Mississippi Democratic Trust hosting Policy Forum Thursday

The Mississippi Democratic Trust sent the following press release earlier this afternoon:

The Mississippi Democratic Trust along with House and Senate Democrats and the Legislative Black Caucus will host a mental health and school safety policy forum at the Capitol in Room 201(Ways and Means Committee Room) this Thursday at 1:00 p.m. 

Moderators for the forum will be Senator Hob Bryan (D-Amory) and Representative Steve Holland (D-Plantersville). 

Panelists will include:

• Vanessa Carroll, Senior Staff Attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center
• Zandrea King Ware, CEO, Miss. Assoc. of Community Mental Health Centers
• Jerry Mayo, Executive Director, Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources
• Robert J. Smith, Executive Director, Northeast Mental Health Mental
• Marcell Jojola, School Safety Consultant

Some brief thoughts on the Newtown massacre, and how it relates to Mississippi

There have been many people saying many touching, eloquent things about a tragedy from which our nation will recover, but never quite heal.  The Newtown massacre is an event horrible beyond description.

But the event does force us to deal with something we have avoided; something we have been too lazy or disinterested to handle before.  And like any matter we avoid in our individual lives, our society's problems don't go away simply because we pretend they don't exist.  You probably think I'm talking about gun control, but I'm not.  Our society as a whole, and our state in particular, has a problem with mental health.

Liza Long has a compelling piece on The Huffington Post entitled "'I Am Adam Lanza's Mother': A Mom's Perspective On The Mental Illness Conversation In America."  In a touching, frightening, and important read, Long describes the difficulties she has obtaining adequate mental health treatment for her teenage son.  While he is intelligent and at most times loving, her child suffers from mental health issues that can make him a danger to himself and others.  Her son's mental health issues are not being adequately treated, and honestly, won't be.  The only entity with the resources to handle the mental health issues Long's son faces is the State of Idaho, where they live.  But the only way the state will be interested is if her son is charged with a crime.

I wish I could say things are different here in Mississippi.  The Mississippi Department of Mental health was one of former Gov. Haley Barbour's frequent budget-cutting targets.  (The Mississippi Economic Policy Center has a look at what's happened to the Department of Mental Health's budget over the last few years.)  In fact, our mental health system is so poorly run, the U.S. Department of Justice has found that we are actually operating in violation of federal law.  (Here's a letter with their findings from December last year.)

In Mississippi, most folks think that our mentally ill go to the State Hospital at Whitfield.  Those of us who spend our careers in the criminal justice system know better, though.  The mentally ill in this state actually go to our jails. Instead of getting the treatment they need in facilities established to help them be productive citizens, they suffer from their diseases and wind up committing crimes.  Crimes certainly (and thankfully) on a smaller scale than what we saw in Newtown last week, but real crimes nonetheless, with real victims.

I know this because these people with mental illnesses, our fellow Mississippians, have been my clients.  In some cases, I have seen with my own eyes the pictures of their bloodied, lifeless victims; I have held in my hands the gun, the knife, or the hammer that did the damage.  In others, I have witnessed the recorded statements of the grandmother kidnapped and robbed, of the child beaten and burned. And nearly every time, my client had a mental illness that was going untreated.

There's always a lot of talk in Mississippi about being "tough on crime", as if harshly punishing the criminal somehow makes the victim whole again.  It doesn't.  Ask anyone who has ever lost a loved one to crime.  Ask the parents of those children in Newtown if they would rather have their child back or have been able to kill Adam Lanza themselves.

You want to know how to really be tough on crime?  You want to know how to really be on the side of victims?  Support our state's mental health system so that they don't become victims in the first place.

The Legislature is getting ready to go back into session next month.  Will they pass legislation to give teachers guns?  Or will they do something that actually matters and prevents crime?

A word from Rep. Cecil Brown about the budget battle

Rep. Cecil Brown (D-Jackson)

Here we are, days away from the end of the 2011 legislative session, and we still don’t have a state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The Legislature and Gov. Haley Barbour remain at odds over the budget with the governor insistent on cutting funding levels for state agencies. We in the state House staunchly disagree. We believe there is no reason to cut state agency funding when we clearly have adequate money.

Let me explain our key areas of disagreement.

Education tops the list. House and Senate members have approved the same level of funding for K-12 public schools, $2.2 billion. House and Senate members also have approved the same level of funding for community colleges, $233 million.

