It is hard to find someone who disagrees with the statement, &8220;Education is the key to our state’s success.&8221;

In fact, talk a little bit about education, and people’s ears perk up just to see what you are going to say.

On Nov. 4, when voters go to the polls to elect a governor, lieutenant governor and an entire slew of other state and local offices, the electorate will also get the opportunity to vote up or down on Senate Concurrent Resolution 522, which will restructure the state College Board in both makeup and term length.

Currently, our governor appoints 12 members to keep a board makeup that includes one member from each of the seven congressional districts that existed in 1940 (the latest Census at the time the Constitutional amendment was passed), one member from each of the state’s three Supreme Court districts and two members chosen at-large. All members serve 12-year terms.

Under SCR 522, the governor will appoint four members from each of the three state Supreme Court districts &045; North, Central and South &045; to serve nine-year terms.

The goal of this proposed Constitutional amendment is two-fold: 1) provide more representation to south Mississippi, particularly the University of Southern Mississippi, and 2) ensure that members will be appointed from districts that do not change with Census numbers, as do Congressional districts.

The battle for this came from lawmakers in Southern Mississippi and alumni from the University of Mississippi who have long complained that Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi have been given favored status due to the appointments and makeup of the board.

USM alumni and southern Mississippi lawmakers point to the state’s shift in population toward the southern part of the state as Hattiesburg and the coast have grown over the years. They say these people are largely left out.

They are probably correct. The southern part of our state has seen an increase in population over the past two decades. Part of this comes from the casino industry’s impact; part of it comes from suburban sprawl in areas of Gulfport, Biloxi and Hattiesburg.

Passing SCR 522 makes a lot of sense. If you look at the 20 authors of the bill, you’ll see a lot of broad support for it, including Sens. President Pro Tem Travis Little, R-Corinth; Terry C. Burton, R-Newton; Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, Tim Johnson, R-Madison; David L. Jordan, D-Greenwood; Dean Kirby, R-Pearl; and Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo. It should be noted that none of these legislators is from southern Mississippi.

Will you see this made into a campaign issue? Possibly. Some say a lot of USM internal politics is behind the proposal. But when everything is said and done, the bill makes a lot of sense.

The bill is a compromise from what was originally sought, 12 members with four appointed from each of the three major universities based on congressional districts. That would have short-changed Jackson State University, Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State &045; just to name a few.

Plus, legislators are on the right track to reduce the term of the appointees. Shortening terms too much gives more authority to the governor, who could essentially bring in a new board every four years. The Legislature will not hand that kind of power to a governor.

Now, if the Legislature would start looking at local education and the way our superintendents and school board members are chosen, then perhaps we could cut more politics out of state education and make some real progress toward improvement.

But that won’t happen any time soon.

Sam R. Hall

can be reached by e-mail to

shall@sctonline.net

.