The Mississippi Legislature has a strong record of supporting much-needed improvements in the past few years for all of education, and the Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning is asking that it maintain the momentum in the first year of the new millennium by approving the state universities' current funding request.

This request is extremely important to our state's future, and it is paramount that alumni support the initiative.

Mississippi is being recognized throughout the country for the gains that are taking place in education.

Mississippi is being recognized throughout the country for the gains that are taking place in education. A credible perspective for these gains can be seen through trends that are tracked by the Southern Regional Education Board, which shows that between 1986 and 1996, the SREB region, composed of 16 states, accounted for 55 percent of college enrollment. The rate of increase in Mississippi was 13 percentage points greater than the national rate of increase and one percentage point greater than the regional average.

Mississippi is a leader among SREB states in earmarking more state funds for higher education. From 1994 to 1999, state tax funds related to higher education increased 72 percent in Mississippi, significantly higher than the regional increase of 30 percent and the national increase of 29 percent.

The increases have enabled Mississippi to make significant progress in closing the gap in average salaries for faculty and making other needed improvements. The most recent data show that Mississippi's average faculty salary is 84 percent of the national average, while the Southern regional average is 94 percent of the U.S. average. The increases have permitted the universities to attract and hire additional faculty and staff to teach our record numbers of students. The students learn in better facilities than those available just a few years ago, due to the revenue provided for capital improvements. There is no question that a difference is being made that has significant returns for our citizens.

Despite this progress, there is much to be done in terms of improving facilities and programs to fully educate citizens for the century that is now upon us. For this reason, the request for Fiscal Year 2001, which the Legislature will consider in the session that begins in January 2001, is for an additional $113,825,116 over the FY 2000 budget, or a 17.94 percent increase.

...there is much to be done in terms of improving facilities and programs to fully educate citizens for the century that is now upon us.

If funded, the increase will permit steady progress to continue, providing monies for increased utility costs, instructional materials and other supplies, new faculty/staff positions, repair and maintenance of buildings, replacement of equipment, efforts to attain initial accreditation in specific programs, efforts to maintain library accreditation, new projects or academic programs, and expansion of facilities for distance learning. Also included in this request is the third year of the installment for base budget adjustment for the three comprehensive universities, including Mississippi State.

Financial aid is another area in which demand has increased significantly in recent years. Of particular note is that nearly 1,500 Mississippi residents now are awarded the prestigious Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant, which provides $2,500 per year to students with minimum composite ACT scores of 29. This number is up from 300 just three years ago.

We urge alumni and friends of Mississippi State to contact their legislators about maintaining the momentum for the universities by supporting the FY 2001 budget request that will be considered by the Legislature during the session beginning in January 2000.