OurTupelo

Tara Wilson learned Friday that her double mastectomy, scheduled for Monday, had been canceled again, this time due to a Thursday cyberattack that targeted the University of Mississippi Medical Center, forcing hospital staff to close clinics and cancel elective procedures statewide. 

Her initial breast cancer surgery was planned nine days ago, and the Monticello resident has been taking unpaid leave from her job at Dollar General since then. Wilson’s surgery requires a long recovery time because she has Von Willebrand disease, a bleeding disorder that makes it difficult for blood to clot, and the extended leave is causing her family financial hardship. 

Due to UMMC’s ongoing cyberattack, Wilson has not yet been able to contact the medical center to reschedule the surgery for the third time. 

“It just seems like everything is conspiring against us and not allowing us to prosper,” Wilson told Mississippi Today. “It’s a very hard season.” 

Patients across Mississippi are missing health care appointments and surgeries after a cyberattack led to UMMC shutting down its computer systems, including its electronic health records. This shutdown also affected county public health departments that run on the same record-sharing system. 

The medical center does not yet know the extent of the infiltration or how long it will take before returning to normal operations, it said in a statement Friday. Specialized FBI teams and federal authorities are assisting, along with three national vendors with expertise in cyber forensics, recovery and security. By Friday afternoon, UMMC phone systems and email services continued to be out of service or unreliable, according to a statement from the hospital system.

UMMC’s Wi-Fi remained down Friday afternoon, according to an email sent to UMMC staff and obtained by Mississippi Today. 

Hospitals and emergency departments within the UMMC system are operating through downtime protocols, or procedures that kick in during IT system failures. The medical center is again receiving transfers of patients needing a higher-level of care from other hospitals, according to a statement posted to social media Friday.

Peggy Sellars of Rolling Fork was with her husband, who was recovering from an emergency lower back surgery, at the medical center’s Jackson hospital Thursday when she said she began to notice the impact of the attack on hospital operations. She described a scene of chaos Thursday morning, but said operations had stabilized by the afternoon. 

Her husband was in pain Thursday morning after his pain medication was delayed for three hours. Sellars missed breakfast Thursday because the cafeteria could only accept cash and ATMs were not working that morning. She said she was able to eat lunch after one cashier began accepting credit cards later in the day. 

Her husband, George Sellars, injured his back while clearing limbs out of their yard to make it easier for lineworkers to repair power lines after the winter ice storm hit Mississippi in late January. The couple went without electricity for 16 days. 

It’s just been one thing after another, she said — from the months-long flood in 2019 to the devastating 2023 tornado, and then January’s ice storm. 

“It just keeps coming,” Sellars said. She said she is appreciative of everything UMMC has done to mitigate the impact of the attack.  

UMMC is working to create a way for patients to get in touch about routine medical or medication needs, and reaching out to patients receiving time-sensitive treatments, like chemotherapy, to set up appointments, officials said. 

Dr. Alan Jones, vice chancellor for health affairs at UMMC, said Thursday that the university was working to set up a phone line for patients to get more information about rescheduled or upcoming appointments, in addition to creating an operational plan for providing other medical services. The medical center has not yet publicized this phone number.

“We were able to conduct several emergent surgeries yesterday and will do more today,” said the Friday email to UMMC staff. 

UMMC facilities include seven hospitals and 35 clinics statewide. The dialysis clinic at the Jackson Medical Mall remains operational and open for scheduled appointments.

The academic medical center’s IT systems are down, including the electronic medical record system, which stores patient medical history, billing, test results, appointment booking and chart documentation. As a precaution, the medical center shut down all of its network systems and will conduct risk assessments before bringing systems back online. 

The cyberattack occurred Thursday morning and the medical system has been in contact with the attackers, Woodward said Thursday during a press conference. She declined to answer questions about what the attackers have said or asked for, but said the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were aware of the hack. 

Woodward said Thursday that UMMC was trying to determine what would happen to patients’ personal information stored in the hospital’s computer systems, but the hospital had taken down the systems to prevent potential privacy breaches. 

More than 10,000 employees work across UMMC, making the institution one of the state’s largest employers, according to the university. Over 3,000 students are enrolled in the medical center, which has an annual budget of roughly $2 billion. 

Woodward said in an email to staff and students Thursday obtained by Mississippi Today that payroll would be unaffected by the cybersecurity attack, and employees should continue to report to work.

“We anticipate that this will be a multi-day event and are working with federal authorities and national experts on our response,” Woodward said in the email. 

UMMC runs the state’s only Level 1 trauma center, programs that are best equipped to respond to severe medical emergencies. Woodward said the hospital is continuing to serve Level 1 patients using manual procedures.

More than 60 miles south in Monticello, Wilson said she is frustrated that her double mastectomy will be delayed again, though she does not blame UMMC for the cancellation. The pain of having to wait longer for the surgery is amplified by the worry her four children feel for her.

