NATCHEZ &045; Financially, the Natchez-Adams School District isn’t really like the majority of school districts in the state.

The closure of several industries in the last few years cut the local ad valorem tax base by $1.2 million. Last year, when the 8 percent pay raises promised by the state became the district’s responsibility to fund, the financial burden grew.

That burden and the state and federal accountability standards are why Superintendent Anthony Morris keeps insisting on the need for full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.

Full MAEP funding is not something Gov. Haley Barbour is pushing for.

In his budget plan released Tuesday, Barbour proposed a 4 percent increase in MAEP funding, the full funding of the teacher pay raise and $3.5 million for textbooks.

In a cost cutting year, Barbour said Wednesday the state simply couldn’t afford to fully fund MAEP.

Education would receive 62.4 percent of the overall budget increases, while nearly every other department would be asked to cut 5 percent; of the 62.4 percent, half would go to K-12, Barbour said.

&uot;If MAEP was funded fully we’d be closer to 70 percent,&uot; Barbour said. &uot;Who are we going to take it from? Education is the top priority, but it is not the only priority.&uot;

Barbour said Wednesday he believes the 4 percent MAEP increase would be enough to help most schools succeed.

&uot;The overwhelming majority of schools didn’t raise taxes last year,&uot; Barbour said. &uot;The vast majority of people were able to continue without tax increases, and we are going to ask them to do it again.&uot;

Natchez-Adams, however, did raise ad valorem taxes by 6.36 mills.

&uot;It is a bit unfair to dump us in with the majority of the districts because our situation is different,&uot; Morris said. &uot;He really needs to reassess the requirements of No Child Left Behind, which is federal, and the accountability standards of the state. Nobody has said they will relax any of those accountability standards.&uot;

Barbour acknowledged the Natchez-Adams District might have a tighter budget than others.

&uot;I’m not going to say there’s not a district here or there that doesn’t have some tough decisions to make,&uot; he said. &uot;As governor I have to look at the whole picture. We are hoping this will be the last year we have to ask them to do something like this.&uot;

Barbour did refer to the 2003-2004 end fund balance of the Natchez-Adams District, which was just over $3 million. The money, loosely called the &uot;rainy day fund,&uot; is something Barbour said the district should be dipping into at this time instead of cutting services and raising taxes.

&uot;I’d call this a rainy day,&uot; Barbour said. &uot;We’ve hopefully hit the bottom of the rainy day. This is just when they should spend it.&uot;

According to the December financial reports presented to the school board, after revenues and expenditures, only about $1.3 million of that fund will be left after the 2005 fiscal year.

Morris said just over a $1 million is not enough to run the district.

&uot;It’s a bit unrealistic,&uot; Morris said. &uot;Because in his mind what is a rainy day fund, it is somewhat obligated. That money really wouldn’t cover us for two months of payroll. For a district our size we are not talking about a big reserve at all.&uot;

Though Barbour has proposed fully funding this year’s teacher pay raise, Morris said the district is already in the hole for last year’s raise.

Morris said the 4 percent increase would not be enough to make up the difference for the district.

&uot;For several years in a row we would continue to have to eliminate programs and services, continue to have to downsize,&uot; Morris said. &uot;In my opinion we are already cutting into muscle to be able to do what we have to do and maintain the standards the state is requiring us to meet.&uot;