Lawmakers Zero In On College Readiness During Budget Hearing

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi lawmakers are starting public hearings to evaluate state spending, and they’re focusing on why some students finish high school without being fully prepared for college.

Officials from the Department of Education, community colleges and the university system spoke during the first budget session Monday at the Capitol.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, a Republican from Oxford, says Mississippi spends about $35 million a year on the extra help because students aren’t fully ready to do college-level work.

Commissioner of Higher Education Glenn Boyce did not name school systems, but he said some are not providing the education that students will need to succeed in universities.

Andrea Mayfield, executive director of the Mississippi Community College Board, said 50 to 80 percent of students at the two-year colleges need remediation.