NATCHEZ &045;&045; Not even a year away from his legislative duties, Mayor Phillip West’s perspective on educational funding hasn’t changed, but it has been enhanced, and he sees only one solution.

&uot;The state really has to consider a sales tax,&uot; West said. &uot;Somebody has to suffer, somebody has to feel the pain if you are going to achieve what you need to achieve.&uot;

The former state representative said his nearly 10 months of Natchez-focused time have only served to confirm ideas he already had.

&uot;I’ve always felt that the state of Mississippi is going to really have to incur the burden of making sure there are enough resources on the local level to accomplish what we want to accomplish (in education.)&uot;

The Mississippi Adequate Education Program, a formula aimed at providing each district enough money to meet midlevel accreditation standards, was under funded by $79 million last year.

To meet the current fiscal year’s budget, the Natchez-Adams School Board raised taxes by 15.6 percent to pay operational costs and teacher pay raises, not funded by the state.

Though West said he does not like the idea that an appointed board can levy taxes on the citizens, he did say tax increases should be the responsibility of the state.

&uot;For the state not to take on the challenge to make sure it is provided and to put it on the local school board on a local level is a band-aid approach to a major problem.&uot;

West said the state has to invest on its students and make sure the spent money benefits the state in return.

He questioned the number of Mississippi educated students who leave the state to find jobs and then pay taxes elsewhere.

&uot;Until we do something to turn that around it’s counterproductive,&uot; he said.

Quality education is not only integral to economic development, but was the future of the state, he said.

&uot;It takes a lot of political courage and political will.&uot;