2015/05/22 – Republican legislative leaders are asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to restore the original description for one of the two school funding amendments on the November ballot.

In papers filed Friday, attorneys for legislative leaders say a circuit judge had no authority to rewrite the description for Initiative 42-A, which legislators put on the ballot as an alternative to a citizen-led proposal.

The ballot description for 42-A originally said lawmakers must fund “an effective system of free public schools.” Judge Winston Kidd rewrote it to say the Legislature should fund “effective public schools” but specify that people could not ask a judge to order legislators to follow a funding law.

Citizen-led Initiative 42 would require “an adequate and efficient system of free public schools.” People could sue if funding falls short.

Source: Associated Press 

Emily Wagster Pettus