Following Tuesday night’s committee deadline, representatives and senators spent most of Wednesday and Thursday on the floor of their respective chambers considering general bills that survived that deadline. Click here to review MPE’s first bill tracking spreadsheet of the 2026 Mississippi Legislative Session. This first tracking spreadsheet only reflects the short titles of the education bills that remain alive. Descriptions of what each bill does will be added to next week’s bill tracking spreadsheet. Here is an update on those bills for which we are receiving the most inquiries:
SB 2001, the Senate’s pay raise bill, provides a $2,000 across-the-board pay raise for teachers and increases the minimum annual salary for assistant teachers from $17,000 to $19,000, It also expresses the legislature’s intent that community college and university professors receive a $2,000 pay raise. Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar has stated $2,000 is the base amount of the pay raise and he is hopeful the final raise will be closer to $5,000. The Senate passed SB 2001 on January 7 and sent it to the House on January 8 where it is awaiting referral to committee.
SB 2002 is the public-to-public school transfer bill thatamends current law to allow a student to transfer to another public school district with approval from the receiving school district, rather than both the releasing and receiving districts as required by current law. The Senate passed SB 2002 on January 7 and sent it to the House on January 8 where it is awaiting referral to committee.
SB 2003 revises current provisions of state law governing retired teachers returning to the classroom. Among other revisions, SB 2003 reduces the required separation period from 90 days to 45 days; removes the requirement that a returning teacher may only teach in a critical shortage geographic or subject area; and allows a district to pay up to 65%, rather than current law’s 50%, of the teacher’s compensation as salary. The Senate passed SB 2003 on January 7 and sent it to the House on January 8 where it is awaiting referral to committee.
HB 1126, the House’s pay raise bill, 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. While it does not provide a pay raise for assistant teachers, House Education Chairman Rob Roberson has stated repeatedly this week that the House intends to provide a pay raise for assistants this session. HB 1126 also caps superintendent salaries at 250% of the salary of a licensed teacher with equivalent education, licensure, and years of experience. The bill also returns PERS Tier 5 retirement eligibility back to 30 years, rather than 35 years as in current law. To address the six-week pay gap between mid-December and the end of January, HB 1126 was amended on the House floor Wednesday afternoon to eliminate current law that requires educators to be paid on the last working day of December. The House passed HB 1126 Wednesday afternoon on a unanimous 122-0 vote, and it should be sent to the Senate in the coming days.
Looking forward to next week, legislators will spend most of their time on the floor of their respective chambers considering bills before next Thursday’s floor deadline for general bills to be passed by their chamber of origin.
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