Jackson Free Press

If you are planning to vote on Tuesday, don’t forget to bring a photo ID. In the 2011 November election 62 percent of Mississippi voters approved a Constitutional Amendment that requires voters to present photo IDs before casting in-person ballots at polls or circuit clerk offices.

The only exemptions to the voter ID law are those who have a religious objection to being photographed and don’t have an ID as a result or registered absentee voters. The Secretary of State’s Office lists 10 types of IDs acceptable:

1. A driver's license
   
2. A photo ID card issued by a branch, department, or entity of the State of Mississippi
   
3. A United States passport
   
4. A government employee ID card
   
5. A firearms license
   
6. A student photo ID issued by an accredited Mississippi university, college, or community/junior college
   
7. A United States military ID
   
8. A tribal photo ID
   
9. Any other photo ID issued by any branch, department, agency or entity of the United States government or any State government
   
10. A Mississippi Voter Identification Card
    

If you have not registered to vote, it is too late to do so for the August election, but there is still time to register before November. In order to register to vote, you must be a resident of Mississippi for 30 days, at least 18 years old, not declared “mentally incompetent” by a court and not convicted in court of a crime (crimes listed here). You can register to vote at a circuit or municipal clerk’s office and must be registered for 30 days prior to an election for your vote to count.

Read candidate profiles and more JFP Election Coverage here .

Stacey Pickering, the incumbent Republican candidate for auditor, is targeting his opponent, Joce Pritchett, for being an "LGBT Candidate" in his campaign's automated calls.

One robocall that ran before the primary states:

"The liberal left-wing media has their own agenda in the state auditor's race...They want to see their LGBT candidate for auditor, Jocelyn Pepper Pritchett, have a chance in the general election. They know they can't defeat Pickering, but they know they can defeat Mary Hawkins-Butler...Let's stand up for Mississippi values; let's stand up for Mississippi's Conservative leadership. Let's stand up for the traditional Mississippi family."

Pritchett's campaign has responded to the call on their website saying, "This type of message is unacceptable in the 21st century. The Republicans know they can't attack Joce's qualifications, so they have to attack her orientation and her family. We can't let this happen."

A lawsuit to challenge Mississippi's same-sex couple adoption ban was filed in federal court by the Campaign for Southern Equality today. Mississippi is the only state in the nation that still bans gay couples from adopting children. The case, Campaign for Southern Equality v. Mississippi Department of Human Services, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on behalf of four same-sex couples. Mississippi has the highest proportion of same-sex couples raising biological, adopted or step children according to a Williams Institute study from 2013.

Roberta Kaplan is the lead counsel in the case. Kaplan also represented the plaintiffs in the Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant case that began the push to legalize same-sex marriage in Mississippi. The Campaign for Southern Equality and Family Equality Council are representing the plaintiffs. According to a New York Times article, the offices of the attorney general and the governor did not return calls for comment by Tuesday afternoon.

11,466 Mississippi residents signed up for health insurance through healthcare.gov during the special enrollment period from February 23 to June 30. According to a new report released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 46 percent of Mississippi residents enrolled because they had lost coverage. Other reasons for enrollment include: denial of Medicaid, tax season or missing other special enrollment periods.

Nationally, the primary reason for enrollment was a loss of coverage. Almost 65 percent of Americans who enrolled in the four-month period were between the ages of 18 and 54. The report's authors said that this enrollment cycle drew higher numbers of young consumers than previous enrollment periods. 31 percent of the 943,934 U.S. residents enrolled were between the ages of 18 and 34.

On Tuesday, Oxford and Greenwood joined several other Mississippi counties and cities that have removed the state flag from city property. Mississippi is the only (and the last) state with the Confederate symbol on its state flag. An ad that ran this week in the Clarion-Ledger listed over 60 prominent Mississippians including Morgan Freeman, John Grisham, Archie Manning and Kathryn Stockett calling for the state to bring the flag down according to a Washington Post story.

Here is the list of Mississippi cities and local governments that have stopped flying the state flag on city property (so far):

• Oxford
• Greenwood
• Jackson
• Clarksdale
• Columbus
• Hattiesburg
• Grenada
• Leflore County
• Starkville
• Magnolia

It's back to school time which means time to figure out financial aid, student loans and other expenses for most college students. Smart Asset, a financial advising website, has created a Student Loan Calculator for students to estimate how much they will owe monthly and in total by the time they walk across the stage. The website also ranks each state's colleges and universities by their best monetary value (think starting salaries for graduates, retention rates, tuition costs, etc.).

