While I am softening a bit on the issue of charter schools, I remain concerned that they will take resources away from public schools. Improvement needs to be made in our schools but the first step is making sure we fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. This is my priority.

We’ve only fully funded MAEP three times in the last nine years, so how can we say it’s not working.

Nevertheless, we passed Senate Bill 2664 that re-authorized the charter school law. This gives parents the right to establish public schools that are not under state jurisdiction and are subject to their own rules. In a charter school the teachers and administrators will be able to step around many policies that we have in place in the public system, such as certified teachers. They will have the ability to create the rules as they go along, but our tax dollars would be given to them to operate.

This week we amended and approved House Bill 364 to increase the tax on cigarettes to 49 cents per pack, bringing it in line with surrounding states.

It increases the state’s 18 cents per pack tax by 31 cents and will provide revenue for several things including a fund that will keep the cost of car tags from rising.

If the House of Representatives agrees with our action, the bill will go to the governor. If they do not agree with our action, we could soon begin negotiations in committee to reach a compromise.

We chose the 31 cents increase because we felt it was the best compromise with a pending federal increase in the price of cigarettes on the horizon.

We wanted to raise the tax higher to earn more money for the state’s health care efforts and also to help discourage smoking. But we realize that raising the tax too high would create a black market that makes millions of dollars for people who are bold enough to buy cigarettes at a lower price in neighboring states and haul them back here to sell at a profit.

If that happened, then both the state and legitimate businesses would lose lots of revenue.

And we passed Senate Bill 2353 that would provide protection from lawsuits to restaurateurs and others who donated food the needy such as those who dwell in shelters. Our hopes are instead of tossing out the sandwiches that did not sell during the breakfast hours, restaurants will be encouraged to make special efforts to donate that food to those in need.

And we passed Senate Bill 2472, the Child Protection Act that would mandate the reporting of any sexual crime against a minor and the retention of DNA evidence to aid in the prosecution of suspects who either assault a minor or commit statutory rapes that results in pregnancy of the child.

In coming weeks we expect to have before us Senate Bill 3189 that will seek the authority for cities and counties to create entertainment districts as a means of drawing in tourists and creating other revenue sources.

We could also debate the likes of Senate Bill Senate Bill 2490 that seeks to have county and municipal prisoners pick up their own medical expenses for non-emergency care.

There could also be items like Senate Bill 2673, which would empower city councils to audit their local Crime Stoppers programs.

Kelvin Butler is a state senator who represents a portion of Adams County.