Video: Lieutenant Governor Discusses Education Funding

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) -Education was a hot topic during the 2015 Mississippi legislative session. And lawmakers made some big changes.

Charter schools are now in place and teachers will get a $3,500.00 pay raise next month. There are also seven fewer school districts in the state.

Governor Phil Bryant signed a 2.5 billion dollar budget for public schools this session. Critics say it fails to fully fund MAEP and teachers are still under paid.

Lt. Governor Tate Reeves says significant work has been done, but fell short of setting benchmarks to see if the changes are working.

“There’s a lot of different quantitative data that we look at. We know that all of these different reforms that we’ve implemented are going to take time to work, and we’re gonna have to continue to work with the very capable and competent people that are working in the education community across our state.”

There will be a state constitutional initiative on the October ballot, letting voters decide whether the legislature must fully fund MAEP.