JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi’s Education Enhancement Fund procurement card program for public K-12 classrooms provides teachers with money for classroom supplies, but those cards are sometimes activated too late to be helpful according to a new report from the State Auditor’s office.

 

“Common sense says money spent in the classroom is what makes the biggest difference for students,” said State Auditor Shad White. “My office found that Mississippi spends a greater percentage of its K-12 budget on administrative costs than every other state in the South, which means, when we do spend money in the classroom, it needs to get to the teachers on time.”

 

According to the Mississippi Department of Education, the EEF fund will provide eligible teachers with $748 each for classroom supplies.

 

MDE currently activates the procurement cards on August 1st. Analysts from the Office of the State Auditor determined 75% of public-school classrooms will already have started school before teachers have access to their procurement cards—meaning teachers in those school districts will need to purchase school supplies with their own money or begin the school year without supplies they need.

 

The 75% of classrooms that start before Aug. 1 includes nearly 24,000 teachers with more than 329,000 students. As a result, $17.8 million in classroom supply funds are unavailable to these 24,000 teachers to prepare their classrooms in advance of the school year.

 

OSA recommends that MDE activate EEF cards earlier in future years so that every teacher in the state can use their procurement cards as intended before students are back in the classroom. Earlier activation would eliminate a financial burden on teachers during the costly start of the school year and ensure students return to fully equipped classrooms ready to learn.

 

“As many students prepare to start the school year, we need to be smart about how we’re spending money in our education system,” said White.

 

The full report can be found under the “Reports” tab on the Auditor’s website and searching “EEF.”