2/27/26 Legislative Update

The House passed HB 1944 Wednesday morning by a vote of 80-35. Click here to see how your representative voted on this bill which increases tax credits the state may award via the Children’s Promise Act for donations to private schools in 2026 ($16 million), 2027 ($18 million), and 2028 ($20 million). Such tax credits are a form of vouchers and reduce the amount of state revenues available to fund critical state services, including education. The bill now heads to the Senate, and you may contact your senator with your thoughts on the bill.

During a meeting of the House Universities and Colleges Committee Wednesday morning, Chairman Donnie Scoggin shared that he was not going to bring up SB 2523 which requires the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) to develop performance-based budgeting standards for our state’s universities. Chairman Scoggin cited IHL’s work with a national organization to develop a new funding formula and said he wants to wait to review that proposal before passing any legislation. The committee also discussed the possible consolidation of some of our state’s universities, as well as community colleges, in the future.

Senate Education met Wednesday afternoon and passed the following two education bills and recommended that the following five nominations be confirmed by the full Senate:

• HB 1212 provides funding allocations via the Mississippi Student Funding Formula to the state’s four university-based programs. Senate Appropriations passed the bill yesterday morning so it now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
• HB 1395 limits the right of first refusal a school district must give to charter schools for the purchase or lease of unused school property to 90 days. The bill now heads to the full Senate.
• SN 3 Candace Hunt of Tupelo appointed to the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board
• SN 4 Carol Gary of Brookhaven appointed to the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board
• SN 5 Marcy Scoggins of Ridgeland reappointed to the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board
• SN 24 Matt Mayo of Flowood reappointed to the State Board of Education
• SN 83 Cory Custer of Jackson appointed to the Mississippi Public Broadcasting Board

Senate Education did not consider HB 1126, the House’s $5,000 teacher pay raise bill. If the committee does not meet again before next Tuesday’s committee deadline, the bill will die at the deadline. As we shared in our 2/20/26 update, House Education is not planning to meet again before Tuesday’s deadline, so numerous Senate bills referred to the committee will also die on the calendar at the deadline, including the Senate’s teacher and assistant teacher pay raise (SB 2001), public-to-public student transfers (SB 2002), and Mississippi Student Funding Formula Gifted Education (SB 2293) bills. While this is concerning, please be advised that an issue is not dead until the legislature adjourns sine die at the end of the session. Legislative leaders in both chambers have expressed their support for a pay raise, and MPE is confident one will be passed, but a pay raise will most likely not be finalized until the final days of the session when the Fiscal Year 2027 budget is adopted.

Click here for this week’s bill tracking spreadsheet which reflects action as of noon yesterday on those bills we are monitoring. Upcoming deadlines include:

• March 3 – Deadline for committees to report/pass general bills that originated in the other chamber.
• March 11 – Deadline for original floor action on general bills that originated in the other chamber

It is important that educators and concerned citizens continue to share their thoughts on school choice, a teacher and assistant teacher pay raise, and other critical education issues with their representative and senator. While it appears that all school choice bills will die with next Tuesday’s committee deadline, there is talk that Governor Reeves may call a special session on the issue. While educators’ voices made a significant impact on House Bill 2 dying earlier in the session, our work is not finished and we must continue to share our concerns.