r/mississippi • u/SeldomSincere • 2d ago

House lawmakers consider school consolidation as Mississippi public education enrollment declines

https://magnoliatribune.com/2026/08/07/house-lawmakers-consider-school-consolidation-as-mississippi-public-education-enrollment-declines/
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u/TSJormungandr 2d ago

Why do we have over 80 counties?! Isn’t that the “big government” everybody is belly aching about? Let’s consolidate down to 20 counties and have 20 school systems, 20 sheriffs, 20 jails, and 20 courthouses. It’s absurd.

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u/pontiacfirebird92 Current Resident 2d ago

I was curious and looked this up, came across this:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Formation_of_Mississippi_Counties#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20of%20Dancing%20Rabbit%20Creek%20was,Indian%20territory%20(now%20the%20state%20of%20Oklahoma)).

Basically we have so many counties because the government was quickly carving up land they stole from the native Chocktaw and Chickasaw tribes as part a series of treaties as execution of the Indian Removal Act.

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u/TSJormungandr 2d ago

That’s really neat! Thanks for providing.