Doug Davis confirmed to Parole Board

Former state Sen. Doug Davis of Hernando, a Mississippi PEP contributor, has been approved by the Senate to the Mississippi Parole Board.

Davis began his new job in late January after his appointment by Gov. Phil Bryant.

Congratulations to Doug from all of your cohorts at Mississippi PEP. We hope you never have to see us in an official capacity!

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Davis: Cochran is Mississippi’s statesman

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BY: Doug Davis

During this political season, let’s step back and look at our nation’s capital. It’s divided. I don’t mean a little divided. It seems as though one side is almost scared to even speak to the other. Even on issues where they agree it seems, at least to me, some leaders are more worried about making the other side look bad than they are about passing good legislation for the American people.

It’s okay to disagree. Our Founding Fathers encouraged debate in the system they set up. They made it intentionally difficult for a bill to become a law. Discussing ideas, working together to find a solution and, dare I say, finding a compromise in some instances is what made our country great for so many years. In my lifetime President Reagan worked with Speaker O’Neill, President George H. W. Bush worked with Speaker Foley and President Clinton worked with Speaker Gingrich. They did not always agree, but they were willing to sit down at the table in an attempt to solve problems.

At the risk of being ostracized by some in my party, I do not look at those on the other side of the aisle as enemies. I believe the majority of them to be good people; however in areas of social issues and fiscal policy we just have a fundamental philosophical disagreement on the role of government. That’s okay. The idea is to compromise without compromising on your principles.

This lesson was taught to me when I worked for Senator Thad Cochran. Senator Cochran was Mississippi’s first statewide Republican elected official. He did what many said could never be done. He took the risk, made the sacrifice and blazed the trail.

I had the honor of working for Senator Cochran from 1996 to 1999. During the summer of 1997 I was in an elevator at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington when former Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) got on. He saw my ID and asked who I worked for. I told him Senator Cochran, and he replied, “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Thad.” I was taken aback. This was a Democrat from Connecticut, and he was actually saying something nice about my boss.

It showed me Senator Cochran had a great working relationship with those in the opposite party, they were his friends and they had a mutual respect for one another even though they disagreed on major issues. That was the one of many lessons I learned by working with Senator Cochran.

Senator Cochran’s style is that of a statesman. He’s not the first one in front of a television camera, he’s not on all the Sunday morning talk shows and he’s not antagonistic toward the other side. He’s passionate about Mississippi, he’s passionate about the country he’s served and he’s passionate about results.

I hope the Republicans take the Senate in November for a number of reasons, but none of the least of which it would give our own Senator Thad Cochran the Chairmanship of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

Mississippians have been lucky to have Senator Cochran serve in the US Senate, and it’s my hope he continues to serve for many years to come.

About Doug Davis: Doug Davis is a fifth generation Mississippian. Doug is an assistant vice president at First Security Bank in Hernando and has been with First Security since November of 2001. Doug was elected to State Senate in a special election in December of 2004 and was re-elected in 2007 for a full four year term.

Poll: Is it time for Cochran to go?

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Not as Good as You Think: MCPP Liberty Luncheon speaker Lance Izumi delivers a sobering message about “affluent” government school districts in Mississippi

BY: B. Keith Plunkett @Keithplunkett

So called “affluent” school districts in Mississippi worked with the Superintendent’s Association, the Parent’s Campaign, Parent’s for Public Schools, and other financially connected organizations to defeat a charter school bill in the legislature in 2012. The refrain of public school officials from those geographic areas considered to have “successful” or “high performing” schools was something akin to “not in my backyard.”

Freshman Senator Chris Massey from Desoto County pointedly told a crowd at the Hernando Chamber of Commerce quarterly meeting in June, “We don’t need charter schools to come in and change what we have.”

Superintendent Milton Kuykendall is a political force in Desoto County. It was due to his help that Massey defeated Senator Doug Davis in the Republican primary. Davis was the chairman of appropriations, but had supported reduced funding of the controversial MAEP funding formula, the confusing formula used by government schools as a means to pull more and more money out of the state budget. When Davis began to ask too many questions about the wisdom of the open checkbook requests of Kuykendall and his friends, he became a target.

Other Superintendents of “High Performing” districts had been doing their part politically, as well. Jackson County teachers were shown a Power Point legislative ranking of legislators by the anti-school choice organization The Parents Campaign just hours before primary elections in 2011. The result was the loss of some of the legislatures supporters of education reform.

