Governor Tate Reeves speaks at the 2025 Neshoba County Fair (Photo by Frank Corder)
- The Mississippi governor said conservative education reforms are helping all of the state’s students in all school districts.
Education reforms are the number one item on Republicans’ agenda next session, with the state’s party leader saying it will help all students in every district.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves told attendees at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday that the goal is to redirect funding into the classroom by reducing administrative costs.
“This is the beautiful thing about these conservative reforms, they’re not just helping some of our kids in some of our districts. They’re helping all of our kids in all of our districts,” Reeves said.
He gave an example of one minority group’s success. Mississippi’s Hispanic students now rank first in reading and second in math nationwide. The state’s fourth graders are first nationwide in reading and fourth-grade math gains.
More than a decade ago, in 2012, the state embarked on a package of education reforms, from rewriting standards to raising the bar for students and teachers while investing more tax dollars into educators and classrooms. Mississippi had to take “bold action” when it came to education reforms, Reeves said.
The past 13 years have seen some major successes, with Mississippi rising from near the bottom of national education rankings to No.16.
“That’s when we took bold action to reform our state’s education system,” the governor said. “What we did then wasn’t popular. In fact, most of the activists hated it. But it ultimately made Mississippi the educational envy of the nation.”
“And I am so glad we had the guts to run over the naysayers,” he said to cheers and applause.
Governor Reeves continued by saying that more work needs to be done in reforming education in Mississippi. Earlier on Thursday, House Speaker Jason White (R) told fairgoers gathered under the Founders Square pavilion that the House’s number one priority for the 2026 session was expanding education freedom for parents and students.
“Let me remind you, education freedom is a pillar in our adopted Republican Party Platform and has been highlighted by President Trump in his Make America Great Again agenda entitled ‘America First: A return to commonsense,’” White said to a healthy round of applause.
White expects a bill that will mirror the Trump administration’s education freedom package, the cornerstone being school choice, and Mississippi will follow, the Speaker believes. He said parents – taxpayers – should have a choice in their child’s education.
The Speaker said school choice allows more educational opportunities, especially for special needs and low-income students, by allowing parents and students to determine their educational route.
Reeves said that with Mississippi’s high-tech economic growth, school choice will help the state meet the demand of employers. The Mississippi Miracle can and will continue, Reeves said.
“As you can see, Mississippi is no longer making news; we are making history,” the governor added.
Reeves told reporters gathered after his speech that he supported Speaker White’s focus on expanding school choice next session and looked forward to working with lawmakers on the issue.
Daniel Tyson
