In the 2024 Legislative Session, the House proposed a plan to strike the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) from law and replace it with Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education (INSPIRE), via House Bill 1453.
The INSPIRE plan includes no objective formula for determining base student cost, allowing the Legislature to decide what schools need each year with no standard by which to measure; uses a percentage of what the Legislature chooses as the base cost to determine additional funding for concentrated poverty, special education, English language learners, gifted learners, career and technical education, and sparsity for transportation; keeps funding stagnant for three years after which an inflation adjustment is added to the base cost; current MAEP formula sets base student cost for FY 2025 at $7,465, HB 1453 reduces it to $6,650; and other provisions.
See analysis comparing per-district funding under the MAEP, the Senate plan, and the House plan.