With the political deck stacked in their favor at the state capitol, government school organizations joined forces during the charter school debate to take control of the message–a task made easy by a lack of effort on the part of conservatives. The result was the eventual defeat of any legislation based on the false message that charter schools would take valuable resources from “high performing” schools.

Lance Izumi, a nationally recognized education expert, threw cold water over that argument in his presentation to Mississippi officials and media at Tuesday’s Mississippi Center for Public Policy “Liberty Luncheon.”

Sign up NOW for free and receive the password to listen to an exclusive PEP Talk Podcast interview with Lance Izumi.

Izumi presented data on Mississippi’s “affluent” districts that showed how they use the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) to bolster numbers and mask a failing system. According to Izumi’s research Desoto County and other “high performing” school students are really not much better prepared than students in some of Mississippi’s failing schools or those on “academic watch.”

One indication of the continued charade is the recent move by the Mississippi Department of Education to remove graduation rates from school ranking systems. A change made during the 2012 legislative session to an “A-F” grading system for school districts removed the confusion of the old system. Government school officials weren’t ready for that kind of transparency. So, after voting to have both systems side by side for “comparison” (read: more confusion), they further moved to pull graduation rates out of the data in order to continue the game of hide and seek with Mississippi parents and taxpayers.

Regular readers of Mississippi PEP know that this website has aggressively shared information on this fight since we first launched a year ago this month. We have stirred some debate, and anger, by pointing out the flaws in the government system, and by investigating the communications and moves of the anti-schoolchoice groups. With Mr. Izumi and others help we’ll continue to do this as we march through the next 6 months leading up to the 2013 Session of the Mississippi Legislature.

Mr. Izumi was the first to admit that his data was simply too voluminous to share in a single short presentation. Likewise, there is too much data to share in a single web posting. That’s why we plan on continuing this conversation. Mississippi taxpayers and parents deserve to see first hand how the system has failed generations of families, and how groups have played politics to milk the state coffers yet provided no real progress to show for it .

Over the coming weeks and months, we intend on breaking down this data, and presenting it to our readers little by little to give time for true analysis, engagement and discussion. Interviews will be conducted with legislators, school officials, teachers and policy wonks alike.

The goal is simple: education. An educated citizenry makes educated decisions.

What’s my angle? Their names are Isaac and Rickey. They are my two sons, and they and their children–when that time comes–deserve the best I can give them. I want the options. I want the choice.

About Keith: Keith Plunkett has worked on communications issues with a range of public officials from aldermen to Congressmen, and a variety of businesses, governmental agencies and non-profits. He serves or has served as a board member of several non-profit, civic and political organizations. Contact him by going to HorizonMediaMarketing.com or follow him on Twitter  @Keithplunkett

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Doug Davis: Time to decentralize Mississippi College Board, allow universities to choose their own leaders.

The following is an exclusive from former State Senator and our newest Mississippi PEP contributing columnist Doug Davis. Look for more contributing columnists over the coming weeks and months from Mississippi PEP as we continue to give readers insight into state government you can get nowhere else.

Follow Doug on Twitter and Facebook 

BY: Doug Davis

With the exits of Dr. Martha Saunders at the University of Southern Mississippi and Dr. John Hilpert at Delta State University, the question comes up again: Why doesn’t each state university have its own board of trustees?

The concept is very simple and there are multiple reasons this would benefit nearly every university. Think of a business that has a board. The board is responsible for hiring and firing of top administrators, setting goals for the company and making sure the busies is going in the right direction. This concept works very well in the business world and has had a great deal of success at other universities across our country.

The ability for a university to have a “family discussion” on who their leaders should be makes sense. Those who invest time, money and other resources to a university care about the success of that particular institution and will work hard to ensure that only the best people available serve there.

Compare that to our current system. The College Board, who currently makes these decisions for state funded universities, is made up of a very smart, talented and energetic group of men and women from across Mississippi, and Commissioner Hank Bounds, who is respected nationally for his work in education both at the K-12 and university level, are some of the best leaders we could have in our current system. That said it’s the system that needs changing.

The next president of USM and DSU will be chosen by a 12 member board that has one Delta State alumni and three members have degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi. That means the next president of both schools will be chosen by the majority of a board made up of good people that have no direct affiliation with the university.

