
          Mississippi Makes Up Its Mind
          By Barber, RimsRims Barber
          Vol. 5, No. 2, 1983, pp. 8-9
          
          The passage of an educational reform package by the Mississippi
Legislature was an important victory for public involvement. Pushing
the legislature to act on the education issue involved a broader based
public effort than any other issue in recent Mississippi history. Such
interest and effort made the legislature accountable, forcing it to
act in ways that were beyond its normal, narrow political
framework.
          Governor William Winter focused the issues in a manner that
captured the public. He developed a campaign that led people to demand
reforms in education because they were right and good and possible.
          In his state of the state message at the opening of the January
1982 legislative session, Governor Winter had called for creation of
kindergartens, a state lay board of education and passage of
compulsory attendance legislation. Exhorting the legislature to help
move Mississippi out of fiftieth place among the states in per capita
income, Winter called for a long term commitment to improve
education. To pay for the program, he asked for an educational trust
fund generated from the revenues of an increase in the oil and gas
severance tax. "It's boat rocking time," he said, trying to motivate
legislators to vote for a significant change. But the legislature only
gave its approval to the state lay board, placing it on the November
ballot as a constitutional amendment.
          Kindergarten died on the house calendar in February 1982 as Speaker
Buddie Newman adjourned the house even as members tried to gain
consideration of the measure. Black legislator Leslie King condemned
Newman's action in "ignoring the will of this body." Efforts to revive
the kindergarten measure failed and the trust fund was
defeated. Representative Robert Clark, chairman of the education
committee, said that many representatives "turned chicken" on the
issue of kindergarten when the money proposal was before them. He
predicted that "this is the one last chance we'll have in the next six
or eight years to enact kindergartens."
          Clark would be proved wrong, but only after an intense public
campaign initiated by Governor Winter which led to the special session
in December. In the fall, the governor conducted a nine-city campaign
of education forums, emphasizing the need for Mississippi to make a
breakthrough in education or forever be lost in last place among the
states. Almost twenty thousand people attended those forums, building
support that helped pass the constitutional referendum, finally
creating the state lay board of education and setting the base of
support for the education reform package voted on in the special
session.
          People began to work for the changes they believed would bring
about progress for all Mississippians.  To accomplish this, they
overcame their sense of narrow self-interest and saw the
interdependence of all the state's people.
          The governor moved Theodore "The Man" Bilbo's statue, one symbol of
the past, out of the main corridor of the capitol building and the
people helped move the legislature beyond the vestiges of that
past.
          Much of the recent history of Mississippi school matters has been
tied up in the racial dilemma. In the 1950's, the state responded to
the Brown decision with a series of changes in the laws that were an
attempt to stave off the potential effects of desegregation. In the
1960's, school desegregation came and along with it the private school
movement.
          Following legal desegregation of the public schools, segregated
academies blossomed across the state, leaving a fourth of
Mississippi's school districts virtually all-black (although whites
still controlled the school boards). Several districts lowered their
local tax support of public schools. Half the black principals in the
state lost their leadership positions. With significant numbers of
voters no longer committed to the public schools, many legislators
faltered in their support for public education. Resolutions were
passed calling for an end to busing. A try at enacting kindergarten in
1972 failed in the face of race-baiting opposition.
          Throughout this period, many educational leaders continued to call
for reform. In 1967, Mississippi commissioned a significant study
which concluded that "our children are not receiving as effective an
education as they need . . . our economic development goals cannot be
achieved unless we greatly strengthen our total educational system."
Despite this and similar urgings 

that Mississippi make educational
reforms, there was a hardening of the lines of resistance that left
the studies collecting dust.
          Finally, in the 1980s, time had healed some of the old wounds and
the governor seized the opportunity. The victory came in spite of last
minute rantings on the floor of the legislature against the evils of
integrated schools and the clear attempt to make "those people" pay
for "their education."
          A price was exacted by those good ol' boys who would put off the
day when all Mississippians can reap the benefits of a healthy and
common society. Compulsory attendance will only apply to six and seven
year old children this year. Kindergartens will be delayed until 1986
and will stand repealed in 1990 unless the people maintain their
pressure on the legislature. The taxes will fall more heavily on the
poor and the middle classes than on the monied interests in the
state.
          In the end, the leadership of the legislative branch did not want
the political heat that they felt would surely come if they had not
passed the reform package. House leaders had been badly burned in the
spring when their killing of kindergarten received national
attention. ABC-TV's program "20/20" focused on Mississippi's failure
to place the education of children above special interests such as the
oil and gas industry. The legislators" behavior also spurred political
activity with the formation of a progressive political action
committee (Mississippi First) which had the goal of "electing a better
legislature." At the fall education forums, Mississippi First asked
people to sign "Yes, I'm tired of our legislature taking a last place
approach to Mississippi's future."
          The state's press provided clear reporting and strong editorial
support. For the week prior to the special session, the statewide
newpapers ran a series on educational reform issues. During the
session, the Jackson papers promoted passage of the package and
editorially targeted legislators who did not support it.
          The mechanism for significantly improving Mississippi's educational
system is now law. In November 1982, the state's voters passed a
constitutional amendment to replace the ex
officio state school board with a new lay board of education in
1984. The Educational Reform Act contains a means of empowering the
new board to make improvements in school curriculum, accreditation,
teacher certification, professional development and to take a hard
look at the need for school consolidation.
          The Act also establishes an enforceable compulsory attendance law,
kindergartens and teacher aides for the first three grades. This, with
the improved program for vocational education passed last spring,
should provide the framework for progress.
          This is not to say that all the problems are solved. The new state
board of education must have the vision, aggressiveness and
independence to carry out the mission set forth in the new law. The
people must apply their new found strength in holding the legislature
accountable for the general welfare of the community to see that the
reforms are implemented. There must be a fight on financing, for the
law leaves a gap that must be filled. The kindergarten issue must
finally be put to rest with the removal of the repeal provision.
          In Mississippi, people who were never involved in politics are now
involved. They can make the difference not only in improving our
educational system but in areas of health and welfare and justice for
all. We cannot live as a divided people, leaving one segment or
another of our population behind. Perhaps, on this foundation,
Mississippi is now ready to build.
          
            
              Features of the Educational Reform Act
               Kindergarten in all school districts by 1986, supported by
forty million dollars annually
               Compulsory attendance beginning with ages six and seven in
1983 and adding one year until age fourteen
               Salary increases for teachers of one thousand dollars, taking
Mississippi off the bottom rung of the teacher pay ladder
               A performance based school accreditation system
               A study to consider consolidating small schools and small
districts
               A commission to set new teacher education and certification
standards
               A program of professional development for school
administrators
               Authority granted to the state lay board of education to
compel compliance with the new standards
            
          
          
            Rims Barber, a member of the Southern Regional Council,
is project director for Childrens' Defense Fund in
Mississippi.
          
        