The Mississippi Legislature has passed a budget to fund the state for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 with nearly $7.9 billion for state agencies, departments and projects.
The final funding approval represents a more than $200 million increase in state financial support from FY 2023-2024, which was $7.615 billion.
Among the top issues this session were a massive increase K-12 education spending and an influx of money in state support for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
Here are some of the big numbers from the $7,866,399,797 total budget and who got shorted as compared to last year.
What agencies received less funding?
MDOT received $1.438 billion in direct appropriations this year, which represents a $100 million decrease from last year. However, the agency received more than $400 million in other state and American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Most of those funds will go directly toward funding some of the department's most important projects. Most notably, some of that money will right into MDOT's project to modernize I-55, which runs down the middle of the state and right through Jackson.
The Mississippi Department of Revenue, received about $57 million in funding, showing an about $3 million reduction from the $60 million it received last year. MDR is responsible for enforcing, regulating and documenting taxes issued to state residents, businesses and organizations.
The Institutions of Higher Learning did not receive a boost in funding to lead the state's eight public universities. The IHL will get about $874 million this coming fiscal year, showing a significant drop from the $934 million it received last year.
Several other state agencies also received less money this year from Mississippi lawmakers.
The Attorney General's Office, which serves as the primary legal counsel for the state, will receive about $21 million to fund it's operations, showing about a $9 million decrease from last year.
The Secretary of State's Office also experiences a drop in funding, receiving $14 million in state appropriations, compared to $16 million during the 2023 session.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks received $27.7 million, showing about $4 million in decreased funding
What agencies received more funding?
The Mississippi Department of Education will receive $3.312 billion, a more than $300 million increase from FY 2023-2024. Most of those additional funds come from the Mississippi Student Funding Formula, which replaced the state's previous funding model for K-12 Education, the Mississippi Adequate Education Formula.