Press Release: Lt. Gov. Provides Optional Pre-K-12 Assignments to Students, Teachers
Jackson, Miss. — Teachers can opt to include a new project in enrichment packets sent home with students: assignments challenging students to think about how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting their communities and share ideas about how lawmakers could address it. Dubbed “Healthy at Home: K-12 Students’ Perspective on COVID-19,” Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann and staff developed three grade-appropriate assignments including: - A Think, Draw, Write! activity challenging pre-K through 3rd Grade students to imagine they are visiting the Mississippi Capitol and share ideas on how to keep families healthy with their lawmaker; - Writing prompts for 4th through 6th Grade students to explain how they are staying connected to their teachers and school, and/or describe a goal they have [...]
Mississippi Legislature Will Not Reconvene April 1
Jackson, Miss. (Y'all Politics) - The Mississippi Legislature will delay reconvening the 2020 Legislative Session beyond Wednesday, April 1, by agreement of Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn. The Legislature adjourned its 125-day Session temporarily on Wednesday, March 18, pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 65, which provided it would reconvene April 1 or on another date determined jointly by agreement of the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker. Lieutenant Governor Hosemann, Speaker Gunn, and members of the Legislature continue to analyze the impact of COVID-19 and the new federal stimulus legislation on the State’s emergency response efforts, healthcare facilities, and the wider state budget. Budget analysts and agencies have advised legislative leadership that all agencies currently [...]
Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Local Govt. Employees to Be Paid Before Recessing Due to COVID-19
Jackson, Miss. (Neshoba Democrat) - Businesses and employees out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic could be eligible for relief from the state and federal government after measures were to passed to offer emergency loans and waive certain unemployment requirements. The U.S. Small Business Administration announced last week it was relaxing the criteria for states seeking an economic injury declaration related to the novel coronavirus. Historically, the SBA has required any state or territory impacted by a disaster to provide documentation certifying that a small business in each county requesting relief had been impacted. That rule has been changed so that the state need only provide proof that five small businesses across the state have been impacted. Also, the [...]
Analysis: Mississippi Wise to Close Capitol Amid COVID-19
Jackson, Miss. (AP) - The Mississippi Capitol is a germ and virus factory during any normal legislative session because of all the glad-handing, back-slapping and random hugging. It was clearly in line to become more perilous than usual during the coronavirus pandemic. Legislators voted last week to suspend their session until at least April 1, acting on the recommendation of the state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs. “It's been said that the full Legislature is a hub for this disease," Senate President Pro Tempore Dean Kirby, a Republican from Pearl, told his colleagues. “Let's try to keep this situation under control as much as we can. ... This is a tough situation we're in right now. It's a crisis and [...]
Mississippi Legislature Set to Temporarily Recess Due to COVID-19
Tupelo, Miss. (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal) - As the novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout the state, lawmakers will temporarily suspend the 2020 session of the Mississippi Legislature and will likely allow school districts and local governing authorities to give their employees paid leave during the virus outbreak. “We are asking you to just put a pause button on where we are and just give us a buffer,” House Speaker Phillip Gunn told other House members. According to the latest data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, the state now has 21 total presumptive cases of the virus and 389 people have been tested for the virus. The House passed a resolution and a law that would allow counties, [...]
Mississippi Senate Approves Legislation Shoring Up Quality of Pre-K Early Learning Collaboratives
Jackson, Miss. (Y'all Politics) - A bill revising curriculum and funding requirements for the State’s nationally-recognized pre-K program passed the Mississippi Senate yesterday with overwhelming bipartisan support. First established in 2013, Early Learning Collaboratives (ELCs) provide grants to communities to set up, expand, support, and facilitate early childhood education programs for 4-year-olds. For the 2019-2020 school year, the Legislature provided $6.7 million for ELCs in 19 districts, which serve almost 3,000 students. There is broad support to expand the program this year. Senate Bill 2286, authored by Senator Brice Wiggins, would require ELCs to use an “evidence-based curriculum” demonstrating a significant effect on improving student outcomes. The legislation also would require individualized professional development plans for teachers and teacher assistants, [...]