NATCHEZ — Natchez-Adams School Board members were advised to not bite the hand that feeds them by joining a lawsuit against the state that’s dangling a potentially $10.8 million cookie in front of them.

Jim Keith, an attorney with the Mississippi School Board Association, was invited to Thursday’s school board meeting to discuss with the members and district leaders details of a lawsuit being spearheaded by former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.

The lawsuit seeks to make up for budget shortfalls since 2010 because the Legislature has not fully funded the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which is a formula designed to give schools enough money to meet midlevel academic standards.

The lawsuit seeks back-payment for the districts that are plaintiffs. The amount of underfunding since 2010 for the Natchez-Adams districts totals $10.8 million.

“Districts are being told this case is a slum dunk — this is not a slam dunk,” Keith said. “(Musgrove) only quotes from part of the statute.”

The lawsuit hinges on wording in the legislation surrounding the funding, which states MAEP “shall” be funded.

Keith said the next portion of the statue states, “In any year in which the MAEP is not fully funded, the Legislature shall direct the Department of Education…how to allocate MAEP funds…for that year.”

“It’s clearly indicated in that statute that there will be years where it’s not fully funded,” Keith said. “I don’t think the legal premise is as strong as they claim to be.”

Apart from the legal issues, Keith also told board members that the lawsuit could have a negative impact on the district if they decide to join.

Keith gave an example of a scenario in which the lawsuit was successful and the Legislature was forced to pay the owed funds.

“Where’s the money going to come from?” Keith asked the board members. “They’re not going to raise taxes. They don’t want to borrow money. It’s going to come out of future revenues, which means it will be that much less for school systems.

“I have a problem suing the total entity that has your future in their hands.”

The solution to fixing the problem of state underfunding, Keith said, is a proposed constitutional amendment being pushed by a group called Better Jobs, Better Schools.

The group is seeking to collect signatures to get a constitutional amendment on the November 2015 ballot.

If enough signatures are collected, the 2015 ballot initiative would read: “Should the state be required to provide for the support of an adequate and efficient system of free public schools?”

If passed by voters, the initiative would amend Section 201 of the Mississippi Constitution to require that the state must provide and that the Legislature must fund an adequate and efficient system of free public schools.

The initiative would also authorize the chancery courts of the state to enforce the section.

“The lawsuit is not a permanent fix, this is a permanent fix,” Keith said. “All we’re saying with this initiative is that we want you to fund an adequate system of public education.”

Board members heard from one of the law firms working with Musgrove on the lawsuit in July, but have yet to make a decision on whether to join.

Musgrove filed the lawsuit Aug. 28, and additional districts — other than the 14 already on board — have 30 days to join as plaintiffs.

Board member Cynthia Smith said it didn’t take long for her to decide what course of action the district should take.

“I was in total agreement with (Keith) when he talked about that there’s no way the state could pay for all of this,” Smith said. “One of our responsibilities as school board members is to be fiscally responsible, so how can we ask the state to come up with all this money they don’t have?”

Board member David Troutman said he was concerned with the high level of legal fees the law firms were charging to file the suit.

The law firms would collect 25 percent of the earnings for a successful lawsuit. Natchez would wind up paying $2.7 million to the law firms of the $10.8 million it could win.

“That seemed extremely high for something as simple as they’re making it out to be,” Troutman said. “I just would feel uncomfortable agreeing to give them that much of the money that should go to students.”

NASD Superintendent Frederick Hill said he saw both positives and negatives from each argument, but said he would let the board make the ultimate decision.

Board President Tim Blalock said the board would continue discussing the matter, but didn’t believe any action would be taken before Musgrove’s deadline to join the lawsuit.