SB 2612 Mississippi Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Standard educator licenses; revise requirements for.

SB 2612 revises Mississippi's requirements for obtaining and renewing standard educator licenses through both traditional and non-traditional teaching pathways. It updates standards for educator preparation programs, sets new criteria for initial certification (including specific program requirements for pre-K/kindergarten and grades 1-4 teachers), and allows flexible options for supplemental endorsements via coursework or test scores. The bill directly affects educators seeking licensure, renewing licenses, or pursuing additional endorsements in Mississippi public schools. Key provisions include aligning pre-K/kindergarten requirements with national standards (AAFCS/NAEYC) and streamlining endorsement pathways while maintaining specific rules for certain subject areas.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 7, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced Current version · 8 edits
MODERATE
This bill updates Mississippi's educator licensing laws to modernize requirements for both traditional and nontraditional teaching routes, establish a new Teach Mississippi Institute program for nontraditional teachers, create new license categories for expert citizens and nonlicensed personnel, and strengthen enforcement mechanisms for educator misconduct. The changes aim to improve teacher quality while providing more flexible pathways to licensure.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope of educator licensing to include new license types (Expert Citizen, Special License - Nonrenewable, Nonlicensed Teaching Personnel) and creates a new nontraditional teaching route through the Teach Mississippi Institute program.
REQUIREMENT

Established new eligibility criteria for nontraditional teaching route requiring ACT/SAT scores of 21, Praxis Core passing score, or 3.0 GPA plus subject assessment scores

Created Teach Mississippi Institute (TMI) program as an intensive eight-week summer program or semester curriculum with supervised internship for nontraditional teacher preparation

Added new license categories including Special License - Expert Citizen for industry professionals and Special License - Nonrenewable for educators not meeting standard requirements

Revised commission membership requirements from district-based appointments to 15 members with 3 from each congressional district and 3 at-large members

Updated teacher preparation requirements to include specific subject assessment options and GPA thresholds for licensure

ENFORCEMENT

Established Office of Educator Misconduct Evaluations to handle infractions, violations, and hearings related to educator misconduct

Expanded grounds for license denial and revocation to include sex offenses, failure to report sexual involvement, and compliance with support orders

TIMELINE

Set effective date of July 1, 2025 for new provisions, with some TMI implementation contingent on appropriated funding

Floor votes · Senate Feb 6, 2025

How they voted

500
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 51
Feb 6, 2025
D Democratic16
16 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican35
34 Yea 1
97% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
2
Committee
3
Feb 10, 2025
Committee
Referred To Education
lower
Feb 7, 2025
Introduced
Transmitted To House
upper
Feb 6, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed
upper
Jan 31, 2025
Upper · Passed
Title Suff Do Pass
upper
Jan 20, 2025
Committee
Referred To Education
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.