Gov. Haley Barbour is proposing to move the Mississippi Schoolof the Arts out of Brookhaven, but local lawmakers say the schoolisn’t going anywhere without a fight.

Local leaders and elected officials are gearing up for a battlein the Legislature in 2010, gathering all the information anddocumentation necessary to prove that MSA belongs in Brookhaven andnot on the campus of the Mississippi University for Women inColumbus, where the governor expects to save $1 million by mergingthe school with the Mississippi School for Mathematics andScience.

Economic impact studies, examinations of graduation and collegeattendance rates and a publicity campaign aimed at legislators areall being prepared. Lawmakers may also expect to be reminded that areverter clause in MSA’s property deed would award the school’sbuildings and grounds, and a more than $20 million taxpayerinvestment in them, back to the City of Brookhaven.

“We’ve had studies to show us (MSA) has an economic impact inthis area of $6 million to $7 million,” said District 39 Sen. CindyHyde-Smith, D-Brookhaven. “When you can impact an area up to $7million with a $3 million budget, I think that certainly gives usground for keeping this school.”

Hyde-Smith said she and other officials are working with theInstitutes for Higher Learning to compile updated economic figures.With MSA providing an estimated 135 full- and part-time jobs in thearea and its students and faculty patronizing local establishments,she said the early numbers are clearly in Brookhaven’s favor.

“We can prove our worth,” Hyde-Smith said.

District 92 Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, stressed that thegovernor’s proposal is just that – a proposal. Any decision on thefuture of MSA would have to come from the Legislature, where thegovernor’s budget plans have traditionally been ignored.

“We take them one step at a time, and we go from there,” Curriesaid. “I hope (Barbour) doesn’t take something from SouthwestMississippi, one of the few things we have here, and put it up inNorth Mississippi. We’ve put a lot of money and a lot of our heartand soul into this school.”

District 53 Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, gave Barbour creditfor putting politically volatile ideas on the table, but wonderedif moving MSA to Columbus would really bring on the savings thegovernor anticipates, especially considering the construction andrenovation costs that would be necessary there.

Moak also agreed with Currie in that Southwest Mississippi canill afford another reduction in jobs.

“In Southwest Mississippi, we have not been the beneficiary of alot of the funds that have been passed around,” he said. “Maybe …they should take a look at us and see if we can absorb MSMS intothe arts school. Maybe we should do that and make sure SouthwestMississippi is not cut in proportion to how everyone else is cut,because we actually have less.”