The Yazoo County Board of Supervisors said the recent request from the county school district would mean 4.5 mills would be added to its own 2.1 millage increase for the county’s upcoming fiscal year budget.
With the potential of taxpayers seeing a total 6.6 millage increase in taxes, county leaders said they wanted more details about the county school district’s increase in their request.
State Rep. Kevin Ford appeared before the county board during its open meeting Monday to share his opinion that the increase within the county school district’s request is not necessary. It was also reported to The Herald that county school district officials were not made aware of Ford’s invitation to this week’s meeting.
Ford told The Herald that the state of Mississippi is “not requiring the Yazoo County School District to tax the citizens more money.”
“In fact, the district will receive $65,000 more in state funds for the next three years, than they have in the past in state dollars,” Ford said.
The Yazoo County School District requested $8,758,191 in its ad valorem tax for the upcoming fiscal year. School officials said that request includes an $860,000 increase because of a new funding formula from the state, along with $109,873 in shortfall funds from fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2024.
County school officials said their hands are tied with the request due to the new funding formula supplied by the state.
“There is a new funding formula,” said Davis Dalton, chief financial officer with the county school district. “We went from MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program) to MSFF (Mississippi Student Funding Formula), which was passed this year in the 2024 session. The way the formula is calculated now is student enrollment based. MAEP was teacher unit based.”
In 2024, the county school district requested about $7.7 million dollars to be obtained through ad valorem taxes. Now, with the new formula and shortfall, that ad valorem tax request has increased to $8,758,191. Dalton said because of the new formula, the line item for new programs is “the amount of the increase in local contribution over the prior year that shall be requested outside of the 4-7 percent limitation.” That amount is listed at $860,000.
Superintendent Dr. Ken Barron said if the district didn’t make the request under the new formula, the district would be forced to cut positions, along with services and programs that the district currently offers. He said the county school district is actually “taking a hit” with the new formula. And Dalton stressed that this year’s request will only happen once.
Ford said the new formula was created because the former system had only been fully funded twice since it was established in 1997.
“State funding for public education has gone significantly up, including one of the largest teachers’ pay raises in history,” Ford said.
But Ford said the county school district “already are and were taxing over the millage rate required.”
“Yazoo County School District is already taxing 46.8 mills, which is $7,707,198.56,” Ford said. “The new formula requires local school districts to report local dollars at either 27 percent of the state portion or 28 mills, whichever is less. For Yazoo County School District that is $3,066,393. The old formula, before add-ons, was $2,205,971 in the previous years. The new formula requires local school districts to report local dollars and either 27 percent of the state portion or 28 mills, whichever is less. Yazoo County School District is already at 46.8 mills. Which means, they already are and were taxing over the millage rate required. On paper the increase amount is $860,422 in local contributions. However, since Yazoo County School District is already taxing at 46.8 mills. The only thing that is changing is the amount of money that the Yazoo County School District is reporting.”
Ford said the existing statute had “a loophole” that stated if the local contribution rate is increased, then local school districts have the right to raise the rate without citizens voting on the increase.
“The intent was to document the local contribution rate at a fairer value without requiring counties to go up on local citizens,” Ford said. “Here is an example: Yazoo is at 46.8 mills in the formula. The new statute only requires them to report 27 percent. Yazoo County is already taxing at a much higher rate but only reporting 28 mills.”
Barron told the county board last week that he talked to 28 superintendents within the state. Of those, he said eight are asking for the full amount in increase in local contributions; three are asking for partial contributions; and 13 were not asking for anything.
With deadlines just passing, Ford said he is unaware of how many school districts are “taking advantage of the loophole.”
“However, if this was truly creating a deficit shortfall for districts across the state, then most all districts would’ve been doing it,” Ford said. “It appears, at this time, a majority of the school districts did not.”
Although both the county school district officials and Ford have presented their opinions to the county board, The Herald cannot find that any attempt was made to bring all three parties to the same table. Ford added that he was disappointed that he was never notified prior to last week’s request.
“The State is not and did not require a tax increase on the citizens on local contributions for above was what is normally allowed in a normal budgeting process,” Ford said. “I learned about the requested increase after a supervisor from Yazoo County contacted me. He asked me about the request the Yazoo County School District turned into the Board of Supervisors for the increase.”
Barron told The Herald that he would be willing to meet with Ford and share the district’s financial figures.
“The Yazoo County School district took advantage of the loophole,” Ford said. “They took an old law that was in the statute, that said they could take an increase within the first year of a new program, without taking to vote of the citizens. So, the Yazoo County School District is asking for an increase to 51.3 mills, which will be $8,648,108. I’ll go back to the numbers. The Yazoo County School District is already collecting $7,707,198.56 (46.8 mills) from local taxes. The Yazoo County School Board only has to report $3,066,393 (27 percent) of that money to the State. This is unfortunate at best.”
The Herald attempted to find similar reports of school districts requesting significant increases in local contributions. Ray Van Dusen, of the Monroe Journal, reported that the Aberdeen School District “plans to submit a request of 57.87 mills, which is an increase from 52.21 mills requested for the ‘23-’24 fiscal year.”
Dusen reported that Bonnie Granger, a consultant with the Excellence Group who presented the Aberdeen School District’s budget hearing, also cited the state’s new formula as a factor behind the increase.
"We're in a situation right now to where we're having to make big adjustments because of the funding formula," Granger said, according to Dusen’s article. "With the state making the push to eliminate state income tax, the state is – in a lot of ways – shifting the burden from the state level to the local level, and that's something we're having to consider in this budget."
In Perry County, George “Russell” Turner reported Perry County millage will increase by 9.27 mills from the current 103.71 mills to 112.98 mills. Of the 9.27-mill increase, 7.89 mills is required to cover the Perry County School District request. The Perry County Board of Education advertised and approved a 7 percent increase for the 2024-25 budget year plus $584,000 the district was underfunded due to the new formula.
