2/3/26 Legislative Update: House Committees Pass Pay Raise, Senate Education Kills HB 2

Today was committee deadline day at the capitol. Any general bill not passed out of its originating chamber’s committee(s) by tonight’s deadline died on the calendar. Hundreds of bills died, including numerous education bills.

House Committees Pass Pay Raise Bill: The House Education Committee met at 3:00 this afternoon and passed HB 1126, a teacher pay raise bill that provides a $5,000 across-the-board teacher pay raise and an additional $3,000 annual salary increase for licensed SPED teachers who are employed in a special education instructional capacity in a public school district. While HB 1126 does not provide a pay raise for assistant teachers, House Education Chairman Rob Roberson said the House intends to provide a pay raise for assistants this session.

Rather than being a stand-alone pay raise bill, HB 1126 includes numerous other issues, including PERS eligibility retirement provisions, the sections of state law governing the Mississippi Student Funding Formula, school attendance officers, superintendents’ salaries (NOTE: State law does not currently address superintendent salaries as they are left to the discretion of each local school board), and funding for teacher recruitment incentives in D and F districts. The bill was double referred to House Appropriations because it requires funding. House Appropriations passed HB 1126 after House Education adjourned, so the bill now heads to the full House where it could be considered as early as tomorrow.

Senate Education Kills HB 2: The Senate Education Committee met late this afternoon and HB 2, the House’s dangerous school choice bill, was the only bill on the agenda. Senate Education killed HB 2 on a unanimous voice vote.  Please join MPE in thanking Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar and members of the Senate Education Committee for listening to constituents’ concerns and killing HB 2. 

MPE will share our first bill tracking spreadsheet this Friday, February 6, and it will reflect all of the bills that we are tracking that survived tonight’s deadline.  Members of the House and Senate will now spend most of their time on the floor of their respective chamber considering those bills which survived tonight’s deadline, as next Thursday, February 12, is the deadline for these general bills to be passed by their respective chamber.