NATCHEZ &045; Mississippi lawmakers meet in Jackson this week for a quick special session, but some state school officials are already looking to next year’s regular session.

In 2004, K-12 schools received $45 million less than the previous year &045; and $79 million less than they said they needed

This coming year, funding for the Mississippi Adequate Education Funding formula could compete with money already promised in teacher pay raises.

Gov. Haley Barbour has said he wants to fully fund the teacher pay raise, while some lawmakers have suggested scaling back the raise in order to shift some money to MAEP.

But K-12 isn’t Mississippi’s only education focus. And with the Ayers desegregation case finally settled for the state’s three historically black universities, lawmakers are looking at coming up with more money.

Still, some state school officials are hoping to emphasize investment in education at all levels &045; from kindergarten through college.

The state’s three schools chiefs &045; Wayne Potter, outgoing commissioner of the Institutes for Higher Learning; Wayne Stonecypher, executive director of the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges; and Dr. Henry Johnson, state superintendent &045; took to the road last month for a public relations tour touting their partnership.

&uot;We wanted to be together to symbolize that education is really a singular enterprise,&uot; said Potter, who has announced he will step down and go back to a university setting after December.

&uot;Education is the only way we’re going to be able to solve Mississippi’s problems,&uot; Stonecypher said.

Stonecypher believes the state’s workforce culture has been changing faster than its education culture has kept up with it. In 1950, he said, 85 percent of jobs were unskilled. Now, he said, 65 percent of jobs require some skills or training after high school.

But the three leaders believe Mississippi needs to make more of an investment in its education systems &045; at all levels.

&uot;We need an economic development strategy that includes investment in education,&uot; Potter said.

He noted that education is one of the few areas in which the state spends money but can reap benefits in the future.

&uot;This is one that really has a multiplier effect,&uot; Potter said. &uot;It’s hard to turn Medicaid into an investment. Long-term, there’s a payoff (with education).&uot;

But the leaders don’t believe schools simply need more money.

&uot;We want to make sure we provide the kind of educational experience that makes it possible for the regular, standard student to be successful after they graduate,&uot; Johnson said. &uot;That’s going to imply ratcheting up the experience in high school.

&uot;If we don’t, that economic status of the state is not going to improve. It might go the other way.&uot;

What can the Legislature do?

State Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, said he doesn’t think the Legislature will give education top priority in the January session, but is still hopeful it will be fully funded. &uot;I certainly would like to see adequate education fully funded,&uot; Dearing said. &uot;And I’d like to see the money not funded in the past year made available.&uot;

Under past administrations Dearing said he remember handling education before other topics.

&uot;A couple of years ago we made funding a top priority by funding it before anything else,&uot; he said. &uot;Schools around the state were ecstatic that we did fund it first. But I don’t think there’s enough people with their priorities in the right place now.&uot;

He said finding the money was a necessity for districts like Natchez-Adams, which was hit hard at the state level and locally, but was going to be hard to do.

&uot;Projections are steady,&uot; he said. &uot;Some months we are a little behind, some months we are way behind.&uot;

Dearing said the solution was finding a new source of revenue.

&uot;I’ve said for several years that I could not support a tax increase until we had cut as far as we could cut. If we don’t come up with some additional source of revenue there’s going to be a lot of gnashing of teeth and a lot more cuts.

&uot;I’m just at a loss without a new tax revenue.&uot;