Study: State ranks lowest in education

Mississippi ranked last in K-12 achievement and below average in fourth-grade math and reading, eighth-grade math and reading and the public school graduation rate.

That's right last, so maybe Mr. Bounds should spend more time worrying about how to improve the public schools and less time thinking up ways to harass (uh I meant regulate) homeschoolers.

Attempts to reach Bounds for comment were unsuccessful, but, in a Jan. 3 column, Bounds said the report "concludes that student achievement is influenced by a number of factors beyond the classroom, including pre-school opportunities, parental educational attainment and employment, family income and the median income of the community."

One can only wonder WHY Bounds wasn't anxious to speak with reporters about the low ranking of Mississippi's public schools. He certainly made the time to speak with the Clarion Ledger about homeschooling (which shouldn't be his concern, he is in charge of those low preforming public schools, not high achieving homeschoolers).

While Ocean Springs Superintendent Robert Hirsch said money should not be used as an excuse to not educate students, he said the results are the "simplest thing in the world to understand." "If the demographics of the state don't change, we may never see the change we're hoping for," Hirsch said. The problem, he said, is that the state is competing against other states that have higher average annual incomes and spend more money per student. Students in other states that allocate more money per student may have more opportunities.

It's not the money STUPID, homeschoolers spend less money per pupil then public schools do, but homeschoolers ofter rank higher in achievement.