Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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Feb. 5
The Greenwood Commonwealth on Gov. Tate Reeves’ inaugural address:
Newly elected Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves made his first inaugural address last week promising to focus on deregulation and free markets to spur growth. He acknowledged the state’s responsibility to take care of its foster children and ensure state prisoners are protected from harm. He touted the state’s progress in fourth grade test scores and promised to raise teachers’ salaries.
Reeves promised to represent all Mississippians and praised our state for its diversity, determination, hard work, spirit, beauty and religious faith. It was a good, uplifting speech, touching on all the right themes.
Reeves said, “We worked hard over the last decade to recover from a brutal recession, and do the hard, necessary work of rebuilding. We have been forced to make many hard choices in the budget and prioritized the fiscal stability of the state. It’s a position that so many families and businesses know all too well. We often looked at our budgets and longed to do more. Today, we finally can.
“Thanks to cost-saving measures and tax cuts that have spurred our economy, we have more money coming in than ever before. We must never forget that our focus on protecting the taxpayers is what got us to this financial position. As we begin to allocate this new revenue, I can think of no one more deserving, and no task more essential, than increasing the pay of our teachers.”
Reading the full text of Reeves’ speech, and reading between the lines, it looks as if Reeves may be ready to end the non-stop budget cutting and spend some money. That’s probably a good thing. Our schools, parks, prisons, roads, bridges, child care services and mental health system all need a lot of work.
Reeves started his political career just as the Democratic state leadership was losing power. At that time, our state budget had escalated rapidly. From 2000 to 2010, Mississippi’s gross domestic product, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis website, increased 45 percent while total state spending, fueled by federal dollars, increased a whopping 99 percent. So total state spending increased twice as much as state GDP.
Since the Republicans took power in Mississippi, the exact opposite has happened. From 2010 to 2020, Mississippi GDP has increased 22 percent while total state spending increased 7 percent. So total state spending increased one-third as much as state GDP.
Ideally, total state spending should more or less track state GDP growth. What we’re seeing is that under Democratic Party rule, the state spent too much. And now under Republican rule, the state is spending too little. It is interesting to note that state GDP growth was double when the Democrats ruled. No doubt there are many complex factors involved, not the least of which was the huge influx of federal tax dollars from 2000 to 2010. That being said, the facts show the Mississippi economy grew twice as fast when the Democrats were in power.
We endorse the Republican Party’s vision of free markets and reduced red tape as the key to long-range growth for Mississippi. But we caution state leaders not to overshoot their mark and ignore fundamental infrastructure that - while costing tax dollars - is also important to growth. We need good schools, well-maintained roads and a criminal justice system, especially prisons, free from gangs and corruption. For our spiritual well-being, Mississippians need to be part of a state that takes care of widows and orphans both through our churches and nonprofits and properly run state programs. And if being part of the richest nation in the world has the advantage of a poor state being the recipient of federal dollars, we don’t need to be looking any gift horses in the mouth.
Online: https://www.gwcommonwealth.com/
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Jan. 30
The Greenwood Commonwealth on how obesity effects eligibility in the armed forces:
The warning by retired American generals of the widespread unfitness of today’s youth to serve in the armed forces is shocking. It’s particularly troubling for Mississippi.
According to the generals, this state has the highest ineligibility rate in the country at 76%, as compared to an unflattering national average of 72%. The disqualifiers include lack of education, criminal background, substance abuse or medical conditions. The No. 1 medical disqualifier is obesity.
America’s weight trouble doesn’t just pinch the military. It is driving up health-care costs and reducing workplace productivity.
If we don’t get a handle on the problem, our national security and our standard of living could be at stake.
Online: https://www.gwcommonwealth.com/
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Jan. 29
The (Columbus) Dispatch on Gov. Tate Reeves opinion on workforce training versus college degrees:
For the past few years, the Legislature and the governor’s office have hammered away at a consistent message about education: College isn’t for everyone.
Among the well-intentioned, it’s an effort to call to the attention of young people the emerging opportunities in skilled labor as factories and industries struggle to find employees equipped for the demands of the modern workplace. There is also a shortage of those trained in the traditional trades - construction, plumbing, electricians, et al.
The message is sound, although how it is framed is following a troubling trend.
During his first State of the State address Monday, Gov. Tate Reeves employed a view that is insulting, demagogic and, we believe, counter-productive.
In his wide-ranging, 35-minute address, Reeves touted the state’s investment in workforce training, the catch-all phrase for career tracks that do not require 4-year college degrees.
If he had stopped there, it would have been a positive message for our state.
Instead, Reeves went a bridge too far, mocking university education.
“In Mississippi, we know there is pride in a trade,” he said. “We know there is money to be made. We can let the east coast have their ivory towers. We can let the west coast have a generation of gender studies majors. We will take more jobs and higher pay!”
In using the sort of divisive rhetoric that is usually abandoned after the election campaign, Reeves is pitting one career track against another. The sort of language does not auger well for higher education, which has been chronically underfunded for years. As a result, more and more of the cost has been passed on to students and their parents.
“College isn’t for everyone” is a message apparently already being embraced. Over the past three years, four-year college enrollment has dropped by 5.7%. In the fall of 2019, there were 4,758 fewer students enrolled in our state’s eight public universities than there were in 2016.
Since 2012, the state has lost roughly 35,000 residents. It’s unlikely they left for pipe-fitting, plumbing and construction opportunities.
In short, fewer Mississippians are going to college and those who do are often leaving our state for the opportunities their education has prepared them for. How does our state possibly benefit from that?
Dismissing a college education as an “ivory tower” pursuit or mocking liberal arts programs such as gender studies — in a state where 25% of women live in poverty, that’s a topic worthy of study — does not do a single thing to promote the workforce career path. Can the workforce path not stand on its own merits?
Mississippi State and Ole Miss have gender studies programs and while neither university has come to the defense of these programs, Mississippi University for Women President Nora Miller offered an unapologetic defense of The W’s women’s studies program,
“Gender studies and other areas of study that aim to build a more diverse and inclusive society benefit all of us,” Miller said. “These programs provide in-depth knowledge of gender dynamics, strategies and organizational skills needed to address gender inequalities, promoting skills which are needed (in a variety of fields.)”
Here’s the truth: What may be said of the college career path is also true of the workforce career path: It’s not for everyone, either.
Depending on the job, skilled labor sometimes means working in harsh conditions performing monotonous and sometimes potentially dangerous work. Older workers, especially in traditional trades, may find the work too physically demanding to sustain into their 50s and 60s.
We do not believe that promoting either career path relies on denigrating the other.
Both are good choices. For some workforce training is a better path. For others, a university degree is the best path forward.
It is unfortunate that our Governor has chosen to drive a wedge between these two legitimate career paths.
Online: https://www.cdispatch.com/
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