Education

SB 2049 adjusts state budget allocations by transferring specific funds between accounts and creating new designated funds. It directs $18 million from the Capital Expense Fund to the Mississippi State University Veterinary School Fund for campus renovations, transfers $2.5 million to create a Mississippi Veteran's Home Improvement Fund for a new Rankin County facility, and establishes a United States Fire Insurance Company Settlement Fund using existing funds. The bill also corrects a reference to the 2022 Emergency Road and Bridge Fund, repeals the March 2023 Storm Housing Mission Fund, and reallocates over $820 million across 12 other funds for infrastructure, healthcare, and disaster programs. This is a procedural budget adjustment, not a new policy, focusing solely on fund management.

HB 43 appropriates $4,713,545 from general funds and $9,921,012 from special funds (including $2,118,966 from the Education Enhancement Fund) to cover the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television's (MAET) expenses for fiscal year 2026 (July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026). The bill specifically restricts $6,550,368 of these funds for "Personal Services" (salaries, wages, benefits, and vacancy funding), limiting MAET to 87 total authorized positions (80 permanent, 7 time-limited) and prohibiting use for public relations or replacing federal funds. It requires MAET to maintain detailed financial records matching its 2025 reporting standards and mandates that any 2027 budget request follow the same format. This is a routine budget appropriation bill, now law after passing the legislature and being signed by the governor on June 2, 2025.