MISSISSIPPI — The summer is just getting started, but after the extended pandemic layoff, Mississippi is already thinking about the best ways to get children back to school.
The State Board of Education met Thursday to talk about ways to move forward. In keeping with the times, the nine State Board of Education members were joined by board staff and Mississippi school superintendents via video conference.
If their plan is approved and if they can pull it off, it would provide school children with educational tools they’ve never had before.
The staff has been devising a plan to get kids back to school this fall, and they have high hopes.
“Hoping to deliver world class education to get students ready for college,” board member John Kraman said.
It’s an ambitious plan that uses $250 million of state and federal money. They’re hoping to provide every school-age child in Mississippi with electronic learning devices — that’s 350,000 total laptops and tablets.
“This, at a minimum, provides every children in a device to do education remotely, whether it be at home or somewhere else in the state of Mississippi, just that statement alone profoundly changes the way educators do their job,” board member Jason Dean said.
The state plans to pay for internet service if necessary to make sure children can connect.
“Most districts are taking a blended approach: online and on-campus learning,” board member Nathan Oakley said.
The board is planning for a full school year, although the days could be shorter, but wants to give districts the flexibility to decide what works best for them.
“I really believe that it’s one of those moments that we’ll look back once this is all said and done, if we’re successful in the paradigm shift we’ve been able to be a part of for kids in Mississippi,” Dean said.
Board members said the pandemic is forcing Mississippi to invest in a way that’s unprecedented.
“Absent COVID-19 and the funding that goes with that, that came with that, we probably would never see the this kind of investment in the school districts of Mississippi in my lifetime,” board member John Kelly said.
The board said it would pressure the state legislature to act, even asking lawmakers to pull money from a rainy day fund, if necessary.
“I think we have to remind the state legislature and not let them off the hook, no other state agency has been impacted like education has been impacted, and it’s time to step up and do, otherwise we’ll lose grades of children,” board member Rosemary Aultman said.
They’ll be waiting to hear from the state legislature in the next couple of weeks to see exactly how much money they’ll have to invest in the program.
The stimulus money that would be used for these programs has to be spent by the end of this year.
