2015/04/16 – Acting on behalf of the Legislature, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday appealed the decision of a Hinds County judge who earlier this month found the Legislature’s alternative to a citizen-sponsored education funding ballot initiative confusing.

Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston L. Kidd ruled in favor of an Oxford mother who filed a lawsuit against the Legislature’s alternative to the Initiative 42 ballot measure.

The notice of appeal was filed at the Mississippi Supreme Court. Gunn and Reeves will argue the Hinds County Circuit Court overstepped its constitutional authority in contradicting the actions of the Office of the Attorney General.

It’s unclear whether the appeal will work. According to state law, the judge’s decision is final.

“We appreciate General (Jim) Hood for working with legislators to phrase the ballot language, and we do not believe this circuit court can override his authority,” Reeves and Gunn said in a joint statement.

Shipman, who has two children in the Oxford school system, issued her own statement after the filing.

“How far will the Lieutenant Governor and House speaker go to thwart the future of our children by not fully funding our public schools?” she said. “It’s despicable how these legislative leaders continue to fight against our schools.”

Kidd had ruled at an April 1 hearing that the alternative ballot title as it stood wasn’t in accordance with Mississippi law requiring that the ballot language may not “intentionally be an argument, nor likely to create prejudice, either for or against the measure.”

“It’s not this court’s role to be involved in the politics of this particular ballot measure,” Kidd said at the time. “But the court does have the role and the responsibility to make sure the ballot title is appropriate and in accordance with Mississippi law. The court finds the ballot title as proposed by the Attorney General’s office is not in accordance with Mississippi law.”

Kidd rewrote the title of 42-A to say the Legislature should fund “effective public schools” but there would be no “mechanism to enforce that right.”

Critics of the Legislature’s alternative say the language is intended to confuse voters, who will be faced with two choices on the November ballot.

The original initiative seeks to amend the constitution to require that Mississippi fully fund public schools in accordance with the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP). The initiative also gives the chancery court the power to enforce the requirement.

The legislature has only fully funded MAEP twice, in the election-year sessions of 2003 and 2007. They also voted for full funding in the 2008 and 2009 sessions, but mid-year budget cuts during the recession kept that from happening.

Since then, the state has come up more than $1.5 billion short of what the formula says is necessary to meet mid-level academic standards.

The alternative to the initiative, passed by the Legislature early in the session, changes the wording “adequate and efficient” public school system to “effective” public school system. It also keeps funding decisions in the hands of the legislature.

Jackson-based attorney Michael Wallace filed the motion to dismiss Shipman’s lawsuit on behalf of the Legislature, even though the only lawmakers who authorized the move were Gunn and Reeves.

Wallace argued Shipman had no legal standing to challenged the ballot title, which had to be approved by the Attorney General’s office.

“Voters will hopefully more clearly understand what they’re voting for and hopefully vote to require our legislature to fully fund education,” Shipman said after the hearing. “I felt like the alternative was clouding the issue.”

Reeves and Gunn disagreed.

“This dramatic shift in power away from locally-elected legislators is likely to result in significant tax increases, drastic cuts in state priorities – such as funding for universities, community colleges, University Medical Center, roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, and even agricultural programs – or both,” the men said in their joint statement.”

Initiative 42 and Initiative 42A will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Source: The Clarion Ledger 

Emily Le Coz