Mississippi Democrats Want To Give State Employees $1,000 Raise

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Democratic leader in the Mississippi Senate says he hopes majority Republicans will adopt some of his party’s budget ideas.

Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory says Democrats want to give a $1,000 across-the-board pay raise to state employees. Democrats are also proposing a three-year plan to attain full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. The school budget formula has been in law since 1997 but has been fully funded only twice.

Republicans this term control the state House and Senate, and the budget process. Lawmakers have a deadline in late March to finish writing a budget for the year that begins July 1.

Bryan spoke Monday at a forum hosted by the Stennis Institute of Government and the Capitol press corps.