Officials with the Mississippi School of the Arts are grapplingwith the question of how the institution will be affected by apending law that will require its students to pay $500 per semesterfor room and board.

MSA Executive Director Dr. Vicki Lambert spent most of Thursdaymeeting with officials from the Mississippi Department of Educationin Jackson, reviewing the requirements of House Bill 513, theeducation appropriations bill setting forth the $500 per studentper semester requirement

The requirement will be effective as of July 1 if House Bill 513is signed into law by Gov. Haley Barbour. The bill is currently onthe governor’s desk.

“How is this going to be implemented? How is it going tomanaged? Will we turn any students away?” Lambert asked after themeeting. “Right now we are at the stage of formulating questions topose to the state board of education. No one has any answers atthis point.”

Lambert said what her biggest fear is that the $500 fees will betoo great a financial burden to some MSA students, making theschool unavailable to them.

“My biggest concern is that the children of Mississippi will notreceive equal opportunities to learn because these opportunitiesare not provided in their school districts,” Lambert said. “Thereare some students at MSA who can pay it without any problemswhatsoever. There are others who, if we could not find someone tosponsor their costs, would not be able to come to school here.”

Lambert said the bill’s stipulation that students who areenrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Plan would not have agreat impact on the school’s attendance under the new legislation.Only a handful of current MSA students participate in the program,she said.

The same concerns are shared by officials with the MississippiSchool for Math and Sciences in Columbus, to which the new $500requirements will also apply. Patricia Vizzini, president of theMSMS parent group, fears the worst.

“This could cause as many as 50 percent of our students not tobe able to come to school here,” Vizzini said. “A very small amountof students will qualify for CHIPs. When students come from veryhumble backgrounds, sometimes they won’t even apply to the schoolfor fear of not being able to attend.”

Vizzini said MSMS has students who have already been acceptedfor the next year who will not be able to attend the school, andsome current juniors who will not be able to return for theirsenior year.

Vizzini said officials at MSMS are writing letters and makingphone calls to anyone and everyone, pleading for the governor toveto House Bill 513.

“If he does not veto that bill and send it back to the House andSenate to remove section 44 (the portion of the bill that calls forthe $500 fees), it will kill these two fine schools,” she said.

In the meantime, neither school will be able to take anypreparatory actions concerning the implementation of the $500 roomand board requirement because the bill is not yet law, Lambertsaid.

“We can’t take any official action until the state board tellsus what to do,” she said. “The state board doesn’t meet again untilMay.”

If the governor does sign House Bill 513 into law, Lambert saidMSA will begin searching for sponsors who might fund a student’s$500 per semester fee, which is $1,000 for one full year ofeducation at the school. How sponsors will be found and recruited,however, remains to be seen.

“It’s premature to talk about any kind of plans, programs orimplementation until we know exactly what’s going to happen throughthe state board of education if this becomes law,” she said.

Other than the $500 per semester payments, MSA’s portion ofHouse Bill 513 was expected, Lambert said. The bill funds theschool with approximately $3 million for next year’s operations,and provides no extra money for additional projects.

MSA had requested additional funds for new teachers, a principaland the construction of a new building.

“It’s basically the same as we had last year, with about a$9,000 increase,” Lambert said. “It will be enough to keep theschool running – that’s never been a question.

“We knew we weren’t going to get the building,” she continued.”That was not a surprise, because no one is getting any bondingmoney.”

Lambert said the school would make due with a U.S. Department ofHousing and Urban Development grant for the construction ofadditional classrooms in Enochs Hall, and would use another almost$500,000 grant from the Mississippi Bureau of Building, Grounds,and Real Property Management to bring Lampton Auditorium up tohandicap accessibility standards.

Lambert said she was told during her meetings with thedepartment of education that “they’re going to do the best theycan” to find a principal for MSA, but no promises were made on newteachers. Lambert said MSA would continue to meet its teacher needsby contractual agreements.