“They know that this is very serious,” she said. 

The anger Wilson feels is offset only by the fact that her grandchild is scheduled to be born on Monday — an occasion she thought she would miss due to her mastectomy and subsequent recovery. 

“I’ll be there, and I’ll be able to hold her.”

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

Mississippi’s tourism industry generates $18.1 billion in total economic impact, supports more than 136,000 jobs and delivers more than $1.1 billion annually to the state’s general fund. It is Mississippi’s fourth-largest industry and one of our strongest economic engines.

These dollars fund priorities Mississippians care deeply about, including  education, health care and infrastructure, providing a massive revenue stream that offsets the cost of public services for every resident without raising taxes. Tourism has proven its value, delivered its return and is ready to be aligned for greater long-term growth.

That is exactly why elevating Visit Mississippi to a cabinet-level agency makes sense. Senate Bill 2016, the Mississippi Tourism Reorganization Act, does not expand bureaucracy or significantly increase government spending. Rather, it restructures the existing tourism function, aligning it as a stand-alone, cabinet-level agency, allowing one of Mississippi’s most productive industries to operate more efficiently, strategically and competitively.

Neighboring states like Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas have already elevated tourism leadership to cabinet-level  positions. They understand that tourism is not just about visitors, but it is also a primary driver of competitiveness, workforce attraction and community vitality. In a competitive marketplace, Mississippi cannot afford to under position one of its most reliable economic engines.

Tourism is also one of our most effective tools for addressing a challenge that keeps many leaders up at night: brain  drain. People do not choose where to live based solely on job openings. They choose places that offer quality of life, cultural vibrancy, outdoor recreation and a sense of belonging. Tourism development strengthens all of those  elements. A revitalized downtown, a festival, a trail system or a thriving food scene improves life for residents first, while also attracting visitors and investment.

That is why tourism is often called the front door to economic development. No company relocates, no entrepreneur invests and no family moves without first experiencing a place.Tourism shapes that first impression, and that impression shapes long-term growth and Mississippi’s brand image.

Yet despite this outsized return, tourism currently operates several layers removed from executive leadership, housed within the Mississippi Development Authority, our state’s economic development agency. MDA has done important work and seen historic wins in industrial recruitment under Gov. Tate Reeves’ leadership, and that success should be preserved and celebrated while allowing tourism to move toward a more specialized model.

Tourism plays a complementary role to economic development and has distinct goals, timelines and performance measures that differ from traditional economic development efforts. Tourism strategy is most effective when guided by tourism professionals who are accountable for results and able to move at the speed of the market, focusing on consumer sentiment and constantly evolving travel trends.

Instead of forcing tourism decisions through multiple layers of administrative oversight, the passage of SB 2016 will reduce bureaucracy, accelerate decision-making and improve coordination at the highest levels of state government. This is not expansion. It is alignment.

Mississippi has already seen what happens when tourism is treated as a strategic investment rather than a discretionary expense. After the Legislature implemented a performance-based, dedicated tourism funding model in 2019 and invested federal dollars designed to help destinations recover from the pandemic, Mississippi emerged as a national leader in tourism recovery. That investment produced historic and measurable returns in visitor spending, sales tax revenue and job creation, even during uncertain economic times, proving that when we prioritize this industry, it delivers.

As remaining federal pandemic recovery dollars dry up at the end of 2026, Mississippi faces a potential funding cliff after several years of record-breaking visitor impacts. To remain the consistent, multi-billion-dollar producer the state has come to depend on, we must ensure Visit Mississippi has the structure and authority necessary to compete efficiently in an increasingly competitive global landscape.

Elevating Visit Mississippi to a cabinet-level agency ensures tourism is fully integrated into statewide strategy alongside workforce development, site selection and infrastructure planning. It allows MDA to remain focused on its core mission while enabling tourism leadership to do the same.

Most importantly, SB 2016 respects taxpayers. This bill does not raise taxes, does not duplicate services and does not create a new bureaucracy. It strengthens oversight, improves accountability and positions one of Mississippi’s most reliable revenue-generating industries to deliver even greater returns.

Mississippi has long been known as the Hospitality State. Our people, culture and sense of place are unmatched. Elevating tourism leadership simply ensures our state government structure reflects the actual market value of an industry that already delivers billions in economic impact and helps fund the services Mississippians depend on. 

Supporting SB 2016 is not about growing government. It is about recognizing performance, prioritizing results and ensuring Mississippi’s fourth-largest industry is positioned to compete, grow, thrive and win in the years ahead.  

Danielle Morgan is a lifelong Mississippian and has led the Mississippi Tourism Association’s advocacy,  education and promotion efforts as executive director since 2021. She is a Yazoo City native and  currently resides in Carrollton with her husband, Brent, and precocious rescue dogs, Howard Street Howard and Weller. 

Tamika Green, a 41-year-old Army veteran, worked with the Cleveland Post Office for nearly 10 years. When she became a mother, the hours became a challenge. She loved her job, but the long hours were not sustainable with her new lifestyle. She knew she needed a different career path. 

Green’s mother, who assists Green with child care, stumbled upon a Facebook post describing training programs at Mississippi Delta Community College, and Green knew it was the right next step for her. “I took their carpentry classes, electrical class, and plumbing,” Green said. 

Since leaving the post office, Green is pursuing her dream of owning a community pool in addition to working at a bank. She is converting the former Cleveland Recreation Center into Blue Heaven Pool for community use. “I didn’t take those courses lightly,” she said. “I’ve saved a lot of money because I can fix things myself rather than having to hire somebody.” Green’s experience reflects a broader challenge facing many working parents in the Mississippi Delta.

Foundation for the Mid South recognized common workforce challenges and awarded $550,000 in grant funding to 11 organizations working to solve these barriers to employment, including childcare, transportation, and access to training.  Grant recipients include organizations such as 180 Career Center, The Bean Path, Delta Compass, Dream Innovations, Inc., Deep South Today, Holmes County Consolidated School District, Humphreys County School District, Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, Metro Booming Training Academy, Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice, and Sipp Culture. This story is part of a sponsored series supported by the Foundation for the Mid South’s Moving Mississippians Forward Through Employment initiative. 

Celestial Gordon-Griffin, program director of the Harvesting Hope program at the Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice, is determined to help women overcome systemic and daily challenges to make generational changes. The program helps single mothers, many of whom have been incarcerated, with job training, financial literacy, soft skills, and career development through farming. “You’re learning how to farm, what to farm, what to plant, what time of the year to plant,” she said. “You’re learning how to market the harvest of what your hands have planted. And that’s important because we’re showing them how they can take a simple and humble thing such as farming and make it into a career that’s going to ultimately change their lives and their children’s lives and their children’s children’s lives.” 

The program provides a child care stipend for participants and works with farmers who empathize with the mothers’ needs. “A lot of our farmers have been willing to work around their schedules,” Gordon-Griffin noted.

Although demand was much higher, the program started with 10 women who will receive the credential of Certified Sustainable Agricultural Practitioner.  Julian Miller, cofounder and director emeritus of the Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice, said the goal is to scale over time to help more individuals. 

Iris Stacker, chief executive officer of Delta Health System, acknowledges the challenges people face in their personal lives from an employer perspective. “At this time, transportation and childcare remain significant barriers for many of our employees, and we continue to struggle in this area as a rural healthcare system. Limited public transportation options, long commute distances, and a shortage of affordable, reliable child care make it difficult for some employees to consistently report to work or take on additional shifts.”

Mitzi Woods, workforce director for South Delta Planning and Development District, agrees. “Transportation and child care will always be a problem, and there are never enough solutions for that,” she said. While recent federal cuts and exhausted funds have enhanced the child care crisis, Woods noted the best way to obtain child care assistance is through the state’s Department of Human Services. 

Working parents often face a substantial financial burden with child care. The Mississippi Department of Human Services reports that child care tuition represents as much as 13% of a dual-income family’s budget, a number that is often doubled for single-income families. MDHS helps with access to affordable child care through payment assistance, after-school programs, and help finding child care that fits individual needs. 

To apply for the Child Care Payment Program, eligible families must first find a child care provider, complete the online application, and submit supporting documents, including proof of age and income. If approved, families will receive vouchers to apply toward child care expenses. Assistance may not cover the full cost, and some families may need to pay the remaining balance. Families must meet eligibility requirements, including income limits and work requirements. For assistance navigating the Child Care Payment Program, call 800-877-7882.

Once individuals have child care, those who don’t have reliable transportation still face the hurdle of getting to work. Delta Rides Regional Transportation Group helps bridge the transportation gap. Its network of non-profit organizations provides safe and affordable transportation through bus routes and curb-to-curb vans. Doris Green, Delta Rides regional mobility manager, said there is a mileage-based fee scale for most rides. If an individual is not equipped to pay for a ride, free assistance is available on a case-by-case basis. 

The Delta Rides Regional Group services the following counties: Bolivar, Carroll, Coahoma, De Soto, Grenada, Issaquena, Holmes, Humphreys, Leflore, Montgomery, Panola, Sunflower, Tunica, Sharkey, Tate, Tallahatchie, Warren, Washington, Yalobusha, and Yazoo. To discuss fare costs or to schedule transportation, call Green at 662-846-6161.

Dr. Pam Chatman, better known as the Boss Lady, created Boss Lady Economic Planning & Development Workforce Transportation based on her assessment of transportation challenges. “For years, transportation has been a barrier in the South,” Chatman said. “Companies are looking for people who really want to go to work. They feel transportation could help them.”  