Here are Mississippi's Top Colleges and Universities ranked by 'Best Value':

• Mississippi University for Women
• University of Mississippi
• Mississippi State University
• Jackson State University
• Delta State Universitiy
• University of Southern Mississippi
• Mississippi College

See how your college or university stacks up here.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/aug/25/22668/

Jackson State University has announced that all students who were on the waiting list for housing this semester have been placed, after an initial scramble. The incoming freshmen class is the largest the university has ever seen.

There are a few spaces available to accommodate late arrivals or those who might still need to complete their registration or resolve financial matters, according to JSU's news release. “We appreciate the students, their families and the public’s patience and help in resolving this issue that was caused by record enrollment at JSU this year,” said university president Carolyn W. Meyers.

The university has enrolled almost 10,000 students this year, and according to James C. Renick, provost and senior vice president of Academic and Student Affairs, this year the university placed nearly 3,000 students in campus housing compared to 2,400 students last year.

The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board unanimously approved an application for two new charter schools to open in Jackson. RePublic Schools Inc. will run both schools: Joel D. Smilow Collegiate and Joel D. Smilow Prep. RePublic Schools Inc. is the charter management organization that opened one of the first charter schools in Mississippi this year, Reimagine Prep.

Smilow Collegiate will be serve grades K-8, and Smilow Prep will serve grades 5-8. The schools will grow by a grade level each year until they reach 8th grade. The two charter schools will be located on the same campus at Northside Drive on the old campus of Wesley Biblical Seminary. By 2023, both schools could have an enrollment of 1600 students.

The two charters will have to pass all of the requirements and inspections as prescribed by Mississippi's charter school law of the board before officially opening. Any student within the Jackson Public Schools district will be welcome to apply, and applications will go into a lottery only if the number of applications received exceeds the number of slots available.

92 percent of Mississippi third graders in public schools passed the so-called "3rd Grade Reading Gate" assessment according to the latest results released by the Mississippi Department of Education. Over 35,000 students statewide scored high enough to pass the test, and the average state test score was higher than the minimum score needed to pass.

Only five districts had over 20 percent of their students fail the test, and statewide, 2,907 students did not pass. Jackson Public Schools, the district with the most schools and third graders assessed, had an 86 percent passing rate.

To see how your school district scored, view the full report here.

Mississippi public schools will administer new assessments for 3-8 grades called the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) this year, and the Mississippi Department of Education released blueprints for the tests today.

The MAP tests will be conducted primarily on computers, with the exclusion of the English language portion which will be handwritten. Tests will be administered at the end of the 2015-1016 school year and will include multiple choice, constructed response, writing, technology enhanced, and performance task questions.

The tests will be administered by Questar Assessment Inc., a Minneapolis-based assessment provider who won a $122 million contract with the state in April. The tests are aligned with the Mississippi College and Career-Ready Standards (MCCRS) for English language arts and mathematics. MAP will replace the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Mississippi is no longer a member of the multi-state consortium, according to the Mississippi Department of Education's press release.

Third graders are still required to take an English language arts assessment this year, and in the 2016-2017 school year, superintendent of education Dr. Carey Wright said she will recommend to the Mississippi Legislature in the 2016 session that the law be amended to make student proficiency the goal and keep testing third graders in following school years.

In the MDE's press release Wright said:

“If the goal is to ensure that our students are successful in 4th grade and beyond, we need to set high expectations for them to be proficient readers. The current law doesn’t say that students need to be proficient in reading to move to the next grade level. The students who met the minimum passing score last year will still need instructional support this school year."

Jonathan Compretta and Michael Rejebian, co-campaign managers for 42 For Better Schools, filed an 11-page lawsuit today asking a judge to order that the Initiative 42 ballot measure's full text be printed on the Nov. 3 ballot. Currently the ballot states the initiative title, the section of the Constitution being amended and the Legislative Budget Office Fiscal Analysis.

After a denied records request and the Legislative Budget Office analysis changing (since the March version) on the sample ballot released last week, 42 For Better Schools is hoping to bring clarity to the November election ballot by putting the full text of their proposed change to Mississippi's Constitution in writing.

