Legislative Updates – Week of February 16, 2026
The seventh week of the 2026 legislative session was relatively subdued, with limited floor action and only modest committee movement on education policy.
Senate Actions
The Senate Education Committee did not meet this week, nor did the full Senate pass any significant education-related legislation on the floor.
The Senate Finance Committee met and passed a committee substitute for SB 2867, which would revise the employer-provided child care tax credit. Read our analysis of the bill here.
House Actions
The House Education Committee voted on only two bills this week:
- SB 2103 (amended): Amended by the House Education Committee to require the state board of education to adopt regulations governing the activities of school counselors.
- SB 2294 (amended; double referred): Amended by the House Education Committee to include the Adolescent Literacy Initiative, the Mississippi Math Act, and financial literacy course requirements.
The committee chair stated that he did not anticipate the committee would have any more meetings before the reporting deadline. If this is the case, the remaining bills from the Senate that have been referred to the House Education Committee would die in committee.
The House appropriation bill for the Department of Education, HB 1935, and the Department of Human Services, HB 1909, passed their committees and the House on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. These bills are certain to change as they make their way through the legislative process. We can anticipate finalized appropriations after Conference weekend in late March.
The House passed HB 2294 on the floor this week. It will now go to the Senate for concurrence.
Legislative Tracker
As education legislation continues to advance and budget negotiations begin to take shape, we encourage readers to follow along using our legislative tracker, which is updated daily to reflect real-time developments. Be sure to use the filter to view bills that are still alive. We will continue to provide updates and deeper analysis as the session progresses.
Upcoming Legislative Deadlines
- Monday, February 23: Deadline for making requests for appropriation and revenue bills to be drafted.
- Wednesday, February 25: Deadline for original floor action on appropriation and revenue bills originating in own chamber.
- Tuesday, March 3: Deadline for committees to report general bills and constitutional amendments originating in other chamber.
- Wednesday, March 11: Deadline for original floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in other chamber.
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