The EdBuild proposal presented to the Mississippi Legislature this week sounds inspiring in premise: Get more money to students rather than districts.

Making students in need a priority is outstanding, but we prefer local school districts to have some say in how that happens. The EdBuild proposal, if adopted, is likely to take money from wealthier school districts, a move which could impact Oxford and Lafayette County.

Take Oxford City Schools, recently ranked No. 1 in the state for high test scores.

A challenge Oxford schools face is an achievement gap, and administrators are looking at ways to close that gap.

Taking more from Oxford’s school district to give to another district with less money won’t do anything to help that problem. It seems like punishment to our school children and school systems, simply because this community has more money than the Jackson School District, for example. All students in public education should be given the same opportunity from the state and should not be penalized for being higher-achieving or from the wrong zip code.

Our schools at Oxford and Lafayette are performing well and making improvements along the way, and we don’t want to see funding cut.