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On Tate Reeves’ Watch, Public Schools Have Been Underfunded
During Tate Reeves’ 12 years at the top of Mississippi’s government, Mississippi’s public schools were only fully funded once.
Nettleton – In the final seven days, the Presley for Governor campaign is unveiling a new press release series, “7 Days, 7 Ways Tate Has Failed Mississippi,” highlighting seven (only 7! sticking to 7 is tough!) ways Tate Reeves has failed the Magnolia State. Day four serves as a reminder that during Tate Reeves’ 12 years at the top of Mississippi’s government, Mississippi’s public schools were only fully funded once.
Earlier this year, the Mississippi Senate passed a bipartisan plan to increase funding for public education for the first time in more than 15 years, and Reeves urged lawmakers to vote against the plan. During Reeves’ last five years as Lieutenant Governor, Mississippi’s public education budgets were cut by $173.5 million. He even sneaked in $2 million for private school vouchers into a completely unrelated appropriations bill in 2019.
A 2022 report showed that under Reeves, over half of Mississippi teachers are “somewhat” or “very likely” to leave their classroom. On Reeves’ watch, In 2021, 17% of teachers left their district. That is no surprise: Under Tate Reeves, the Legislature pushed through extreme cuts to teacher loan forgiveness programs that caused the programs to stop forgiving student loans for teachers. Reeves even took to the debate stage to criticize Mississippi’s public school educators. While he refused to fund public education and give educators and support staff the resources they needed, Reeves gave himself a nearly $40,000 raise.
As a proud product of public schools, Brandon firmly believes that fully funding our education system includes paying our teachers and support staff, like food service workers, bus drivers and custodians, fair wages so that every Mississippian can thrive.
“There always seems to be enough money for Tate Reeves and his rich friends and never enough for public schools,” said Michael Beyer, Communications Director for Brandon Presley. “Tate Reeves has underfunded public education while he gave himself a $40,000 raise and his rich friends received millions of taxpayer dollars for a volleyball court, a horse ranch, and Reeves’ own personal trainer received $1.3 million.”
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