MCPP Policy Briefs and Reports
A Better Way to Count Kids and Fund Schools During the COVID Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need to update Mississippi’s K-12 education funding model, in particular the way that the school finance formula counts students.
Mississippi Cashes in on the Broadband Bonanza
Over the past 10 years, hundreds of millions of federal dollars have flooded into Mississippi with the stated aim of extending broadband Internet connectivity into underserved and unserved, mostly rural areas of the state. It is vital that the distribution and use of these monies be subject to close scrutiny.
Recovery Agenda
To implement lessons learned from the unprecedented emergency caused by the spread of the coronavirus, there are numerous long-term strategies we encourage Mississippi legislators and leaders to tackle to ensure a prosperous future for all.
Mississippi Policy Solutions
MCPP’s new policy guide, The High Road To Freedom, includes more than 100 policy recommendations on 28 of the most pressing issues in our state. Each topic is backed by rationale, data, ideas, and principles and can be put into action.
Higher Education
This report examines the performance of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning and the schools under its authority. We will use four general metrics—Academic Strength, Intellectual Diversity, Cost & Effectiveness, and Governance—to assess the overall quality of higher education in the state of Mississippi, and we make recommendations for ways that the IHL can strengthen the institutions it governs.
Making Medicaid work in a pandemic world
There are multiple waivers the Mississippi Division of Medicaid should adopt as we recover from the current COVID outbreak and prepare for additional outbreaks.
Prekindergarten
There is a push to lower the age of compulsory education from six to five in Mississippi, eroding the limited rights parents have with their young children. At the same time, there is a push for taxpayer funded universal prekindergarten, which would give the state even more control. Is this the direction we should be moving?
Universal School Choice
Mississippi has a unique opportunity to improve its future economic condition through implementing a fully universal Education Savings Account program. We forecast the economic impacts of such a program accrued through decreased criminal activity, increased high school graduation rates, and increased lifetime earnings.