{"id":428,"date":"2007-12-03T10:45:12","date_gmt":"2007-12-03T16:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/?p=428"},"modified":"2014-09-23T09:24:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T14:24:47","slug":"remembering-the-1982-education-reform-act-um-hosts-panel-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/remembering-the-1982-education-reform-act-um-hosts-panel-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the 1982 Education Reform Act: UM Hosts Panel Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"education?reform.jpg\"<\/p>\n
\nThe 1982 Education Reform Act created a public kindergarten system.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

OXFORD, Miss. — Mississippi’s historic 1982 Education
\nReform Act was a significant civil rights and economic
\ndevelopment initiative, but the Magnolia State needs to
\nmake continued advances in education.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThat was the consensus among the key political and media
\nfigures who came together Friday at the University of
\nMississippi’s Overby Center for Southern Journalism and
\nPolitics to discuss the historical ramifications of the
\n25-year-old landmark legislation.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe nine panelists, all instrumental in the Act’s passage
\nin 1982, included former Gov. William Winter, who led
\nefforts to get the act passed, and his former staff members
\nDick Molpus, president of the Molpus Woodlands Group, LLC;
\nAndrew P. Mullins Jr., executive assistant to UM Chancellor
\nRobert Khayat, and David Crews.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOther panelists were Fred Anklam, formerly of The
\nClarion-Ledger staff and now an editor at USA Today; Billy
\nCrews, who rose to become publisher of the Northeast
\nMississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo; Lloyd Gray, a reporter
\nfor the Sun-Herald in Biloxi in 1982 and now editor of the
\nDaily Journal; and Tom Wacaster, who recently retired as
\nhead of the Meridian-based Phil Hardin Foundation.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nModerating the event was Charles Overby, president and CEO
\nof the Freedom Forum in Washington, D.C., for whom the
\nOverby center is named. Overby was executive editor of The
\nClarion-Ledger in 1982, and the newspaper won a Pulitzer
\nPrize in 1983 for its coverage of the issue and its strong
\neditorial support of the bill.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“This was Mississippi’s Pulitzer Prize, not just The
\nClarion-Ledger’s,” Overby said to the audience of about 50
\nstudents, faculty members and residents. “Gov. Winter
\ninspired a whole generation to be better than we knew how
\nto be.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen the Act was passed, Mississippi was the last state in
\nthe nation to not only offer a public kindergarten system
\nbut also to change from voluntary to compulsory school
\nattendance.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“We get what we pay for,” said Winter regarding education
\nfunding.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMullins and Winter’s other young staffers worked tirelessly
\nfor three years to counter opposition arguments to the
\nlegislation, which included increased taxes and a reduction
\nin the workforce available for agriculture.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“A lot of people simply saw a public kindergarten system as
\na baby sitter for black people,” Mullins said.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDespite opposition, the legislation ultimately passed due
\nto Gov. Winter’s efforts to shape public opinion, Gray
\nsaid. “Education reform was a noble cause. Gov. Winter
\nhelped us break out of our shackles.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo offer some insight to students who weren’t yet born in
\n1982, Wacaster pointed out that one white school district
\nin the early 1950s was appropriated only $119 to education
\nfor an entire year, while a neighboring black school was
\nprovided a mere $49.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlthough tremendous strides have been made in public
\neducation, Gov. Winter warned that more investments are
\nneeded if Mississippi is to compete in a global economy:
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Mississippi is still ranked 49th in education,” he said.
\n“We have to break through the ceiling. There’s still so
\nmuch to do.”
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 1982 Education Reform Act created a public kindergarten system. OXFORD, Miss. — Mississippi’s historic 1982 Education Reform Act was a significant civil rights and economic development initiative, but the Magnolia State needs to make continued advances in education. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering the 1982 Education Reform Act: UM Hosts Panel Discussion - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/remembering-the-1982-education-reform-act-um-hosts-panel-discussion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering the 1982 Education Reform Act: UM Hosts Panel Discussion - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 1982 Education Reform Act created a public kindergarten system. 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