This is one in a series of stories produced by students taking a state government reporting class at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media. The class is led by Mississippi Today co-editor Fred Anklam Jr. and Meek school journalism professor LaReeca Rucker. 

JACKSON — The Mississippi Legislature convened in the Capitol on Tuesday to start its 133^rd regular legislative session and issues surrounding education and roads are already dominating the conversation

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn are currently pushing a reallocation of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the state education funding formula. After a failed attempt by the Legislature to change the school formula in 2017, a new bill is being drafted.

On Thursday, the Mississippi Economic Council heard from a number of officials including Gov. Phil Bryant, Reeves, Gunn and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann on its annual Capital Day.

Each of these officials shed light on their stances about improving the job market in Mississippi with a higher educated workforce and what this would mean for the state. Gunn expressed the value of having an educated workforce to the business leaders.

“If our workforce is well educated and trained, we’re going to prosper,” said Gunn. “If it’s not, we won’t.”

Reeves explained to students from Ole Miss in a private interview that he has a political philosophy that he does not believe it is the job of the government to create jobs, however that he does believe that the government’s role is to create an environment that encourages members of the private sector to create jobs.

He said that this leads back to the quality of our education systems.

“If we’re going to convince folks in the private sector to invest capital and create jobs, they’ve got to know that there’s a workforce available who can actually fill those jobs,” said Reeves. “For us to be able to provide that workforce, we have to improve the educational attainment level of our citizens.”

The lieutenant governor explained that the percentage of students graduating from high school in Mississippi has increased twelve percentage points in the past five years, nearly aligning with the national average. This increase has allowed 3,000 more people to have a high school degree and the opportunity to attend one of Mississippi’s community colleges before entering the workforce.

The educated workforce is one of the largest concerns of the business leaders in MEC.

“If we can’t get the right workforce, our businesses will die,” said MEC Chairman William Yates, CEO of Yates Construction Company.

The Capital Day included a panel of business leaders who held a discussion on regionalism and the impact it has on workforce development. The panel included Ashley Edwards from Gulf Coast Business Council-One Coast, Bill Hannah from East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, Brenda Lathan from Golden Triangle Development Link, and Michael Philpot from the Delta Council-Delta Strong.

Scott Waller also was named the new executive director of MEC.

Business leaders in MEC then got to go to the Capitol and hear from more elected officials and were asked to support the Legislature moving forward.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
• Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

For print publications:

• You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.

Education, roads dominate Capitol discussions

by Savannah Smith, UM Mississippi Press Corps, Mississippi Today
January 12, 2018

<h1>Education, roads dominate Capitol discussions</h1> <p class="byline">by Savannah Smith, UM Mississippi Press Corps, Mississippi Today <br />January 12, 2018</p> <p><em>This is one in a series of stories produced by students taking a state government reporting class at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media. The class is led by Mississippi Today co-editor Fred Anklam Jr. and Meek school journalism professor LaReeca Rucker.&nbsp;</em></p> <p>JACKSON — The Mississippi Legislature convened in the Capitol on Tuesday to start its 133^rd regular legislative session and issues surrounding education and roads are already dominating the conversation</p> <p>Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn are currently pushing a reallocation of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the state education funding formula. After a failed attempt by the Legislature to change the school formula in 2017, a new bill is being drafted.</p> <p>On Thursday, the Mississippi Economic Council heard from a number of officials including Gov. Phil Bryant, Reeves, Gunn and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann on its annual Capital Day.</p> <p>Each of these officials shed light on their stances about improving the job market in Mississippi with a higher educated workforce and what this would mean for the state. Gunn expressed the value of having an educated workforce to the business leaders.</p> <p>“If our workforce is well educated and trained, we’re going to prosper,” said Gunn. “If it’s not, we won’t.”</p> <p>Reeves explained to students from Ole Miss in a private interview that he has a political philosophy that he does not believe it is the job of the government to create jobs, however that he does believe that the government’s role is to create an environment that encourages members of the private sector to create jobs.</p> <p>He said that this leads back to the quality of our education systems.</p> <p>“If we’re going to convince folks in the private sector to invest capital and create jobs, they’ve got to know that there’s a workforce available who can actually fill those jobs,” said Reeves. “For us to be able to provide that workforce, we have to improve the educational attainment level of our citizens.”</p> <p>The lieutenant governor explained that the percentage of students graduating from high school in Mississippi has increased twelve percentage points in the past five years, nearly aligning with the national average. This increase has allowed 3,000 more people to have a high school degree and the opportunity to attend one of Mississippi’s community colleges before entering the workforce.</p> <p>The educated workforce is one of the largest concerns of the business leaders in MEC.</p> <p>“If we can’t get the right workforce, our businesses will die,” said MEC Chairman William Yates, CEO of Yates Construction Company.</p> <p>The Capital Day included a panel of business leaders who held a discussion on regionalism and the impact it has on workforce development. The panel included Ashley Edwards from Gulf Coast Business Council-One Coast, Bill Hannah from East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, Brenda Lathan from Golden Triangle Development Link, and Michael Philpot from the Delta Council-Delta Strong.</p> <p>Scott Waller also was named the new executive director of MEC.</p> <p>Business leaders in MEC then got to go to the Capitol and hear from more elected officials and were asked to support the Legislature moving forward.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2018/01/12/mcpc-education-roads-dominate-capitol-discussions/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=121320&ga=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

1