December 18, 2025 board agenda

Mississippi Board of Education
December 18, 2025
10:00 a.m.
4^th Floor Boardroom
Central High School Building
Mississippi Department of Education (MDE)
359 North West Street
Jackson, Mississippi

Agenda

I.          Call to Order

II.         Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and Invocation

III.        Approval of minutes of November 20, 2025 Board Meeting

IV.        Approval of Agenda

V.         Recognition Ceremony

            2025 Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools
            Bayou View Elementary School
            Gulfport School District

            Beach Elementary School
            Pascagoula-Gautier School District

            Ocean Springs High School
            Ocean Springs School District

VI.        Report of State Superintendent of Education

VII.       Report of Chair

VIII.      Report of the Student Representatives

IX.        Report on State Board of Education Subcommittee (SBE) Meetings

X.         Discussion and/or Approval of Board Items (All action items require vote)

1. 01. Information: Presentations by the Mississippi School of the Arts, the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, and the Mississippi School for the Deaf and the Blind [Goals 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 – MBE Strategic Plan) (Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
2. 02. Information: Educator Workforce Development Update [Goal 4 – MBE Strategic Plan] (Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
3. 03. Information: Presentation from the Office of School and District Transformation and the Office of Academic Education outlining the MDE supports being provided to school districts during the 2025–2026 school year [Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 – MBE Strategic Plan] (John Ferrell and Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
4. 04. Information: 2025 Update on plans to eliminate the delinquent federal audits in public school districts [Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 – MBE Strategic Plan] (Samantha Atkinson and Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
5. 05. Information: Presentation on AI for Instruction Pilot Status [Goals 5 – MBE Strategic Plan] (John Kraman) Back-up material
6. 06. Action: Approval of the MDE Contract [Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 – MBE Strategic Plan] (Kym Wiggins) Back-up material
   1. 06.A. Action: Contract with Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc., to Provide agency wide networked multi-function copiers for the Mississippi Department of Education Central High School Building, Greymont Location (Child Nutrition and Healthy Schools), and Career and Technical Warehouse in Pearl [Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 – MBE Strategic Plan] (Kym Wiggins) Back-up material

7. 07. Action: Approval of the updated Internal Audit Charter [Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 – MBE Strategic Plan] (Samantha Atkinson) Back-up material
8. 08. Consent Agenda (All consent items are action items which require vote, unless otherwise noted.) Back-up material
   1. A. Approval of monthly expenditures for the Mississippi School of the Arts (Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
   2. B. Approval of monthly expenditures for the Mississippi Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
   3. C. Approval to adopt policies required by state statute for the Mississippi Schools for the Deaf and the Blind to be placed on the District Policy Service website established by the Mississippi School Boards Association (Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
   4. D. Approval of textbooks as recommended by the 2025 State Textbook Rating Committee for adoption in the areas of Health and Physical Education (K-12), Career Technical Education (9-12), and Science (K-12) – Fiscal Year 2026 (Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
   5. E. Approval of the reappointments to the Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification and Licensure and Development (Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
   6. F. Approval of nonpublic school accreditation statuses for School Year 2025-2026 (Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
   7. G. Approval to begin the Administrative Procedures Act process: To revise Miss. Admin. Code 7-3: 63.1, State Board Policy Chapter 63, Rule 63.1 – Public Records Policy (Erin Meyer) Back-up material
   8. H. Approval of a temporary rule and to begin the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) process: To revise Miss. Admin. Code Title 7: Part 240: Minimum Bus Specifications by amending certain existing criteria and establishing new criteria for minimum bus specifications for the sale of new buses effective July 1, 2026 (Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
   9. I. Approval to purchase a bus for the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (Wendy Clemons) Back-up material
   10. J. Approval to establish a qualifying score for the revised versions of certain Praxis Subject Assessments: Early Childhood Education: Foundational Knowledge and Content (Test Code 5534); Family and Consumer Sciences (5123); and Social Studies (5581) as recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee of the Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification and Licensure and Development and approval to establish a qualifying score for Praxis Subject Assessment: Japanese: World Language (Test Code 5661) and add Japanese: World Language (Licensure Endorsement Code TBD) to the list of approved supplemental endorsements that may be added to a valid three (3) year internship license or valid five (5) year standard license by obtaining a passing score on the appropriate Praxis Subject Assessment; and update the test code associated with the Foundations of Reading Assessment to change from test code 190 to test code 890 with no changes to the test content, and no change to the current Mississippi Board of Education’s required passing score
       (Has cleared the Administrative Procedures Act process without public comment) (Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
   11. K. [PULLED] Back-up material
   12. L. Information: 2025 Annual Educator Preparation Provider Teacher Preparation Performance Report in accordance with Miss. Code Ann. § 37-101-29 (Paula Vanderford) Back-up material
   13. M. Approval of final calculation of the Mississippi Student Funding Formula for Fiscal Year 2027 (Kym Wiggins) Back-up material
   14. N. Approval of final calculation of the Mississippi Student Funding Formula Base Student Cost for Fiscal Year 2027 (Kym Wiggins) Back-up material

XI.        Consideration of Executive Session

XII.       State Board of Education

1. 1.  Report on meetings attended
2. 2.  Approval of attendance at meetings

XIII.      Other Business

XIV.      Adjournment

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NOTE:           Cellular telephones and pagers that give an audible signal are not permitted during Board meeting.