The Legislative Report Header
March 12, 2021
The Legislative Report
Both the House and the Senate continued to debate bills on their respective floors this week. Wednesday was the deadline for action on general bills which originated in the other house. A variety of education bills survived this week and the highlights are listed below.
  • HB 1179 — Creates the William F. Winter and Jack Reed, Sr., Teacher Loan Repayment Program which is designed to address the teacher shortage in the state by consolidating multiple unfunded repayment programs into one fully funded repayment program. This bill was returned to the House for concurrence.

  • SB 2149 — Requires the Mississippi Department of Education to hold school districts harmless when calculating average daily attendance for the 2020-2021 scholastic year. This bill was passed and now heads to the Governor’s desk. 

  • HB 1301 — Creates the Comprehensive Career and Technical Education Reform Act. The bill was passed by the Senate.

  • SB 2267 Aims to help alleviate the teacher shortage in the state by allowing teachers from out-of-state and in good standing to attain reciprocity to teach in Mississippi. This bill was returned to the Senate for concurrence.

  • SB 2664 and HB 1123 Each of these bills involve the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013. Each bill was returned to its respective house for concurrence.

  • HB 135 Reenacts the Mississippi Critical Teacher Shortage Act of 1998 by extending the repealer on the law to 2024. This bill was passed and now heads to the Governor’s desk.

  • HB 754 The dyslexia education and awareness bill that revises the provisions for determining if a student is eligible for an IEP or 504 plan so as to be in compliance with federal law. This bill was returned to the House for concurrence.

  • HB 1047 — Removes the caps on supplements for nationally certified nurses and speech pathologists and adds athletic trainers as eligible for salary supplements. This bill was returned to the House for concurrence.

The Sine Die day is quickly approaching for this legislative session. Both the Senate and the House will be focused on appropriations next week as they work to finalize the Fiscal Year 2022 budget.
Mississippi Department of Education
MDE Mississippi Department of Education
The Mississippi State Board of Education’s monthly meeting, originally scheduled for March, 18, 2021, was held Thursday, March 11. The SBE meeting, though relatively short, provided some valuable information about the state of education in Mississippi. Below is a list of the discussions:

  • Administrative Procedures Act (APA) Process The SBE voted to begin the APA process to establish Mississippi secondary curriculum framework for computer science and engineering in career and technical education. This is a yearlong course is designed to instruct middle school students through activities that require modeling, physical design, and coding, leading them to discover how computing and engineering work together to solve problems. You can find out more about this process here.
 
  • Spring and Fall 2020 ACT Results The spring and fall 2020 ACT results were presented to the board. The ACT was administered to juniors in the state of Mississippi during the 2019-2020 school year. Due to COVID-19, the number of students who took the ACT were down across the state. The ACT results can be viewed here.
 
  • Report of Graduation and Dropout Rates The 2021 graduation and dropout rates were calculated and reported to the board. The calculation method determines the high school completion status for students four years after entering 9th Grade for the first time during the 2016-2017 school year. Also included were the 2021 dropout rates for all students and the graduation and dropout rates for students with disabilities. To see these results click here.
Deadlines
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The current deadlines for legislation are:

  • Tuesday, March 16, 2021 — Deadline for original floor action on appropriations and revenue bills originating in other house.

  • Wednesday, March 17, 2021 — Deadline for reconsideration and passage of appropriations and revenue bills originating in other house.

  • Thursday, March 18, 2021 — Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider appropriations and revenue bills originating in other house.

  • Friday, March 19, 2021 — Deadline to concur or not concur in amendments from other house to appropriations and revenue bills, and for introduction of local and private bills that are revenue bills.
Legislative Update & School Law Review
Virtual Conference
Legislative Update & School Law Review logo
The Mississippi School Boards Association will hold the annual Legislative Update & School Law Review, virtually, on April 26-27, 2021.

To register, click here.

Complete details coming soon!
Day at the Capitol
MSBA’s Day at the Capitol has been cancelled this year.
Questions?
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austin gilbert
Austin Gilbert
MSBA Policy Manager