The recession is costing each state education system terrible sacrifice. Schools are being closed or combined with other campuses, and program cutbacks put teachers in the unemployment line instead of teaching choir, auto shop, or culinary arts, due to budget issues.

However, a Mississippi school district canceled prom this spring, and budget cuts had nothing to do with it. The Huffington Post report of March 10, 2010, by Sheila Byrd of Associated Press (AP), reported that the Itawmba School District Board made the announcement that same day. By the next day, the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) press release of March 11, 2010, the ACLU's Mississippi branch filed a lawsuit against Itawamba School District on the student's behalf. The district action was their reaction to one student's request for permission to attend the prom with her female date and to wear a tuxedo.

Another Mississippi School Prom Case

This announcement is reminiscent of Morgan Freeman’s gift to the Charleston, Mississippi school district he attended as a child. The Huffington Press journalist, David Germain, reported in his article, "Morgan Freeman Pays for Integrated Prom" on January 19, 2009, that Freeman had first made the offer in 1997 to pay for a school-wide prom including all students, black and white. However, 12 years after Mr. Freeman's original offer, the school district finally allowed him to provide an all-student, integrated prom. The school's tradition prior to 2009, was to rely on two private, black only and white only segregated proms, according to Germain's article.