Governor vetoes Mississippi school funding bill

Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the bill establishing a budget for Mississippi’s schools for the upcoming 2020-2021 academic year, as he threatened to do Tuesday.

The governor laid out his reasoning for the veto in a lengthy Facebook post Thursday.

“The legislature voted to cut a teacher pay program by $26 million,” Reeves wrote. “It would cut teacher pay by $26 million. 23,157 Mississippi teachers would get money that they’ve earned taken out of their pockets.

“It was done quietly, without much or any conversation. Pretty much nobody in the legislature or education community knew about it until we discovered it in our bill review process this week and raised the alarm. We have to veto this so that they can come back and fix it—otherwise 23,157 teachers will get a pay cut.

“This is a program that has been instrumental in improving our state’s education system. It gives additional pay to teachers in schools that are highly rated or improve a letter grade. Thousands of Mississippi teachers rely on it—from Barack Obama Elementary in Jackson to Harper McCaughan Elementary in Long Beach. They’ve already earned it. This is for grades they’ve already achieved.

“I want to be clear: The legislature did not cut this teacher pay program by $26 million to save money. They moved it into a different fund that gives administrators control over it. That fund increased by $40 million. The philosophy is: it should be re-distributed throughout so that everybody gets a small piece, rather than rewarding success.

“They’ve pushed this change for years. It’s always a debate. This time, they got it done behind the scenes. People from both parties support and oppose the program. Yesterday, a liberal Democrat Senator bragged on Twitter that ‘GOP legislative leadership ended this failed program.’ Many other legislators have said they had no idea they were voting to cut this pay. I think it’s probably a mix. It definitely never got a real debate.

“After I’ve vetoed the bill, the legislature has a chance to come back and override my veto—locking in a teacher pay cut. Or they can sustain it and fix this. I suspect most legislators didn’t realize that they were voting to cut teacher pay, and they will fix it. I believe they can get it done in a special session as soon as the legislature is finished with their quarantine due to the high number of COVID-19 cases that spread there.

“Until then, the department of education will continue to function. The bulk of the agency will run in the short term by a letter from me, backed up by an AG opinion, stating that they constitutionally have to perform their duties until the legislature can fix this.”