The plaintiffs cite Section 273 of the Mississippi Constitution as the basis for their legal action. In this section, the Constitution states that:

"The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the text of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required to implement the initiative. If the initiative requires a reduction in any source of government revenue, or a reallocation of funding from currently funded programs, the sponsor shall identify in the text of the initiative the program or programs whose funding must be reduced or eliminated to implement the initiative. Compliance with this requirement shall not be a violation of the subject matter requirements of this section of the Constitution. "

42 For Better Schools argue that the approved ballot does not contain the original initiative language proposing a multi-year phase-in to fully fund K-12 schools, which have been fully funded only twice since the 1997 passage of the MAEP, the funding formula. Initiative 42 proponents have previously stated that their intention is not that the Legislature fully fund public education immediately, and they understand that if excess funds are used, it might take almost seven years to fully fund MAEP. The House Appropriations Committee still met to discuss budget cuts, however, and have maintained that if the initiative passes, they will have to cut almost every state agency's budget.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves seems less concerned with creating a budget this year than he is with making sure Initiative 42 does not pass in November. During the Legislative Budget Office hearings on Monday and Tuesday, while most department heads were able to fend off taking sides, they were forced to answer obviously leading questions, primarily orchestrated by Reeves.

When the Department of Education presented their budget on Monday, they asked for the full funding of MAEP and funding for several additional programs including: the third grade reading gate, the MSIS system, state special schools and early education pilot programs.

Reeves asked state Superintendent of Education, Dr. Carey Wright several questions about the effectiveness of the additional programs in a way that indirectly asked about MAEP.

After questions from representatives and senators, Reeves asked several of his own. A small portion of the back-and-forth is below:

Reeves: How long have you been in Mississippi now? Has it been two years?

Wright: November the 11 will be two years.

Reeves: So you’ve had an opportunity to be in lots of school districts and a lot of schools across our state, my question is do you think Mississippi has an efficient system of public schools?

Wright: (Pause) Can you define efficient?

Reeves: Let me ask you a follow-up, can you define efficient?

Wright: Thinking about it from a superintendent’s hat, if I was a district superintendent, efficient to me would be am I utilizing funds the way they should be utilized, do I have an appropriate number of people at the school and central office level and am I efficient in my time and my management, and how I am executing my plans...

The verbal sparring continued, but few questions were asked about the extra $250 million that the department is asking for (over the FY16 Level of funding). Reeves' questions stem from the assumption that if Initiative 42 passes, the Legislature will be court-ordered to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Formula (MAEP), which has been fully funded only twice since 1997. Republican leaders, mainly Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, have vocalized what they see as the danger of Constitutional power transferring to the judicial branch of government.

For more MAEP coverage visit: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/maep/

RePublic Schools Inc., the charter management organization that opened one of two charter schools in Mississippi, received a $9.6 million U.S. Department of Education grant. RePublic Schools was one of twelve organizations selected for a Charter School Program Grant this year.

The grant will be issued over a five-year period, and RePublic Schools Inc. was allotted $1.76 million in Year One. The Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board approved two more RePublic Schools, Smilow Prep and Smilow Collegiate, earlier this month. The schools will open in Jackson in August 2016.

In a press release, CEO Ravi Gupta said, "We are grateful to Secretary Duncan (the U.S. Secretary of Education) and his team for recognizing RePublic's efforts to expand high quality, 21st Century educational opportunities for children in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana."

RePublic Schools has opened schools in Tennessee and Mississippi thus far, but the press release mentions Louisiana as well.

The 42 for Better Schools campaign has asked the Mississippi Secretary of State's office to review ballots across all 82 counties in Mississippi after finding errors on ballots in Hinds county. A Mississippi voter in Hinds County found the errors when the voter went to complete an absentee ballot, according to 42 for Better Schools spokeswoman Patsy Brumfield.

The same errors found on the absentee ballot are also visible on the Hinds County sample ballot. The letter "A" is removed from the Initiative 42-A choice, so voters can vote "FOR Initiative Measure No. 42" or "FOR Alternative Measure No. 42". Without the letter "A" to designate the alternative, voters might vote for the wrong initiative Brumfield said.

The wording of the voting language also changed. The wording to vote against Initiative 42 incorrectly reads, "AGAINST APPROVAL OF EITHER Initiative Measure No. 42 OR Alternative Measure No. 42A". It should say, "AGAINST BOTH Initiative Measure No. 42 and Alternative Measure No. 42A."

The original sample ballot did not contain these errors and supporters of Initiative 42 are calling on the secretary of state to review all other counties' ballots for the same errors. In a press release, co-campaign manager for 42 for Better Schools, Jonathan Compretta said: "These gross errors will lead to additional confusion on a ballot already made confusing by the legislative leadership. The Secretary of State has a statutory duty to ensure that ballots in each county are correct in every aspect."