Going back to the business example, can you imagine someone on the board of Pepsi having a say in who the next president of Coke will be? It would never happen and even the suggestion is laughable, however that example is not far off in how our current university system works.

For the system to change legislation would have to be passed, and our Constitution would have to be amended due to the fact the 1890 State Constitution was amended to set up the current College Board System.

Allowing each university to have their own board would increase the number of university ambassadors in our State (desperately needed with roughly only 22% of the adult population having a college degree in Mississippi), create a sense of ownership and pride for the university family and allow those who have a direct interest in the university to chose their leaders and set their goals.

Change doesn’t come easy in our State, and many are content to live under the antiquated system we have. The taxpayers, students and universities deserve better than what they are currently getting from this system, and hopefully one day it can be changed for the betterment of higher education in Mississippi.

About Doug Davis: Doug Davis is a fifth generation Mississippian. Doug is an assistant vice president at First Security Bank in Hernando and has been with First Security since November of 2001. Doug was elected to State Senate in a special election in December of 2004 and was re-elected in 2007 for a full four year term.

While in the Senate Doug served as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Universities and Colleges Committee.

Doug received the Legislator of the Year Award from the Mississippi State Troopers Association, the Mississippi Police Chiefs Association, the Mississippi Tourism Association and the Friend of Agriculture Award from Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation.

Doug is an active member of his community serving in the Hernando Rotary Club, a board member for the DeSoto County Economic Development Council, Past-President of the Hernando Main Street Chamber of Commerce, a board member for the Palmer Home for Children and on the board for the MED.

Doug currently resides in Hernando and is a member of Longview Point Baptist Church.

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State Senators, others weigh in on PERS scare tactics

Image via Wikipedia

Those people that tell you you’re going to lose your 13th check or that your benefits are going to be affected are desperate. They are simply trying to use you for political purposes and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Lt. Governor Phil Bryant

We stand united in our defense of Mississippi retirees against this type of irresponsibility. Democrats have chosen to demagog this issue because they have nothing else to offer the citizens of Mississippi in terms of positive ideas on how to move our state forward during these tough times. Our firefighters, police officers, teachers, and first responders deserve better treatment than to be used in this type of political theater.

Senator Chris McDaniel

What has been very clear from the beginning of this effort is that Democrat’s had little use for the facts. They have purposefully twisted information to suit their political needs knowing full well that the state has a contractual obligation to protect state retirees. The law is clear that we must honor those contracts. Democrats use of fear to attempt to gain political advantage shows how desperate they have become.”

Senator Michael Watson

I find the Democrat’s willingness to use shameful scare tactics to be an insult to the intelligence of the thousands of people who dedicate themselves to the betterment of our state every day.

Senator Giles Ward

“We need serious discussion about maintaining a stable public retirement system, not scare tactics to frighten voters. There is not a legislative attempt to take away the cost-of-living adjustment or what is commonly known as the 13th check. The very state leaders who are looking out for the longterm solvency of the system are the very ones being vilified by some. Current retirees, state employees and Mississippi taxpayers deserve better.”

Senator Doug Davis

via PERS | Mississippi Retirement System | mspers.org.

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MSPERS.ORG–State retirement discussion, not scare tactics, needed

Image via Wikipedia

BY: Senator Doug Davis

The discussion over reviewing the Public Employees‘ Retirement System (PERS) reminds me of a quote from the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “You’re entitled to your own opinions. You’re not entitled to your own facts.” Here are the facts as they are known to me:

Employees and retirees should be concerned about the long-term solvency of PERS.

While some on the PERS Board insist the system is fine, they have repeatedly stated the need for increases in the contribution rates. That does not sound like a healthy retirement plan.

During the first special session in 2010, the Legislature raised the employee’s contribution rate from 7.25 percent to 9 percent. House Bill 1, authored by Speaker Billy McCoy, passed both chambers (80-40 in the House and 28-16 in the Senate) and was signed into law.

In the fall of 2010, the PERS Board again told the Joint Legislative Budget Committee an increase was needed from the state, or taxpayers.

PERS staff wanted to raise taxpayers’ contribution from 12 percent to 12.93 percent beginning in July of 2011.

State Sen. Doug Davis, R-Hernando, is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Email him at DDavis@senate.ms.gov.

via State retirement discussion, not scare tactics, needed.

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