The Mississippi Legislature continued their third week of the 2023 session. Over 1,000 bills have been filed in the House, and over 600 bills have been filed in the Senate. Legislators have begun assigning these bills to their respective committees, so committee meetings have begun to ramp up. Both the House and the Senate Education committees should meet next week. Topics in education that are expected to receive much attention this year are incentives for districts to move to a modified school calendar, revisions to the Educational Facilities Revolving Loan Fund, and a possible look into the MAEP formula. Other major topics outside of education include the possible elimination of the state income tax and a possible tax rebate for Mississippi tax payers.

Mississippi State Board of Education Monthly Meeting

On Thursday, January 19, the State Board of Education held its monthly board meeting. Dr. Kim Benton gave her final report as the Interim Superintendent. Dr. Benton reported that all legislators received a copy of the 2021-2022 Superintendent’s Annual Report on the first day of the 2023 legislative session. MDE’s budget request for fiscal year 2024 was also presented to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, January 18. Dr. Benton stated that she will continue to work with MDE through the end of the month in order to assist with the transition.

Board Chair, Rosemary Aultman, welcomed Dr. Robert Taylor as the new State Superintendent of Education. Dr. Taylor began his work earlier this week and thanked the Board for the opportunity and Dr. Benton for her work and support in the transition. As a Mississippian, Dr. Taylor said that Mississippi knows what success is and can be and that his goal is to continue the great work that the state has done. Dr. Taylor stated that over the next 100 days, he hopes to establish connections within the legislature and visit districts throughout the state in order to talk with superintendents, principals, and teachers to discuss their needs. 

Reports were also given to the board regarding vacancies and graduation rates. Vacancies around the state for teachers have decreased overall. However, teacher assistants and bus drivers have the largest increases in vacancies. Graduation rates around the state continue to increase. The current graduation rate remains above the state average. 

Flurries of bills from both houses have started to make their way through the legislative process, with many being relevant to education. HB 473 would allow a retired teacher to be employed as a teacher in a public school district and to draw the full amount of his or her retirement allowance for a period of no longer than two years. During this time, the retiree would be able to work the full number of normal working days for the position and receive the full amount of the salary. HB 475 would require the discontinuation of all end-of-course subject area testing in public high schools. Instead, all high school students would be required to take the ACT test, but the results of the test would not be used as a condition for graduation. HB 560 is a bill that seeks to streamline the board election process. This bill would create a new statute which states that, “On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2024, and every four (4) years thereafter and concurrently with the federal election for the President of the United States, there shall be an election for local school board members in the manner provided under this section.” All school board members under the bill would serve a four year term. There are exceptions for municipal and consolidated school districts that maintain A or B ratings. Those districts would continue to use their previous board member selection processes unless the districts fall below those ratings.

Noteworthy bills on the Senate’s side include SB 2361 which would establish the Mississippi Modified School Calendar Grant Program. Through this program, public school districts would be incentivized to consider adopting a modified school calendar. The time-limited grant would seek to offset the costs associated with adopting a modified school calendar. SB 2366 would empower all school boards of all school districts to vote on whether to provide school board members and their eligible dependents with health insurance. The insurance, however, would need to be paid for with local funds and not state funds. SB 2367 would replace the Educational Facilities Revolving Loan Fund with the Public School Facilities Grant Program. This switch would give school districts a grant as opposed to a loan for school facilities improvement projects.

Another bill of note is HB 509 which was assigned to the Judiciary A Committee. HB 509 would create the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2023. Under this act, parents would have the right to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their child. Local school boards would have to develop policies that would, among other provisions, allow for a parent to learn about the course of study for that parent’s child and review the curriculum, review a syllabus for each class at least seven days before the start of each class, and have their child excused from school attendance for religious purposes.

To view the bills that have been assigned to the House Education Committee, click here.

To view the bills that have been assigned to the Senate Education Committee, click here.

• Tuesday, January 31, 2023 — Committees to report general bills and constitutional amendments originating in own house.
• Thursday, February 9, 2023 — Original floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in own house.
• Friday, February 10, 2023 — Deadline for reconsideration and passage of general bills and constitutional amendments originating in own house.
• Monday, February 13, 2023 — Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider general bills and constitutional amendments originating in own house.