HB 2 Mississippi House · 2026 Regular Session

"Mississippi Educational Freedom Program Act of 2026"; establish to provide greater flexibility and opportunity for school choice.

HB 2 establishes Mississippi's "Magnolia Student Account" (MSA) program, providing state-funded accounts for K-12 education expenses to eligible students, primarily low- and middle-income families. The program creates income-based eligibility pools, allows funds to cover private school tuition, homeschooling, or postsecondary costs after graduation, and requires the State Treasurer to administer it through certified organizations. Key provisions include prohibiting state regulation of school curriculum or religious instruction, requiring annual assessments for participants, and separately funding special needs scholarships under the program. The bill also expands homeschool access to public school extracurricular activities and streamlines student transfers between school districts.

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Jan 2026

House Passage

Jan 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 20, 2026 Last action Mar 3, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Committee Substitute · 10 edits

MAJOR

The bill was rewritten from a summary format to full statutory language, creating the Mississippi Education Freedom Act with detailed provisions for student scholarship accounts. The Committee Substitute version significantly expands the bill's scope by adding comprehensive charter school reforms, financial literacy requirements, pension changes, and numerous other educational provisions that were only mentioned in the original version's summary.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded substantially from primarily establishing student scholarship accounts to include charter school governance reforms, financial literacy education mandates, pension tier adjustments, school consolidation provisions, and various other educational policy changes.

SCOPE

Added full statutory text replacing the original summary format, creating detailed sections for program administration, eligibility, and enforcement.

Added comprehensive charter school reforms including contract modifications, merger approvals, and operational flexibility.

Added provisions for school district consolidation in Copiah County and Hazlehurst City School Districts effective July 1, 2028.

REQUIREMENT

Added financial literacy graduation requirement requiring a half-Carnegie unit course for all public school students starting with the 2031 graduating class.

Added requirement for school accountability dashboards to be published by school districts starting with the 2026-2027 academic year.

TIMELINE

Added specific implementation timelines including school consolidation effective July 1, 2028, and various program start dates.

DEFINITION

Added detailed definitions for program terms including 'Magnolia Student Account,' 'eligible student,' and 'education service provider' with specific criteria.

FISCAL

Added specific funding amounts and caps including $5 million annual limits for certain scholarship categories and household caps of $4,000 per family.

ENFORCEMENT

Added detailed enforcement mechanisms including audit requirements, fraud prevention, and account suspension procedures.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified eligibility requirements to include income-based prioritization using area median income thresholds and lottery procedures when demand exceeds supply.

Floor votes · House Jan 15, 2026

How they voted

61–59

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 122

Jan 15, 2026

D Democratic40

1 Yea 39 Nay

97% Nay

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican80

58 Yea 20 Nay 2

72% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jan 21, 2026

Committee

Referred To Education

upper

Jan 20, 2026

Introduced

Transmitted To Senate

lower

Jan 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed As Amended

lower

Jan 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

Amended

lower

Jan 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass Comm Sub

lower

Jan 7, 2026

Committee

Referred To Education

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor