Less than three months into the current budget year, Mississippi legislators are starting to plan for the next one. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee holds a public hearing Friday as part of the long process of deciding how the state will spend billions of dollars during the year that begins July 1. Legislators face three big questions: Will Mississippi enact another teacher pay raise in the coming year, as many politicians have promised? Will the Republican-controlled state Legislature phase out the state income tax? And how will the state spend hundreds of millions of dollars sent by the federal government for pandemic recovery?