Discovery Institute: Time for Washington to Take a Lesson from Mississippi

Though one could point to many areas in which Mississippi has struggled in the past, the state is clearly now on a roll. Washingtonians would be wise to compare what they are doing versus what our state is doing. Here are just a few immediately identifiable differences in trends between the two states in two essential categories, the economy and education.

The Economy:

• Mississippi: In 2022, Mississippi enacted the largest tax cut in its state history. This year, the state passed a bill that will slowly eliminate its state income tax.
• Washington: Governor Ferguson recently approved the largest tax increase in state history.
• Mississippi: In 2024, Mississippi had a budget surplus.
• Washington: In the 2025 legislative session, Washington faced a $7-10 billion deficit.
• Mississippi: The state has the 6^th lowest energy costs in the nation. For example, gasoline is $2.73 per gallon.
• Washington: The state has seen major increases in energy costs and has the third-highest gasoline prices in the nation, at $4.44 per gallon (only California and Hawaii have higher prices). Moreover, the newly passed budget will soon add another
  6 cents per gallon. Worst of all, a major new study concludes the state’s net-zero energy policies will increase the typical residential customer’s electricity bill by 450% by 2050, with negligible environmental benefits.
• Mississippi: Mississippi has no estate tax or capital gains tax.
• Washington: Washington has the country’s highest estate tax, and just increased it, and has recently added a capital gains tax, which was just raised from 7% to 9.9% for the largest gains.

Education:

• Mississippi: Between 2013 and 2019, Mississippi moved from 50^th to 35^th in K-12 education rankings. In addition, since 2013, Mississippi has led the nation in 4^th-grade reading improvement, rising from 49^th to 9^th place. In math, the state has improved from 50^th to 16^th place. Even more impressive, adjusted for demographics, Mississippi scored first in the nation in 4^th-grade math and reading, first in 8^th-grade reading, and 4^th in the nation in 8^th-grade math.
• Washington: Fourth-grade reading scores have been dropping in the state since 2015 and are now at the lowest level since 1994. Washington ranks 19^th in 4^th-grade reading and 27^th in 4^th-grade math.
• Mississippi: Despite limited resources (2025 spending per student was $12,394), Mississippi ranks 25^th for student/teacher ratio at 15:1.
• Washington: Despite very high per student spending ($20,748 annually per student), Washington ranks 41^st in student/teacher ratio at 17:1.
• Mississippi:In terms of closing achievement gaps, black students in Mississippi rank 3rd nationally in 4^th-grade reading scores, and low-income students in Mississippi outperform their peers in every other state.
• Washington: The latest Washington State Board of Education report concludes that “educational outcome disparities based on race, ethnicity, and program participation are widespread.”

By any of these measures, Mississippi seems to be getting it right — while Washington appears to be heading in the wrong direction.

The time may have come when we would all benefit by emulating Mississippi!

Donald P. Nielsen is a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute and Chairman of the Institute’s program on public education reform. For nearly 30 years, he has devoted his life work to transforming public education. For two years, he traveled the country studying America’s public education system and authored, Every School: One Citizen’s Guide to Transforming Education. Mr. Nielsen was awarded the Harvard Business School’s 2004 Alumni Achievement Award. In 2009, he received the Leadership Award from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.