.

For example, MAEP’s over-reliance on teacher units for funding prioritizes districts with a strong tax base and fails to account for the myriad needs of students throughout the state. It makes no provisions for funding English Language Learners, a rapidly growing demographic in Mississippi, especially along the

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coast, and assumes that students who come from lowincome areas and students with disabilities do not require much extra funding to help them advance academically and graduate.

Legislators in the House have recognized the need for a funding overhaul. They’ve responded with HB 1453, better known as the INSPIRE Act. The bill emphasizes the importance of an equitable distribution of funds in Mississippi. It starts with a base student cost of $6,650 for every student. Additional money is then factored in based on a weighted formula. The bill includes funding weights for low-income students, ELL students, and students with disabilities, among others.

In short, INSPIRE updates the school funding formula to reflect the real needs of Mississippians in 2024. MAEP improved the way we funded education in 1997 and it reflected both the demographics and the focus on “adequate” funding at the time. But the outdated and overly complex nature of MAEP requires not that the program be tweaked, as the senate is hoping to do with SB 2332, but that we completely re-conceptualize how we approach the immediate needs of students in Mississippi.

I work at West Tallahatchie High School, which, due to a hold harmless law in 2002, receives significantly more funding under the current iteration of MAEP than it would with INSPIRE. In fact, West Tally would stand to lose about $1,677 per student under the new bill after a three year phase out period, the most of any district in the state.

You might think I’d be opposed to INSPIRE due to the drastic cut in funding at my school, but the bill’s provisions for equity ensure that my students, many of whom have distinct needs, will receive adequate and equitable funding for years to come. West Tally might lose some dollars in the short run, but the bill makes up for these cuts with a focus on equity in the long run.

It should be noted that the Senate’s new bill also includes a provision to drop the hold harmless law after 2025. However, the Senate’s bill only accounts for a small adjustment in funding for at-risk students, which means that West Tally, and many other schools to which the hold harmless laws currently apply, will receive less money over time without a fair formula that accounts for the challenges that schools in lowincome communities face.

The INSPIRE Act’s update to our funding formula should be celebrated. Weighted distribution of funds in all districts will ensure that our attention is trained on the growing diversity of Mississippi students. It will reflect a new and fairer approach to education, one that mirrors the lived experiences of teachers across the state, who teach students from all backgrounds and skill levels and who are gathered within the same four walls and sit in the same metal desks scattered about the classroom. All with one common goal: to learn.

Every Sunday afternoon, I sit down at the kitchen table and plan my lessons for the week. The most challenging and important part of that process is making sure my lessons suit the needs of all my students. As INSPIRE makes its way to the Senate, I urge legislators to consider all students and to work towards a more fair and equitable funding future.

John Fredericks is the ninth and 10th grade ELA and AP English Literature teacher at West Tallahatchie High School in Webb, Mississippi and is a 2023-2024 Teach Plus Senior Writing Fellow. His work has been featured in Newsweek, The Hechinger Report, The Clarion Ledger, and The Nevada Independent.