Wednesday, Mississippi’s Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves announced the Mississippi Senate’s intent to consolidate nine school districts, which includes Lumberton Public School District.
A bill, which is intended to reduce administration costs and increase classroom investment, will now head to the House for consideration, Reeves said in a release.
“Consolidating districts is about putting more money in the classroom and less in the district office,” Reeves said in the release. “It’s about providing more resources for the students and improving their educational opportunities. Combining districts allows these communities to draw on a larger tax base to direct more money to classroom needs such as teachers, AP classes or technology.”
According to the release, since 2012, the Legislature has reduced to number of school districts from 152 to 144.
Three bills passed Wednesday, including Senate Bill 2500 which dissolves Lumberton Public School District, which has 585 students and merges it with Poplarville and Lamar County School Districts. Poplarville has 1,927 students and Lamar has 9,996, the release states.
Senate Bill 2495, which combines the districts of Montgomery County, which has 273 students, Carroll County, which has 1,035 students and Winona, which has 1,123 students.
Senate Bill 2497 consolidates Houston School District, which has 1,781 students and Okolona Separate School District, which has 690 students into the Chickasaw County School District, which has 512 students.