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The Legislative Report Header

January 27, 2023

The Legislative Report

The fourth week of the 2023 Mississippi legislative session was a busy one. On Thursday, January 26, the House of Representatives recognized outgoing interim state superintendent Dr. Kim Benton with a resolution honoring her service to education throughout her career. Legislators also continued to work on the heavy load of bills submitted to their corresponding committees over the past couple of weeks. Over 180 house bills have been assigned to the House Education Committee, and over 80 bills have been assigned to the Senate Education Committee. Committees have until January 31 to report on general bills and constitutional amendments originating from their own house.


On Wednesday, January 25, both the House and Senate Education Committees met to discuss a variety of bills that will impact education. Below are the bills taken up and passed by the House Education Committee:

  • HB 208 – This bill would require any computer science course that awards a Carnegie unit to be taught by an appropriately endorsed teacher. At the elementary level, instruction can be given by a licensed teacher or paraprofessional who is under the guidance or supervision of a licensed teacher and who has received training from the State Department of Education.


  • HB 258 – Educational Facilities Revolving Loan Fund – The date of the repealer was extended for the provisions of law under this bill.


  • HB 555 – This bill would reconstitute the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board in order to stagger the terms of each appointee.


  • HB 729 – STRIDE Scholarship Program – This bill would establish scholarships for students who become eligible to participate in covered dual-credit and dual-enrollment courses.


  • HB 730 – William F. Winter and Jack Reed, Sr. Teacher Loan Repayment Program – This bill would remove the cap on the number of applicants who could be eligible to receive assistance under the program due to a surplus of funds available. This bill would also open up the funds to be available to alternate route teachers and current teachers who meet the qualifications.


  • HB 731 – This bill would provide a salary supplement to national board certified teachers who are employed in critical shortage areas.


  • HB 752 – This bill would expand the eligibility for the Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship to include students in kindergarten.


  • HB 817 – This bill would increase the minimum funding levels for each student enrolled in full-day learning collaborative programs to $2,500 and half-day early learning collaborative programs to $1,250. Representative McCarty stated that this amount is already being used, but this bill would codify the amount in Mississippi law.


  • HB 1161 – This bill would enter Mississippi into the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact.


  • HB 1175 – This bill would increase the percentage of funds allotted for programs for exceptional children to cover 100% of the value of the cost of the program for teacher units for preschool exceptional children.


  • HB 1177 – This bill would amend the grievance procedures for the four public special purpose schools in the state.


  • HB 1184 – This bill would provide an annual salary supplement to any licensed teacher employed in a critical shortage area.


  • HB 1200 – This bill expands the dyslexia therapy scholarship by making certified academic language therapists eligible to be employed by school districts.


  • HB 1277 – This bill would establish the Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program.


  • HB 1024 – Mississippi School Resource Officers School Safety Act – This bill would assist with the cost of employing a school resource officer for school districts.

Below are the bills taken up and passed by the Senate Education Committee:


  • SB 2164 – This bill would allow school districts to convey, sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of real property for residential, mixed-use, or other developments. The bill would give school districts more options to dispose of property no longer being used.


  • SB 2334 – This bill would set and limit the salaries of the state superintendent of education and the executive director of the community college board.


  • SB 2360 – This bill would revise the board membership of agricultural high schools so that the board is comprised of an odd number of members.


  • SB 2364 – This bill would open up the MAEP formula for any minor tweaks or changes. The committee also added a reverse repealer into the bill.


  • SB 2749 – This bill would increase school board member pay based on the number of students in the district. A similar bill was introduced last year and made it approximately half way through the legislative process.
Recent Bills

Many other important bills have continued to make their way through the legislative process. The first bill is SB 2763, which would establish the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act. Under the act, parents would be able to “direct the education of the child, including the right to choose public, private, religious, or home schools, and the right to make reasonable choices within public schools for the education of the child.” Another noteworthy bill is SB 2742 which would establish the Mississippi School Safety Guardian Act. Under this act, a school board would be able to designate certain employees who would participate in a school safety guardian program which would train those school employees to be able to carry concealed firearms for the protection of the students, employees, and others on the campus of the school.


Noteworthy bills in the House include HB 1052 which would authorize the levying authority for a school district to approve, in full or in part, a request for an increase in the ad valorem tax effort for the school district. Also, HB 931 would give discretionary authority to school districts in order to provide health insurance and to pay the cost of health insurance premiums for school board members through the state and school employees health insurance plan. Through this bill, school board members would be required to take official action through a meeting in order to decide on whether to provide health insurance to its board members.

 

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.

Deadlines
  • 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.
Questions?
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austin gilbert

Austin Gilbert, Esq.

MSBA Policy & Legislative Manager

agilbert@msbaonline.org

601-924-2001 or Toll Free: 888-367-6722

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