2/28/25 Legislative Update and Bill Tracking

Both House Education and Senate Education met this week, but each committee only took up a handful of bills. Both committees are scheduled to meet Tuesday, March 4, as that evening is the deadline for committees to pass general bills that originated in the other chamber. Any general bill not passed out of committee in the other chamber by Tuesday night will die on the calendar.

This week’s developments included the following:

• The Senate passed SB 3095, that chamber’s tax cut plan, Monday.  While it is a smaller tax cut than HB 1, the House’s tax cut plan, SB 3095 does not include any dedicated funding for PERS. HB 1 directs the first $100 million of lottery proceeds each fiscal year to PERS. This dedicated funding would be in addition to the system’s funding from member and employer contributions and investment earnings. Senator David Blount of Jackson tried to amend SB 3095 on the Senate floor Monday to provide that the tax cut plan would not take effect until the unfunded actuarial accrued liability of PERS is less than 20%, but his amendment failed on a voice vote. SB 3095 has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.
• Both chambers continued their adoption of FY 26 appropriation bills. These bills will now be considered by the other chamber before most likely ending up in conference in the closing days of the session when the FY 26 budget is finalized and adopted.
• The House passed HB 1902 and HB 1903, both of which increase tax credits the state may award via the Children’s Promise Act for donations to private schools. Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia authored both bills. Tax credits reduce the amount of state revenues available to fund critical state services, including education. The Children’s Promise Act was created several years ago to allow tax credits in exchange for donations to non-profit organizations that serve children in foster care. The law has been manipulated in recent years to increase state support for private schools. Tax credits for donations to private schools are a form of vouchers and using our state’s tax laws for such measures requires less accountability of private schools than pure vouchers. In fact, there is no auditing of these private schools to ensure they are serving the students the law requires they serve. Both HB 1902 and HB 1903 are now headed to the Senate.

Click here to review our latest bill tracking spreadsheet which reflects action as of 10:00 a.m. today, February 28, on those bills we are monitoring. Please take a few minutes before Tuesday morning, March 4, to share your comments and concerns regarding the following bills with members of the Senate Education Committee, as well as your senator and Lt. Governor Hosemann:

• HB 1078 removes changes made during the 2024 Legislative Session to increase accountability of the ESA voucher program for special needs students. The bill also removes current law’s cap of 500 new enrollees each year and expands the voucher program to kids in foster care who do not have special needs.
• HB 1431 creates a task force to study consolidation, but the 20-member task force only includes one K-12 educator.
• HB 1432 expands opportunities for charter schools and allows charters in C districts.
• HB 1435 allows a public school student in any public school district to transfer to another public school district.
• HB 1617 allows homeschool students to participate in public school extracurricular activities.

Click here for contact information for legislators by school district. You may leave a message for any senator with the capitol switchboard at 601-359-3770. You may reach Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann’s office at 601-359-3200 or ltgov@senate.ms.gov.