K-12 Education: 2025 Legislative Review
By Grace Breazeale, Director of Research and K-12 Policy The 2025 legislative session came to a close on Thursday, April 3. The Legislature failed to pass a budget for the state government during the regular session, so the Governor must call a special session before July 1. While the regular session was relatively quiet on […]
Early Education: March 2025 Update
By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy The legislative session has continued to winnow down the remaining early education-related bills. After two recent deadlines on February 26, for revenue and appropriations bills, and March 4, for general bills, there are no early childhood education (ECE) bills alive. See the list of legislation below. Teacher-Related Early […]
Early Education: First Major Legislative Deadline in 2025
By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy So far, it has been a relatively quiet legislative session for early education-related bills. Leading up to the first committee deadline, House and Senate Education as well as other related committees, have primarily taken up non-controversial legislation. Below is a list of how relevant legislation fared after […]
2024 Legislative Review
By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy An historic rewrite of Mississippi’s school funding formula and the subsequent allocation of record amounts of public education funding headlined an eventful inaugural session for Mississippi legislators elected this past November. The 2024 legislative session will also be remembered for lawmakers asserting authority over the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and setting funding […]
Parents’ Campaign Long-Term Comparison of INSPIRE and Senate Bill 2332 Erroneous
This post is part of our ongoing analysis of 2024 education legislation. See our bill tracker here for all analyses. Mississippi First has spent the last year closely researching the impact of MAEP on districts throughout the state in order to determine how best to direct additional resources to students with the greatest needs. Having built up […]
Evaluating Equity in Mississippi’s 2024 School Funding Proposals
This post is part of our ongoing analysis of 2024 education legislation. See our bill tracker here for all analyses. In the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers have introduced two separate school funding proposals that each promise to inject at least an additional $200 million into funding for public education in Mississippi, with the House plan providing about […]
2023 Legislative Review
In terms of education policy, the 2023 legislative session will likely be remembered primarily for the legislation that didn’t pass rather than the legislation that did. This trend is headlined by the 11th hour effort to amend the MAEP school funding formula—part of a plan to “fully fund” MAEP by reducing the amount necessary to do […]
We Raised the Rate: 2023 Pre-K Legislative Review
By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy After four legislative sessions, we are excited to announce that our bill to permanently raise the per-pupil funding rate, HB 817, passed! The Governor signed the bill into law on April 17. This bill increases the state share of per-pupil pre-K funds from $2,150 to a minimum of $2,500 per […]
Pre-K in the 2022 Legislative Session
The 2022 legislative session was a wild ride for pre-K. Our bill to permanently change the per-pupil funding rate, HB 1246, died late in the session due to unrelated politics. This bill would have increased the state share of per-pupil pre-K funds from $2,150 to $2,500 per child—an increase of $350 per child in state funds […]
2022 Legislative Review
With a wild 2022 legislative session finally coming to a close, we thought it would be helpful to summarize the ideas that survived the legislative process. Teacher pay and the controversial “critical race theory” bill have dominated headlines in recent months, but the 2022 legislative session also produced a number of lesser-known education bills that […]