The College Board of Mississippi recently approved a new funding structure for its state institutions, a formula that rewards positive student development and graduation, while beginning a remedy for historic disparities smaller campuses have faced for generations.

Mississippi’s public historically black colleges, Alcorn State, Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State, will realize respectable gains in funding under the new formula. While it doesn’t erase years of underfunding and neglect that ravaged public perceptions of the state’s HBCUs while building negative stereotypes, it is a notable and welcomed start to a new era of fairness in the state and a model for higher ed funding nationwide. From the Associated Press:

“The formula would give money to cover overhead costs, with smaller schools getting larger shares. Then it would distribute most remaining money to schools based on courses completed by students, with graduate and technical courses worth more than basic undergraduate courses. Finally, some money would be given to universities that meet board goals, such as graduating students with low test scores, getting students out of remedial courses and into college-level work, or increasing outside research money.”

The system is not perfect. Campuses like Mississippi Valley State, which does not have a robust offering of graduate programs and struggles mightily in its graduation rates of underprepared students, won’t realize heightened funding. But unlike some systems, the university won’t receive a funding penalty either, and it will remain the university with the highest state aid per pupil at around $19,000 annually.

The state funds about 35 percent of public higher education annually, and under this new formula, it will reward efforts to recruit more out-of-state students, a goal Valley has aggressively pursued with clearance to grant out-of-state students in-state tuition rates. Alcorn and Jackson State, rapidly growing in their graduate and research offerings, will yield greater shares of the state’s higher ed allocation than in years past, effectively rewarding these schools for the success they create within underserved student populations.

The plan appears to be the safest in the state’s history, and one of the most fair in American higher ed where HBCUs are concerned. This plan doesn’t address generational disparities in underfunding, and advocacy should continue in the direction of the Mississippi schools gaining the lost funds and for in-state students benefiting thereby. Moreover, HBCU leadership in Tennessee, Maryland, Louisiana and Florida should monitor this formula and champion it as a best practice in their legislature.

Precedent in equity is the strongest case that can be made for public historically black institutions and their ability to thrive.

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, behind the leadership of Commissioner Hank Bounds, deserve credit for pushing through this funding formula that, just four years prior, was defeated in the legislature. The formula is a bold step to ensuring educational access for all Mississippians, and by its design, a blueprint by which all public HBCUs might be benefited in the future.