Election season is upon us, and it seems like some candidates are starting to make promises that are unreasonable.
Delbert Hosemann, the Republican secretary of state who is running for lieutenant governor, must have surprised his audience of educators Saturday when he made a promise to keep raising teacher pay.
“Every year that I’m the lieutenant governor for the state of Mississippi, we’re going to have teacher pay raises,” Hosemann said at a Mississippi Professional Educators conference in Jackson.
That left Hosemann’s Democratic opponent, Rep. Jay Hughes, to agree, and to add that the state needs a law requiring the leaders of the Legislature’s education committees to spend a day in a classroom following a teacher.
Teachers can tell it’s an election year when they’re so beloved. Lawmakers this year approved a $1,500 increase in the teacher pay scale, which awaits Gov. Phil Bryant’s signature. Typically the scale increases every election year, but now Hosemann says he can raise it annually. That’s a bold promise.
While it excites voters to make these kinds of promises, some of those promises are unreasonable. One thing in this case, Hosemann has no idea if the economy is going to continue to improve over the next four years. And with several tax cuts passed over the last few years, it doesn’t seem likely that we’re going to see huge influx of new revenue unless the statewide gaming and lottery initiatives take off. That is a possibility, but it’s a crapshoot to know how much of an impact it will make.
We definitely think teachers deserve greater pay raises, but we also know that our lawmakers have a fiscal responsibility to balance the budget. If the money isn’t there or is spent on other pet projects, then there may not be money to guarantee raises.
In the same respect, local candidates running for county offices may feel the pressure to make huge campaign promises to get elected. Some might claim they are going to pave every road in their beat or to replace all of the bridges.
If you hear that during the campaign (and we hope you don’t), realize that it take a lot of money to pave roadways. According to a study from Mississippi State in 2013, one lane-mile of repaving a road costs $66,358 and a lane-mile of chipseal costs $10,565.
For some perspective, a lane-mile is the width of one lane over one mile of roadway. That doesn’t include the other lane or fixing the shoulders. And the cost has gone up since that study. Most of your supervisors’ road repair budgets would be eaten up in just a few miles of roadway being replaced.
We ask you candidates, be real with voters. Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.
And voters, if you hear an unrealistic promise, don’t just cheer them on. Ask questions to see if they know what they’re talking about.
