The 2022 Mississippi Legislative Session continued into its tenth week as both the House and the Senate held debates on their respective floors in order to address the remaining bills still on their calendars. This week, both chambers had to act on bills originating from the other chamber or the bills died. One of the more important bills to survive the deadline was the teacher pay raise bill, which is now being sent to conference. Both Lt. Governor Hosemann and Speaker Gunn named their conferees for
HB 530. The Senate conferees are:
- Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar
- Senate Appropriations Chair Briggs Hopson
- Senator Hob Bryan
The House conferees are:
- House Education Chair Richard Bennett
- House Education Vice-Chair Kent McCarty
- Representative Kevin Felsher
The conferees will meet soon in order to reach a final agreement on the pay raise for Mississippi’s teachers. It will then need to be approved by each chamber before being sent to Governor Reeves’ desk for his signature.
On Wednesday, March 9, both the House and the Senate met on their respective floors and considered a variety of education bills. Below are a few of the bills that were discussed and remain alive:
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SB 2422 – A strike-all amendment was adopted which inserts the House’s language into the bill. Under SB 2422, teachers would receive their procurement cards no later than August 1 before the beginning of the school year.
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SB 2430 – A strike-all amendment was adopted which provides $200 million to the Educational Facilities Revolving Loan Fund. K-12 school districts would be able to apply for a loan for the purpose of repairing or renovating existing buildings or the construction of new buildings. This is a 0% interest rate loan and can be repaid over a 10-year period.
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HB 1416 – A strike-all amendment was adopted which allows students in public schools to organize political groups or clubs to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other activities and groups. Partisan and nonpartisan groups must be given the same access to school facilities as other groups.
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HB 1168 – A strike-all amendment was adopted which changed the language of the bill from “require” to “may provide” a gifted studies program for 7th and 8th grade students.
Each of the bills above will now be headed to conference where both the House and the Senate will have to come to an agreement on each bill’s final form.
