FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 9, 2025 JACKSON, Miss. – Angela Bass will rejoin Mississippi First as its new Executive Director, effective July 8, the organization announced today. Angela hails from Tunica, MS, and she was the Deputy Director of Policy for Mississippi First from 2014-2019, directing several research initiatives, co-authoring policy and research reports,…
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Falling Behind: Teacher Compensation and the Race Against Inflation
With the 2022-2023 Mississippi Teacher Survey, we confirmed that record high inflation has largely negated the impact of the largest single-year teacher pay raise in our state’s history in 2022.
Read MoreTransforming Pre-K in Mississippi
Learn the remarkable story of the early learning collaboratives and how the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013 changed early education in Mississippi.
Read MoreOur Latest Updates
Early Education: FY 2026 Appropriations
By Micayla Tatum I Director of Early Childhood Policy When the legislative session came to a close on Thursday, April 3, 2025, the legislature went home without passing a budget for the state government, including an appropriations bill for the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and the Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS). On Wednesday, May…
Read More →The Potential Impact of H.R.1 on School Funding
By Grace Breazeale I Director of Research and K-12 Policy On May 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping domestic policy bill, H.R.1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act). If the bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law, it could indirectly lower the amount of state funding that school districts receive…
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