Senate Bill 2415: MAEP Amendments

January 31, 2022August 16, 2022 Bill Tracker

Senate Bill 2415 allows for possible amendments to Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), the funding formula for public schools in Mississippi. As written, the only change under SB 2415 is that excused absences would no longer count towards “average daily attendance” (ADA) for districts. However, as long as the bill stays alive lawmakers will have the opportunity to bring forward additional amendments to MAEP that may go beyond the scope of the current bill.

SB 2415 is being used as a vehicle for possible amendments to MAEP as the legislative session moves forward. MAEP governs all aspects of public education funding in Mississippi; as such, bringing the related statutes forward for possible amendment has the potential to turn SB 2415 into a substantial piece of legislation. For this reason, we will be closely following this bill.

On January 26, a committee substitute for SB 2415 passed the Senate Education Committee. Under this version of SB 2415, there would only be one change to MAEP: excused absences would no longer count towards districts’ ADA. This would likely lower ADA for many districts, though by how much is unclear. Because ADA factors prominently into the MAEP funding formula, this could have implications for how much funding some districts receive.

Under the version of SB 2415 passed by Senate Education, there is also a reverse repealer, in effect requiring further revisions before the bill can become law. SB 2415 will now go to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.

Updates
1/27/22 Update:
On January 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed SB 2415. It is now awaiting floor action in the Senate.

2/8/22 Update:
On February 8, the Senate passed SB 2415. At this point, no additional amendments have been made to MAEP. It will now be transmitted to the House.

3/1/22 Update:
The House declined to take action on SB 2415 by the March 1 deadline, causing this bill to die in committee.