She started Boss Lady Economic Planning & Development Workforce Transportation as a rural transportation partnership between FedEx and Delta Bus Lines to connect workers in Clarksdale, Mississippi to the major FedEx hub in Memphis, Tennessee. The organization received funding from The Foundation for the Mid South and has now helped thousands of families in the Mississippi Delta with workforce transportation. She hopes to partner with more businesses to connect them with workers. “More industries need to look at adding transportation as they are opening new businesses throughout the Delta,” Chatman said. “Transportation needs a conversation at the table.” 

How to Get Help with Employment

1. Start by visiting a WIN Job Center. Located throughout Mississippi, the job centers offer employment experts who assist with job placement, skill training, career counseling, resume reviews, and more. Staff will work with individual job seekers to determine their needs and refer them to the proper partner agencies and resources. All services are free, and no appointments are needed.
2. Review pathway opportunities through MSPathfinder. People can search occupations by region and ecosystem to understand which jobs are most relevant to their area. Each job page includes a job description, average salary, and links to specific training programs to help people find pathways close to home. While some of the jobs require degrees, most do not. 
3. Apply for relevant training. Training options vary depending on the program. WIN Job Centers and MSPathfinder will both guide people to appropriate training for their desired career path. Training and certification programs are often offered through local community colleges.
4. Attend a workforce expo. On March 5, Mississippi Today will host a free workforce expo at Jackson Medical Mall in Jackson, bringing together employers, training providers, and resource organizations in one place. The event is designed to connect job seekers directly with opportunities and information. For workers navigating child care gaps, long commutes, and shifting job markets, access to the right support at the right time can make the difference between staying stuck and moving forward.

When Department of Mental Health Executive Director Wendy Bailey discussed a Mississippi bill to require audits for community mental health centers in January in the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency committee, she told lawmakers the performance audits would help them learn more about the health needs of the state.

“Issues that are revealed through a performance audit can also help you see what areas of the state there’re gaps in services, and there may need to be more funding or additional things looked at,” she told the Senate committee on Jan. 28. “It really should be a positive thing, not a punitive thing.”

Left out of Bailey’s testimony was that the bill, which passed its first chamber Feb. 12, would simultaneously eliminate a key process designed to ensure Mississippi provides the public with mental health service information and oversight into how Bailey’s agency operates. 

In addition to tasking Bailey’s department with creating performance standards by which to measure community mental health centers at least once every two years, the bill axes an independent mental health state oversight office. Created by the Legislature in 2020, the office operates from the Department of Finance and Administration and is tasked with comprehensively reviewing Missisisppi’s mental health system.

Bill Rosamond has served as coordinator since the office was created. In that role, he publishes reports four times a year about gaps in mental health access and the state of Mississippi’s community mental centers. Current state law gives the coordinator the power to examine and make recommendations on how to improve access to Mississippi mental health, substance misuse and intellectual and developmental disabilities services. 

“It allows investigation into essentially every area of mental health services in our state,” Rosamond said of the legislation that created his position to Families As Allies Executive Director Joy Hogge in a 2020 interview. He did not respond to emails from Mississippi Today asking for his thoughts on this proposed law. 

Hogge, an advocate who has worked with people seeking mental health services for over three decades, said she was initially concerned about Rosamond in that interview. She said she had worried about his past working relationships with the state’s mental health department and how that could impact his oversight of that agency. 

When the federal Department of Justice sued Mississippi in 2016 and accused the state’s mental health system of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, Rosamond worked at the Mississippi Office of the Attorney General and helped defend the state. 

But Hogge told Mississippi Today that since Rosamond took office, she and other advocates who pay attention to Mississippi’s mental health system have found his reports and monitoring valuable for revealing unmet needs in the state. Recent reports have focused on the lack of public intensive treatment options that don’t involve overnight hospitalization, problems with people accused of crimes being psychologically evaluated for their ability to stand trial and why chancery clerks were reporting inconsistent data as to how many people were jailed while awaiting mental health treatment.

She also didn’t know of any other office tasked with monitoring the Department of Mental Health.

“Every entity needs something outside of itself to hold it accountable,” Hogge said. 

Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford and the bill’s sponsor, told Mississippi Today the Legislature created the mental health accessibility office because of the 2016 federal lawsuit, and the state in 2023 successfully argued the Department of Justice couldn’t enforce this part of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Because of that, there is no longer a need for the office, Boyd said.

A court transcript from shortly after the Legislature created Rosamond’s office indicates that U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves, who oversaw the case, thought the position would impact the case, but neither he nor the parties asked for it to be created. At one point, he expressed concern that the person who fills the position could “blow up everything” he and the lawyers had worked for.

When former House Public Health and Human Services Chair Sam Mims, a Republican from McComb, spoke about the bill that created Rosamond’s office on the House floor in 2020, he did not bring up the federal lawsuit. 

Instead, he used similar language to how Bailey described this year’s bill; some of Mississippi’s community mental health centers are struggling, and the mental health accessibility coordinator could help the Department of Mental Health better work with the centers. 