The governor, though, wants to reduce K-12 funding by $30 million. While the figure is down from the $65 million he wanted last week, the $30 million would still sting tremendously because it would include $6 million to reimburse teachers for classroom expenses and $24 million from school operating expenses and teacher salaries. That’s unacceptable.

Education has weathered some tough times. Over the past three years, we have reduced K-12 spending by more than $300 million. We have seen teachers lose their jobs. We have seen academic programs eliminated at some schools. And we have seen the teacher-student ratio increase. This is no way to run a school system. Education simply can’t afford additional cuts.

Here’s another important point: If we followed through with the governor’s plan, local property taxes most assuredly will increase as school districts try to find ways to fund day-to-day expenses. In other words, the governor’s proposed funding cuts are nothing more than a backdoor tax increase.

Mental health is another point of disagreement. House members voted to fund mental health by $252 million, including $20 million to operate community mental health facilities. Gov. Barbour wants to fund mental health at $235 million.

The governor’s funding level does not include enough money to operate the community mental health facilities. These local offices that treat and care for people with no other places to go would shut down. Patients would end up on the street or back in jail where many were before. There is just no reason to make this cut when there are funds available to pay for these local centers, especially since they use these state funds as a match for more Medicaid funds.

Another area of disagreement is agriculture units at Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University. The House voted to fund the units at $75 million, but the governor wants to cut the funding by $5.4 million.

The governor’s reasoning is unclear. Perhaps it is in retaliation for the Mississippi Farm Bureau’s opposition to his position on eminent domain. In any case, this proposed cut is arbitrary and destructive to jobs in agriculture in Mississippi.

Our state has not been immune to the economic problems that have dominated our country.

To that end, we in the House have provided a proposal to the Senate to properly fund education, mental health and university priorities while leaving more than a $200 million balance in the rainy day and reserve funds in addition to the $47 million balance in the Hurricane Disaster Funds. Ours is a sound budget. A fair budget. A good budget.

- Rep. Cecil Brown (D-Jackson)
  House Education Committee Chairman

An update on the budget battle

BetterMSReport.com has been covering the ongoing budget battle between the Mississippi House and Gov. Haley Barbour better than anyone else.  The crux is this: Barbour wants to slash funding for education and mental health, and the House doesn't.

To bring you up to speed, here are Better Mississippi Report's stories on the budget showdown:

Rally for K-12 Education, Mental Health Set for Tuesday at Capitol

Barbour Increases Budget Heat on House, Senate Republicans

Barbour's Funding Cuts Could Raise Local Property Taxes on Homes, Vehicles

Budget Update: No Movement Saturday Night After Barbour Meeting

Mississippi Budget Issues at a Glance

Rep. Johnny Stringer: Haley Barbour, build your presidential campaigns on the backs of someone other than Mississippi schoolchildren

House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Johnny Stringer

As we noted yesterday, Gov. Haley Barbour had been out of town politicking for president while budget negotiations were ongoing here in Mississippi. That prevented all sides from being able to get together until today at noon. That meeting apparently didn't go well, as Barbour won't budge on severe cuts to the already underfunded K-12 educational and mental health systems in Mississippi. Barbour wishes instead to cut funding for education to levels below current funding, and is demanding cuts in mental health funding even as the system is shutting down facilities under its current levels of funding.

House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Johnny Stringer (D - Montrose) adamantly opposed Barbour's demands, and linked them to Barbour's presidential aspirations:

“Cutting the education budget as Gov. Barbour has proposed is the equivalent of a tax increase – it will simply shift the tax burden to local school districts, many of which could be forced to increase property taxes on homes and vehicles just to survive day to day. That is unacceptable.”

“We also cannot afford to cut mental health funding next year, a move that would force the closing of all mental health crisis centers in Mississippi and leave several hundred state employees without a job. Many people who are currently in residential mental health facilities will either have to return home or be put out on the street.

“The state House has presented a complete state budget, one that is balanced, one that is conservative in revenue and one that provides sufficient funding for education and mental health. Now, Gov. Barbour wants us to cut education and mental health for no apparent reason. I don’t understand that.

“I recognize that the governor is running for president and has to appear anti-government in these national GOP primaries. But I don’t think Mississippi schoolchildren and people who need mental health services should bear the burden of his presidential politicking.”

h/t BetterMSReport.com