Similar to the shenanigans in the 2025 Legislative Session, we are finding the Children’s Promise Act (private school funding) inserted in multiple bills. Public school supporters in both the House and Senate are aware and are helping us watch for the language popping up in random legislation.
Shout-out to Rep. Willie Bailey of Greenville, who caught the Children’s Promise Act language in a proposed amendment to SB 3124 and raised a point of order asserting that the new language was not germane to the original intent of the bill and therefore improper. Speaker White ruled that Rep. Bailey’s point of order was well taken (the amendment did violate House rules), and that bill was laid on the table subject to call (set aside for now). Children’s Promise Act language also is in HB 4067, a bond bill. We will keep our eyes on bills that could be vehicles for private school funding and will alert you if needed.
Please ask your legislators to be mindful of these relentless attempts to funnel more state funding to private schools, and ask that they VOTE NO on any bill that includes Children’s Promise Act language or other verbiage that would send state funds to private schools.
Two teacher pay raise bills remain alive:
- The House amended SB 2103 last week to replace the original language with the House pay raise plan. It provides, beginning in 2026-2027, a $5,000 pay raise for certified teachers, an additional $3,000 raise for special education teachers (total $8,000), and a $3,000 raise for assistant teachers. It also includes amendments to the PERS statute, caps on superintendent salaries, and a number of other initiatives and sections of law brought forward for possible amendments.
- The Senate amended HB 1395 this week to add an updated Senate pay raise plan. It includes a $6,000 pay raise for certified teachers spread across three years beginning in 2026-2027 ($2,000 per year); an additional $3,000 for special education teachers (total $9,000), also spread across three years; a $2,000 assistant teacher pay raise; and a provision limiting the time charter schools have to exercise their first right of refusal on public school property offered for sale (the purpose of the original bill).
Ask your legislators to:
DEFEAT HB 1944 and any bill that sends more state funding to private schools via the Children’s Promise Act or any other means
Work together to ADOPT the best possible teacher pay raise, minimum of $5,000
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann: 601.359.3200
House Speaker Jason White: 601.359.3300
Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770
Find contact information for legislators
The House and Senate now will consider the teacher pay and other amendments that the opposite chamber made to its bills (the House will consider the Senate’s pay raise proposal in HB 1395, and the Senate will consider the House’s pay raise proposal in SB 2103). Their options are to:
- Concur with the changes and send the bill on to the governor for his signature
- Not concur and invite conference to negotiate a final version
- Not concur and not invite conference, in which case the bill would die
- Do nothing, allowing the bill to die on the calendar on the March 26 concurrence deadline
Mississippi is experiencing a serious teacher shortage crisis. Every school district is finding it difficult to hire the number of teachers they need, and they cannot afford to lose more. School districts in our border counties face a particularly difficult hiring environment, as the average teacher salaries in our neighboring states currently exceed Mississippi’s by as much as $8,200.
Please urge your legislators to defeat any bill that increases funding to private schools via the Children’s Promise Act (no amendments, no conference – absolutely no more private school funding!) and to work together to provide teachers a significant pay raise of at least $5,000. Ask your friends and neighbors to call, too. Together, we’ve got this!