“We really believe this is going to help our constituents and really provide the mental health services that our citizens have been needing,” Mims said.

Nearly six years later, Boyd said she and other state lawmakers get similar information to the quarterly reports Rosamond’s office writes from the Department of Mental Health, and it didn’t need to spend taxpayer money for duplicative services. When asked who the independent entity would be monitoring the Department of Mental Health, she said the Legislature would do that. 

“We don’t need to be paying another half-million dollars to another entity,” Boyd said. “We don’t do that for any other agency.”

Other Mississippi agencies, like the Department of Child Protection Services, have independent monitoring because of court appointments for ongoing cases.

Boyd also said that Bailey and the State Board of Mental Health have for years asked for a bill to more formally monitor the community mental health centers. The centers operate independently, but the Department of Mental Health sets standards and allocates funding for them. In budget hearings earlier in the session, the department asked for an additional $4.2 million for the centers for the upcoming fiscal year.

In addition to mandating audits of community mental health centers, the bill would oust some executive staff of centers that don’t meet performance standards six months after a failed audit. Those roles would temporarily be replaced with contractors chosen by the Department of Mental Health. 

When discussing the bill on the Senate floor, Boyd compared it to the state’s ability to take over school districts when issues arise.

“My community mental health center is very in support of this legislation,” Boyd said to the other senators. “Many community mental health centers are in support of this legislation.” 

Melody Madaris, executive director of the community mental health center in Boyd’s district, said she didn’t want to speak directly about the legislation. She said she supports transparency and accountability of mental health services, and she believes organizations like hers already cooperate with strong oversight from organizations like the Department of Mental Health.

The state agency conducts regular site visits to all of its certified providers, including community mental health centers, and requires them to implement quality assurance measures.

“I feel like we have multiple layers of oversight,” she said.

When Mississippi Today reached out to the mental health department about the bill, department spokesperson Adam Moore did not address concerns about the elimination of Rosamond’s office. In an email, he said the agency continues to be committed to transparency even after the state overturned the federal government’s 2016 lawsuit, and it publishes data about programs and services it funds. 

For the part of the bill that calls for additional community mental health center audits, Moore said the proposed language would formalize the department’s oversight of these health services. He pointed out that multiple centers have had to consolidate in recent years. 

Phaedre Cole, president of the Mississippi Association of Community Mental Health Centers and executive director of the center that serves most of the Delta, disagreed with Moore that these types of audits could have saved other organizations from collapsing. In an email, she said it was because of the financial hardships that come with serving Mississippians regardless of their ability to pay for care — hardships that have been furthered by recent funding cuts. 

She echoed Madaris that the state mental health department has broad regulatory power already, and state law tasks local governments with overseeing most community mental health center responsibilities. This bill, she said, does not address the underlying financial reasons why public community mental health services may not reach all Mississippians. 

“If CMHCs are going to continue fulfilling our role as the state’s safety net provider, funding resources will need to match that obligation,” she said. 

There’s growing concern across the country about potential impacts of data centers amid announcements of new ones being built. Conservative estimates put the expected capital expenditures around $3 trillion through 2030. In Mississippi:

• Southaven residents showed up to oppose an environmental permit for Elon Musk’s xAI to operate 41 natural gas turbines in Southaven to power its data center complex in the greater Memphis area. Mississippi Today reporters attended the meeting and spoke with residents about the noise and pollution from the company’s power plant.
• The Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice are threatening to sue xAI on behalf of the NAACP, claiming the company’s power generation in Southaven violates the federal Clean Air Act.
• Beyond tax dollars, some Mississippi companies are benefitting from the data center build out, especially those supplying and building the centers.
• Mississippi has five data center projects and potentially more in the works. The artificial intelligence boom across the country is helping drive demand for construction workers, especially high-skill positions such as electricians and HVAC technicians. A bill that passed the state House last week would provide some funding for Mississippi construction training programs and could help meet the demand.

A dry spell for some Mississippi liquor stores

These are turbulent times for Mississippi’s alcohol industry as the Alcoholic Beverage Control warehouse, the state-run distribution center, is running weeks behind on deliveries of wine and liquor with no immediate remedy. 

• Some businesses are worried about staying open and losing customers due to shortages. 
• 1.5% of the tax revenue collected by the Department of Revenue in 2025 came from ABC.
• Lawmakers discussed potential solutions this week but it is expected to be another month before the warehouse is halfway through its backlog.

$65 million in investment coming to Mississippi

• Spartan Composites, a Florida company that manufactures composite materials, is setting up some operations in Lee County. It’s expected to bring in $49 million in investment and create 45 jobs. 
• Texas-based Firehawk Aerospace is coming to Lowndes County. The defense technology company will invest $16.5 million and create 100 jobs.

Share your thoughts with me on data center, manufacturing or wine. Also, if you’ve tried vibe coding, let’s chat. marketplace@mississippitoday.org.

