JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are working on proposals to fund state government for the year that begins July 1.
The Republican-controlled House and Senate on Thursday passed the first draft of budget bills for schools, health care, mental health services, foster care, transportation, courts and other state services.
“We’re far from the finish line,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Briggs Hopson, a Republican from Vicksburg.
The state-funded portion of the budget is proposed to be more than $6 billion. Most agencies are expected to receive roughly the same amount of money as they are during the current year.
House Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Karl Oliver, a Republican from Winona, said Thursday that the current budget proposals are “way under” what many agencies are requesting but numbers will change before the final plan is set.
“We want to give these agencies what they need to meet their mission,” Oliver said.
Legislators are planning to fund a pay raise for teachers, although they have not yet agreed how large the raise will be. Mississippi has some of the lowest teacher salaries in the United States.
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