I'm tired of these politicians who are so far removed from real life making decisions for real-life people. They have no idea what the impacts of budget cuts for education are or will be. What they are doing is hurting the kids. Do they care? NO. Why? Because their children do not attend public schools. Sixty percent of the state budget is education? huh? I don't believe it and if it's true where is it? I do not see evidence of this funding. Maybe its not the state department maybe the problem is at the district level, in personnel. Maybe our hiring practices are frivolous and wasteful. Gov. Barbour has no clue what damage is being done to Mississippi. These children are Mississippi's future source of revenue and progress. Mississippi is already suffering from a depleting population and income this budget cut will only perpetuate the problem. Why can't we break the cycle?
Oh yeah, tax revenue is down? I wonder why? You don't have a strong work force how do you expect to have tax revenue.
I find the data provided compelling but not enough to make me believe that Mississippi is truly comparable to a third world country. Granted there is extreme poverty and the disparity is between the poor and wealthy is great, but the availability of medicine and schooling, albeit struggling schools, makes Mississippi and any other state in the U.S. stand out above other third world countries. All in all I feel that although Mississippi may be struggling as a state with public education and health it is bounds ahead of third world countries.
