Students attending the Mississippi School of the Arts may soonbe required to pay a fee as part of their attendance at theinstitution.

Under House Bill 513, an all-encompassing education fundingbill, MSA students will begin paying $500 per semester for room andboard. The bill has cleared conference and is now headed to Gov.Haley Barbour’s desk for final approval.

Currently, students are not required to pay to attend the schoolthat opened in 2003.

Area legislators said the new $500 fees would better help theschool in future appropriations debates. District 39 Sen. CindyHyde-Smith, D-Brookhaven, said the $500 requirement would serve asa “negotiating tool” in the future.

“We weren’t going to lose MSA without the $500 requirement. ButI think that with this line item included, it will advance ourfunding for other areas now,” she said. “It will put us in a betterposition to get more appropriations in the future.”

Hyde-Smith pointed out that the $500 payments will not berequired of every student – only students who can afford it.Students who are eligible for the Children’s Health Insurance Plan,made available to children of low-income families, will be exemptfrom the payments.

“If a child can’t afford to pay it, it’s not going to preventthem from being a student at MSA,” Hyde-Smith said.

Aside from the $500 room and board requirement, House Bill 513provided MSA with only the funding necessary to stay in operation.The school’s additional requests – funding for construction of anew facility and the hiring of new teachers and a principal – weredenied.

“There just was not enough money to go around for everything,”said District 92 Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven. “I think MSA cameout the best they could with the money we had.”

Even without the funding necessary for the school’s expansion,local legislators are thankful for the full appropriation. Curriesaid legislators from other parts of the state are often criticalof the school’s budget requirements.

“Frankly, we had to fight for the funding this year – there’s alot of legislators that are not supportive of MSA,” she said. “Wefeel lucky coming out with full funding in this tight budgetyear.”

Like Hyde-Smith, Currie agreed that the $500 room and boardrequirement would give MSA “a little leverage” within theLegislature when the school is discussed in the future.

“I believe it will be looked at a little bit different,” Curriesaid. “Parents will be helping out with some of the costs to runMSA.”