Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann made a recent tour of the Delta region, focusing on key local issues including rural healthcare funding, school truancy, and economic development challenges.
During his visit to Cleveland and Greenville, Hosemann highlighted efforts to raise teacher and professor salaries across the state to improve education. In Cleveland, he met with Delta State University officials and local school district leaders who are working to improve outcomes for special needs students and raise school performance ratings. "We are, from the Senate side, going to raise teacher pay this year again. Everything — professors, colleges, assistants, teachers — all that we pay," Hosemann said. He noted Cleveland schools were close to achieving a B rating, signaling progress in the district’s education efforts.
Hosemann also addressed the chronic absenteeism crisis in Greenville schools, describing it as one of the worst situations he had seen. He stressed the need for truancy officers in every school and tougher enforcement of laws to hold parents accountable for students' attendance. "One out of three of your kids is chronically absent. You talk about economic development, it means one out of three of them is not getting a full education," Hosemann said. He supports raising truancy officer salaries to levels comparable to teachers and shifting hiring and accountability to the local level.
On healthcare, Hosemann discussed the rural health initiative funded by Congress, which allocates $50 billion nationwide over five years, with Mississippi expected to receive approximately $1 billion. The funding aims to support preventive healthcare programs targeting conditions like diabetes and help keep hospitals financially viable. "We anticipate that $200 million a year will be spent on preventive healthcare where we have people who may be diabetic or whatever," Hosemann said. He also took note of the challenges facing Delta farmers who are suffering from agricultural losses despite record crops.
Hosemann pointed out that part of the funding strategy includes $350 million requested by Medicaid to cover increased healthcare delivery costs to its recipients, separate from the rural health funds. Officials are awaiting regulations from the Department of Human Services to finalize details on the health initiative's implementation and spending allowances.
Additionally, Hosemann touched on economic development obstacles linked directly to education and workforce readiness. “If we’re not going to educate our children, we say, well, why ain’t Greenville doing well? So why can’t we attract any industry? The why always comes back to education,” he said.
Hosemann’s visit underscores ongoing efforts in Mississippi’s Delta to bolster education, healthcare access, and economic conditions through targeted investments and policy work at the state level.
This report was compiled with the assistance of Perplexity AI.
