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- The Board of Education also approved grant awards to 63 school districts under a $1.98 million program to help cover the costs of the employment of School Resource Officers.
The Mississippi State Board of Education Board on Thursday approved hiring staff to assist in the implementation of several measures passed during this year’s legislative session. The new staff includes early childhood coaching support and the expansion of literacy programs to adolescents.
As part of the Early Childhood Learning Collaborative established in 2013, children in Pre-K receive literacy instruction. That program is being expanded through $3.5 million in grant funding. Eight coaches are being hired as part of the Educator in Residence (EIR) program. The coaches will be report to the Office of Early Childhood Education and be tasked with modeling effective lesson plans, training teachers and developing family engagement strategies, Chief Academic Officer Wendy Clemons explained.
“Their job will be to provide support in implementing the early learning collaboratives throughout the state and the expansion of early childhood education,” Clemons added.
Also in the realm of childhood literacy, the Board approved hiring eight other EIRs through a $4.3 million grant intended to establish the adolescent literacy program under HB 2294.
“These eight will be coaches and trainers for adolescent literacy,” Clemons added, noting that both EIR programs will be subject to annual reviews to ensure proper performance quality.
During the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers also agreed on HB 4073 to address the state’s reported teacher shortage. The new provision allows retired teachers to return to work while still receiving state retirement benefits. Under the bill, these educators would be paid up to 80% of what the respective position typically pays. On Thursday, the Board approved a template to help districts navigate the negotiation process involved in bringing those teachers back into the classroom.
“We’ve tried to create a document that helps guide that,” State Superintendent Dr. Lance Evans explained. “We don’t want our districts to have issues with the state auditor or maybe their audits, anything that would delay them.”
Kym Wiggins, MDE’s Chief Operating Officer, said retirees who qualify are being notified through the state retirement system of this availability.
Under another grant, $50,000 is being provided to the Mississippi School Boards Association to provide training for new local school board members. The 12-hour training prepares members of those boards to carry out their responsibilities. The course was developed and taught by the Mississippi School Boards Association. When asked about the quality of the training, Chief Accountability Officer Dr. Paula Vanderford said that while the training has not been updated in some time, MDE is working with the MSBA and is present during training sessions.
“I think the challenge is the local school board members go through the training, but they don’t necessarily implement what they receive during the training,” said Vanderford.
Misconduct or failure to meet responsibilities by school board members can lead to the state taking control of a local school district for failure to meet financial or educational standards. Currently, the state has control of six school districts due to such inadequacies.
In Other Business
The Board went into executive session during Thursday’s meeting to discuss the employment of an interim superintendent for the Wilkinson County School District, the most recent district to fall under state control.
After executive session, the Board approved a motion to hire Walter Atkins to fill that role.
Members also approved a motion to award grants to 63 school districts under a $1.98 million program to help cover the costs of the employment of 198 School Resource Officers.
Districts will receive up to $10,000 in grant funding for each qualifying SRO. Each grant requires a 50/50 match.