Slightly more students are graduating in Mississippi, and fewer students are dropping out.

The Mississippi Department of Education announced Thursday that the state’s 2024-25 graduation rate is 90.8%, and the dropout rate is 7%. The numbers represent students who were freshmen in 2021-22, more than a year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The new figures are an improvement on last year’s, when the graduation rate was 89.2% and the dropout rate was 8.5%.

The dropout rate has steadily decreased since 2023, and the graduation rate has been trending upward for years, aside from a slight drop — less than 1 percentage point — last year.

The latest numbers, which do not include students who earned a GED or a certificate of completion, are lower for students with disabilities: a 71.1% graduation rate and a dropout rate of 14.6%. The graduation rate is still higher than in 2025. 

A news release from the department notes that the improved numbers are due to targeted interventions, including more options for meeting graduation requirements and a focus on career and technical education programs.

“These results reflect the hard work of teachers, administrators, parents, and, of course, students,” said Lance Evans, state superintendent of education, in a statement. “With continued support from the state Legislature to provide funding, MDE is committed to supporting students with innovative programs and educators with professional learning opportunities designed to produce continued progress across the state.” 

The Mississippi School of the Arts and Union Public School District graduated 100% of their students this past year, according to the state data. Other districts with the state’s highest graduation rates include the Mississippi School for Math and Science, Benton County School District and Alcorn School District.

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

On Feb. 3, the Senate Education Committee unanimously voted down House Bill 2, legislation that proposed a significant expansion of school choice in Mississippi. The debate that followed fell into well-worn lines of support and opposition.

However, I believe Mississippi could benefit from a more nuanced conversation about the matter. 

Mississippi’s public schools remain central to our education landscape, serving the vast majority of our children. They will continue to play that role regardless of new choice initiatives. Any debate that we have must be grounded in the fact that public schools matter, and they deserve our best investments. 

At the same time, supporting the central role of public schools should not mean ignoring the experiences of families who believe their assigned school is not meeting their child’s needs. This fall, Mississippi First commissioned a survey of a representative sample of parents in counties with C-, D-, and F-rated school districts that do not currently have charter schools. The results were clear: 

● 60.24% of the parents surveyed believe that only some children—or no children at all—have access to high-quality schools in their community.

● Only 17.5% believe that all children in their community have access to high-quality schools. 

● 91.8% of all adults surveyed believe parents should have a choice in where their child goes to school.

This data also aligns closely with my own experience. I am a product of Mississippi public schools, and my family exercised school choice more than 20 years ago by moving to a different school district for one reason – so I could attend a higher-performing high school.

That decision profoundly shaped my life and gave me firsthand insight into the power of attending a high-quality school. It is also why I fight for all children to have access to strong schools and why I am intentional about the schools my own children attend, a privilege that too many families do not have. 

When I speak candidly with other parents who have means – and set politics aside – many will acknowledge there are schools where they would not send their own children. Yet for the children who attend those schools, there is often no alternative. That reality deserves honesty, not defensiveness. 

It was the reality for many of the friends I grew up with. While I went on to attend school in one of the highest-performing districts in the state, many of my peers remained in a district that was later placed under state control for six years after spending nearly a decade on academic probation due to persistently low performance.

At the time, the only other option in our community was a small private academy founded in 1964, when many white families left the public school system to avoid integration. As a Black child, that school was not a viable option for me, and it is unclear whether it would have offered stronger academic outcomes than the public system. The district served roughly 1,600 students, many of whom did not have the means to move to another district, even if they wanted to. 

That experience continues to shape how I approach this debate. Choice already exists in Mississippi, but it is uneven, often tied to zip code, race and income. The question before policymakers is not whether choice should exist, but how to design policies that make access to high-quality schools less dependent on privilege and more rooted in public purpose. I believe this moment calls for a more thoughtful conversation about choice, one designed with a vision of all Mississippi children thriving.

In today’s policy debate around school choice, three primary approaches have been proposed. They are:

● Education Savings Accounts (ESAs): The Education Savings Account model proposed in House Bill 2 would allow up to 12,500 students to receive public funds for private education expenses through Magnolia Student Accounts, with half of those accounts available to students not previously enrolled in public schools. This approach would direct public dollars to private and unaccredited schools with limited requirements for academic transparency, accountability or evidence of effectiveness.

● Public School Portability: Public school portability in Mississippi would allow students to attend a public school outside of their assigned district, contingent on acceptance by the receiving district. While this can expand options within the public system, equitable access depends on transparent admissions practices, available capacity, transportation and administrative coordination.

● Expanding Public Charter Schools: Expanding public charter schools would mean authorizing additional tuition-free public schools beyond the narrow set of districts currently eligible under state law, where only 10 charter schools operate. The proposal that has been put forth would allow them to open in any district with a D- or F-rated school. 

Recently, Mississippi First released a position statement in which we oppose ESAs which fall short of bringing forth a design that supports strong public schools and meaningful options for families.

We support public school portability with caution. We believe that its effectiveness greatly depends on implementation guided by a high commitment to equity, and we recognize its limitations on serving kids who are most underserved.

Mississippi First strongly supports the expansion of public charter schools because they are designed to expand opportunity while serving a public purpose. In fact, for more than 15 years, Mississippi First has advanced evidence-based reforms, including public charter schools, not because of ideology, but because design matters. Choice is valuable only when it improves outcomes for children and strengthens the broader system. 

Mississippi’s public charter schools were created as tools for education reform, offering public options that are both innovative and accountable. While not every charter school in the state has consistently performed at a high level, charters are held to the same academic accountability standards that have helped drive Mississippi’s recent gains.They cannot selectively enroll students, and they must demonstrate clear parent demand and community need to open and to stay open.

National research from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes shows that charter schools can produce stronger learning gains for low-income students than their assigned traditional public schools.

Mississippi’s charter sector is still relatively young, but the early evidence is encouraging. Six of the seven charter schools have state accountability scores ranking in the top half of schools in the districts they serve.  The remaining three charter schools are still expanding and have not yet reached state-tested grade levels.

Strengthening traditional public schools and supporting high-quality public charter schools to open in more places where students need them are not competing goals. They are complementary strategies for building a public education system that works for every Mississippi child.

The question before us is not whether to choose one or the other, but whether we are willing to support policies that honor both. 

Angela Bass is the executive director of Mississippi First, a nonpartisan education policy and advocacy organization focused on public education in Mississippi. Mississippi First supports high-quality early education programs, high-quality public charter schools and effective teachers and leaders in Mississippi public schools.

A bill that would increase the amount of taxpayers dollars available to Mississippi private schools is, once again, proposed in the House. 

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, has introduced a bill that would increase the tax credits available to the state’s private schools through the “Children’s Promise Act.” 

The Children’s Promise Act, through which private schools have been receiving money since 2020, allows people or corporations to donate to private schools certified by the Department of Revenue and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to 50% of the donor’s state tax liability.

The program was originally billed as a way to give money to nonprofit organizations that care for foster children. However, a provision to give tax credits to private schools was quietly included in the bill. Private schools that have any students in the foster care system, students with chronic illnesses or disabilities or students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals can receive money through the program. 

To receive the money, that private school only has to have one student with diabetes or asthma, for example, and write a letter to the state Department of Revenue, the agency that manages the program, to explain why they meet the program’s criteria, according to Nancy Loome, leader of public school advocacy group The Parents’ Campaign. 

Despite receiving this money, private schools do not have to change anything about their accountability measures.

Loome said the act is a convoluted way to funnel taxpayer dollars to private schools. 

“We believe that any school that receives state funding or is supported through state funding should operate under the same rules if they’re going to receive taxpayer dollars,” she said. “This is the state saying, ‘The constitution says that we can’t appropriate money to private schools, so if private school supporters will just write a check, we’ll pay you back with state funds.’”

Lamar, who has served on the board of a private school in his community, has unsuccessfully tried to increase the cap on the program for the past three years. Currently, that total is set at $9 million.

This year’s bill would raise the maximum tax credit money private schools can receive through the program to $16 million in 2026. Then, under HB 1944, that cap would increase to $18 million in 2027 and $20 million for 2028 and every year after. 

“(Lamar) is relentless in his efforts to try to get additional funding to private schools,” Loome said. “He is not listening to his constituents. Mississippians do not want their tax dollars going to private schools.”

Half of the program’s tax-credits are specifically allocated to foster care service organizations. A new provision this year would allow unclaimed foster care service organization tax credits to be directed to private schools. 

The state Department of Revenue, the agency responsible for certifying the private schools that are eligible to receive funds through the Children’s Promise Act, could previously not explain how these funds are spent. 

House Bill 1944 awaits consideration in Lamar’s committee.

Correction 2/19/2026: A bill to increase the amount of money for tax credits for private schools has been introduced and is pending in the Ways and Means Committee. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the bill’s status.

In late January, Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, inquired about the status of more than $1 billion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had still not paid to New York health systems for COVID-19 expenses dating back to 2020.

Garbarino told NOTUS he is “still working with” the agency to obtain the documentation he requested in January to investigate the situation. The money still hasn’t been disbursed.

“It’s a lot of work that they did, and they were promised the reimbursement for,” he said. “And they’ve jumped through all the hoops. They’ve proven all the money that they were owed. And now they’re just waiting to get back. So, it really does affect their bottom line.”

Garbarino said he believes it is an issue that affects “all 50 states.” It is also now a problem compounded by the partial government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals incurred tremendous expenses to treat patients and prevent the spread of the virus. Hospitals hired more medical professionals, purchased more beds and paid for ventilators, along with personal protective equipment.

Local governments and hospitals applied for reimbursement under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program. More than 1,000 COVID-related projects await reimbursement, according to a FEMA employee familiar with the situation.

