Phil Bryant Continues to Push Mississippi Way Off Course

Another report released this week shows Mississippi, once again, at the bottom of the list when it comes to child health, education, and economics. This report comes days after Mississippi was noted as having the worst unemployment rate in the country. Let the graphics below speak for themselves.

We still have half of our children not attending pre-kindergarten! Early childhood education is critical to keeping kids in school and giving them a stronger start in life, yet we have half of them not doing so. We still have far too many students not learning critical skills in math and reading, skills they must have in order to be competitive in today's global economy. 

Troubling numbers in Mississippi's child poverty rate show trouble on the horizon. Unless a focus on poverty in Mississippi becomes a focus of our state government, another generation of poor Mississippians will continue the cycle of chronic poverty in our state.

Governor Phil Bryant gets the credit for these standings. When the unemployment numbers came out last week, this was Bryant's response:

Bryant attributed the slowness of Mississippi's recovery to a surplus of residents who aren't sufficiently educated or trained, which he said he was trying to change.

"I think a lot of them have dropped out of school, a lot of them are not properly trained for advanced manufacturing" Bryant said. "We haven't done as good a job as we should in training workers for the future."

Bryant says that we are better off than we were a couple of years ago, but his leadership keeps us on the very bottom of the lists! Under Bryant's watch, not only is our unemployment the worst in the country, but he admits that he has not done his job when it comes to doing things necessary to improve our state's economic situation. Bryant admitted in a radio interview this week that he does not want to invest in education because it costs money! It is the most illogical thought process. Not only has Bryant failed to create employment opportunities in the state, he is failing to invest in education and training our young people to prepare for the jobs of the future.

This is the Republican Party Phil Bryant is fighting for!