State Auditor speaks about better spending school district money

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – State Auditor Shad White is hitting the road to drum up support for a plan that has proven to help school districts better spend their money.

White was in West Point today talking up his office’s performance audits of school districts.

The pilot program began a couple of years ago with 3 districts, including the Columbus Municipal and Starkville Oktibbeha County districts.

The goal is to help districts identify administrative waste and other ways of saving money, and then take those savings and invest them in classroom instruction, teacher pay, and other areas that have a direct impact on learning outcomes.

“The Legislature is considering putting more money into this pilot program that we did a couple of years ago and expanding this program to as many as 40 new districts around the state. This kind of study, this kind of look at the books of a school district gives them a good road map for saving money, and you hope it ultimately means more money getting into the classroom, into teachers’ salaries, so it actually affects and benefits students,” said State Auditor Shad White.

White estimates that if the program is expanded as planned, it could free up over 200 million dollars statewide.