State Board Chairman: “We Made Those Decisions” on Troubled Teacher EFF Program
The chairman of the Mississippi State Board of Education admitted to fellow board members on Thursday that the board bears responsibility for problems with the state's teacher supply-fund program and for recent ELA test score concerns.
“Those are policy things that start right here with this board,” the chairman, Matt Miller, said at the Board's monthly meeting. “We certainly take responsibility for that. We made those decisions.”
The comments followed a board presentation describing a troubled transition of the $25 million Educator Enhancement Fund program, which distributes funds to teachers for classroom supplies. The presentation detailed a botched vendor transition, a $1.7 million overspend recovered from teachers under the prior vendor, a steep drop in program utilization, and a call-center that has since been scrapped.