A bill to name the board room at the state Department of Education for former state Sen. Grey Ferris has reached the governor’s desk.

Originally written to name the AmeriCorps regional center planned in Vicksburg after Ferris, the Senate’s amended version won approval of House members Friday.

Language in the bill was changed after lawmakers learned they could not name a building on which federal money is being spent.

The bill authorizes the Department of Finance and Administration to prepare a distinctive plaque to be placed in a prominent place within the room. The plaque will state Ferris’ background, accomplishments and service to the state.

Ferris was chairman of the Senate Education Committee and a founder of the consolidated Vicksburg Warren School District. He was a lead author of the act that established the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the public education funding formula now followed by the state.

AmeriCorps plans to lease 75 percent of the former All Saints’ Episcopal School for a campus tentatively set to begin operations by July. About $2.5 million in federal funding has been set aside for the center.

*

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.