To the editor:

Passage of Initiative 42 is crucial to Mississippi’s economic survival. How do we get off the bottom unless all our children have good educations to qualify for skilled jobs?

Initiative 42 proposes to change our constitution to ensure that our lawmakers financially support our 150 or so public school districts by abiding by the law they passed in 1997.

Eighteen years is a long time to wait for a promise.

Higher taxes are a certainty if Initiative 42 fails.

Vote for Initiative 42 on Nov. 3.

Peggy B. Peterson

Ridgeland