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Dear Editor,

Much like a wooden sign outside a defunct business, Mississippi’s economic strategy advertises long after there is nothing to publicize.

The Nissan plant costs Mississippians $363.5 million but that price tag is growing.  The 2008 property taxes to Madison County from the Nissan plant were $1.64 million.  The debt service for the subsidies for Madison County for 2008 was $1.67 million.  This is just one of hundreds of corporate subsides we fund with our tax dollars through out the state.

We have titles like minimum and adequate for our educational funding, but corporate funding should be called full and extensive.   We have broad oversight to educational funds but very little to corporate funding.  Our state agencies can not give detailed or in depth information on the dozens of programs we have in Mississippi.  Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

In a report available on our web site (ms.aft.org) many more areas of concern are outlined on the economic subsidies our state has available to corporations operating in Mississippi.  The poorest state in the nation gives money to companies without any supervision of those companies.   Wal Mart is a big beneficiary of Mississippi’s largesse. We have the same number of private prisons as California that has more than 12 times our population. 

In a national report card on teacher quality just released, Mississippi received a D+ in retaining teachers and a D- for not being able to discharge poor teachers.  The true root of this problem is Mississippi does not have a full complement of teachers, as witnessed by 2,300 emergency certificates issued in Mississippi 2008-2009 school year according to the Mississippi Department of Education.  Our salary and benefits are at the bottom of the nation so we don’t have enough teachers to fill the positions we have much less more to take the place of poorly performing teachers. 

It is time to switch the priorities of this State.  We need to fund education first and with substantial resources, not adequate or minimal. Corporations should be subsidized with what is left, not the other way around.


Sincerely,



Sue Hatem
President, AFT Mississippi