Governor Reeves called legislators back to Jackson this week for a special session to finalize the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, as legislators did not finish the budget during the regular session. Legislators returned to Jackson Wednesday morning and began deliberations. The House worked throughout the day and completed its work shortly after 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning. The Senate then spent Thursday considering those appropriation bills sent over from the House. Senators completed their work shortly after 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening and the special session concluded.
HB 42, the preK-12 appropriation bill, now heads to Governor Reeves for his consideration.Among other provisions, HB 42 provides:
an additional $16 million for the Mississippi Student Funding Formula, including funding for health insurance and PERS;
level funding for classroom supplies, reading coaches, math coaches, early learning collaboratives, and the State Invested Pre-K (SIP) Program;
$3.5 million in new state funding for the Mississippi Teacher Residency Program;
an additional $1 million for National Board supplements;
an additional $2 million for the ESA special needs vouchers;
$2.2 million in new state funding for a new statewide Synchronous Instructional Project between MDE and Mississippi Public Broadcasting to provide distance learning for critical shortage areas.
As a reminder, state law requires school districts to give notice of nonrenewal to teachers on or before April 15 or within 10 days of the governor approving the education appropriation bill, whichever date is later. This year’s deadline will obviously be 10 days after the governor approves HB 42. I will notify our members as soon as possible after he does so.
We will share a summary in the near future of the higher education appropriation bills.
Finally, PERS received its traditional funding for administrative operations, but the legislature did not pass a dedicated funding stream for the system.
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