Legislative Updates – Week of January 6, 2026
The Mississippi Legislature kicked off its 2026 regular session on Tuesday, January 6, with education policy taking center stage this week.
Senate Actions
On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee advanced the following education-related bills:
- Senate Bill 2001 would provide an across-the-board $2,000 increase to the state’s teacher salary schedule. Unlike the last statewide teacher pay raise passed in 2022, which took effect the same year, this increase would not begin until the 2028–2029 school year. The bill would also raise the minimum salary for assistant teachers from $17,000 to $19,000, beginning in the 2026–2027 school year.
- Senate Bill 2002 would loosen requirements governing students’ ability to transfer between public school districts. Under current law, both a student’s home district and the receiving district must approve a transfer. SB 2002 would remove the requirement that a student obtain approval from their original district, while still requiring approval from the receiving district.
- Senate Bill 2003 would change the rules for Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) retirees who return to work as teachers. The bill eliminates the current 30-year service requirement, reduces the mandatory retirement waiting period from 90 days to 45 days, and allows any PERS retiree who is receiving a retirement allowance and holds a standard teaching license to be hired as a teacher, regardless of prior role or whether the district is designated as a shortage area. The bill would also alter the existing compensation formula for rehired retirees.
All three measures passed the full Senate on Wednesday and will now be transmitted to the House for further action.
House Actions
In the House, leadership released House Bill 2, a wide-ranging education omnibus bill. Most notably, the bill would expand school choice by creating “Magnolia Student Accounts,” which would provide public funding for private school tuition or homeschooling expenses. The bill would also expand the areas where charter schools are eligible to open in Mississippi and loosen requirements related to public school transfers. In addition, HB 2 contains numerous other provisions related to curriculum, funding, assistant teacher pay, and more. We are currently reviewing the bill and will publish a more comprehensive summary in the next week.
The House Education Committee also met this week to hear testimony from parents and community members regarding school choice, though the committee did not specifically discuss HB 2 during the hearing.
Legislative Tracker
As the pace of the legislative session accelerates and more bills are filed, we encourage you to follow along using our legislative tracker, which is updated daily to reflect real-time developments. We will continue to build out this resource throughout the session to help educators, families, and advocates stay informed. In the coming weeks, we will also publish bill analyses that take a deeper look at some of the most consequential education legislation under consideration.
Upcoming Legislative Deadlines
- Monday, January 19: Deadline for introduction of general bills and constitutional amendments
- Tuesday, February 3: Deadline for committees to report general bills and constitutional amendments originating in their own chamber
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