JACKSON, Miss.–If you’ve ever wondered how state lawmakers come up with what money goes to what agency for the next fiscal year, well it starts with hearings at the capitol. That process begins Monday for the 2015 budget.
There are 14 people who make up the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and they decide how the state’s money is divided up between agencies like Medicaid, education, corrections, mental health, and public safety.
Education gets the biggest piece of the pie. But, some state lawmakers have said already that fully funding the Miss. Adequate Education Program is not likely to happen. That program, MAEP for short, has not been fully funded since around the time of its inception in 1997.
Last year the state ended its budget year $300 million ahead, with two percent of the overall money taken in going to a rainy day fund.
