Mississippi's state chamber backs school funding, road work at Gulfport stop

GULFPORT -- The Mississippi Economic Council, the state chamber of commerce, will get behind education, roads and bridges in next year's legislative session.

Incentives to lure business to the state? Not this time.

The MEC brought that message to the Coast on Wednesday with the kickoff of its Pacesetter Tour, a preview of its legislative wish list. The tour will hit 23 Mississippi cities to try to gin up support for its agenda.

On Dec. 18, the MEC will release a massive study on long-range transportation-infrastructure needs, MEC President and CEO Blake Wilson told the 54 business and development leaders at Gulfport.

The Gulfport group revealed, via electronic votes on transportation and other topics, that more than half worried their children or grandchildren would have to leave the state to get work.

"That's a troubling number," Wilson said of the 53 percent who believed a child or grandchild would have to leave the state. But he was encouraged by the nearly 60 percent who said they were better off than they were five years ago and those who said the Coast is very competitive with other areas of the state.

"I love the Coast," he practically shouted when the results of the competitive question were in. "Everybody's still so positive, despite getting kicked in the head, you know, with Katrina and other things. My goodness gracious, that's the attitude."

For the record, 65 percent said the region is very competitive, 29 percent said it is somewhat competitive and 6 percent said it is not so competitive. No one said it wasn't competitive at all.

Twenty-eight percent called Mississippi a newly emerging growth state and 22 percent said the state is a hot economic-development location. But close to 40 percent said the state was still suffering from a negative image.

For charter schools

Among the education issues, the MEC wants to see school superintendents appointed rather than elected, and it wants to tweak the Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding formula.

"We believe an elected school board and appointed superintendents will be a better opportunity for us to get our educational system moving forward," said Gov. Phil Bryant via video. "We've tried (passing such a law) in years past, we're going to try it again -- I suspect with a great deal of success."

On charter schools, most (56 percent) wanted them only in D and F zones of any school district. Now, they are allowed only in D and F districts without the consent of the district.

"We want charter schools ... to carve out the cancer of nonperformance," said Wilson of the MEC position that favors replacing any D or F school regardless of whether it is in a D or F district. "So when you have a nonperforming school, let's offer an opportunity to those families."

Training workers

Incentives didn't even appear on the list of what MEC believes are the most important factors that business and industry looks at when deciding where to locate.

"Used to be incentives were No. 1," Wilson said. "Look, it's not even there, it's not even in the top five."

Instead, workforce development is No. 1. The MEC wants the Legislature to OK $50 million for workforce training. The money would come from a surplus in the unemployment compensation trust fund.

Finally, Joe Sanderson -- the leader of Sanderson Farms, the only Fortune 1000 company in Mississippi -- said Mississippi is in danger of losing the edge it once had in transportation. That edge, he said, started in 1987 when business and political leaders came together to agree on a plan that resulted in the best four-lane system in the region.

"The massive investment we made in our transportation system will be lost," he said, unless the state starts fixing up that system. "Roads across the state are beginning to crumble. Bridges are not safe."

Among the crowd at the meeting, 43 percent said expansion/widening of existing roads is the most pressing need, almost 39 percent said it was maintenance of existing roads, 11 percent said bridge replacement or repair and about 7 percent said construction of new roads.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Mississippi's state chamber backs school funding, road work at Gulfport stop ."