Lawmakers are now trying to figure out why. And some are questioning how much Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s rule that requires she approve all expenses over $100,000 is playing a role in the delays.

In a letter to Noem, Garbarino said the payments “remain severely delinquent and subject to a lack of transparency and communication with recipients and subrecipients.”

“While streamlining FEMA’s grant administration is a valiant and shared goal, ongoing

delays coupled with the lack of information sharing regarding the status of reimbursement claims places further strain on the ability of hospital systems to adequately manage costs and respond to public health needs,” Garbarino continued.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, told NOTUS he has also “heard that Mississippi is missing tens of millions of dollars owed” from the reimbursement program.

“Our hospitals are depending on this promised funding and each day of delay is setting our States back,” Thompson told NOTUS in a statement. “If Secretary Noem thinks that withholding or delaying releasing these funds is improving Government efficiency, she is fooling herself and doing a disservice to the American people.”

Matt Elsey, an executive at the South Carolina-based Prisma Health, told NOTUS in a statement that his organization is waiting to be reimbursed on “three outstanding projects” related to COVID-19 response “totaling approximately $116 million.”

“These projects have all been reviewed and have been awaiting final approval for obligation since early 2025,” Elsey said in the statement. “While FEMA has been very responsive regarding Helene-related projects (all less than $100,000), we have received no similar communication from FEMA regarding reimbursement for these very large COVID-19 reimbursement projects.”

FEMA responded to NOTUS’ request for comment after publication, stating that any “delay in reimbursements is a direct consequence of the ongoing government shutdowns and the refusal by Democrats in Congress to provide the necessary funding to secure our nation.”

“At the direction of President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are meticulously reviewing every outstanding request for eligibility. This standard review process is essential to restoring integrity to our disaster relief operations and ensuring federal funds are managed responsibly,” a spokesperson for the agency told NOTUS.

Slow reimbursements have increased financial burdens on hospitals already trying to make up for the more than $1.1 trillion cut to Medicaid that Republicans passed last year, industry players said.

“It’s long overdue,” Jonathan Cooper, senior vice president of government affairs at the Greater New York Hospital Association, told NOTUS. “And you see what’s going on at all the hospitals now post the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, and what’s about to happen with this huge number of uninsured about to occur, and Medicaid being cut, and everything else.”

Trump’s budget law pushed some hospitals across the country to reduce services, with a rural hospital in Georgia citing “cuts to Medicaid” as a reason for closing its delivery unit. An estimated 11.8 million people could be left uninsured by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“I would say that the money is more important than ever to really help provide hospitals, safety net hospitals across the state with the resources they need to deal with the current situation,” Cooper said.

In a statement to NOTUS, a spokesperson for the American Hospital Association said it looks forward to working with the agency to fix the situation.

“We have heard from our members about the challenges they are experiencing in getting reimbursed for work done years ago on behalf of their communities,” the spokesperson said. “This includes the distribution of billions of dollars’ worth of funds for hospital projects that have been approved by FEMA but not yet paid out as well asfor projects that have been reviewed by the agency but not yet approved and paid out. FEMA also is now requesting that hospitals return funding for projects that had been approved and paid out — sometimes years after the distributions were made. We welcome the opportunity to work with FEMA to address our members’ concerns.”

Hospitals in some states have only recently been reimbursed for COVID expenses. East Alabama Medical Center was reimbursed $4.7 million at the end of 2024. The hospital requested the money in 2020, and only received it after a local emergency management director traveled to D.C. to speak with lawmakers.

In May, Rep. John Garamendi and members of the California congressional delegation sent a letter asking FEMA to reimburse $460 million owed to California hospitals. Garamendi’s office told NOTUS in an email that the state received money at the end of 2025, but could have received it “earlier if Noem hadn’t had to review every grant over $100K.”

“Well for the hospitals themselves, they had to find the money to pay for the services when people showed up sick at the emergency rooms,” Garamendi told NOTUS about the effect not receiving those payments had in California. “So, there was a lot of expenditures that the hospitals had to make. They were busily borrowing money to make the payments that they had to so that left the hospitals with a funding crisis,” he continued. “And that funding crisis just made it impossible for the hospitals to expand their services.”

Garbarino said he has talked to Noem about “about getting a further brief” on whether her expense approval rule will be “permanent.”

“You want to go after waste, fraud and abuse, I’m all for that,” Garbarino said. “It can’t all just fall on her. She’s got to rely on some of her deputies.”

This story is provided by a partnership between Mississippi Today and the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, which seeks to help readers in local communities understand what their elected representatives are doing in Congress.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center closed all its statewide clinics and canceled many appointments Thursday and Friday after a cybersecurity attack shut down all its computer systems, an incident officials expect to last multiple days. 

The state’s only academic medical center said in a Facebook post that many of its IT systems are down after the attack. That includes the electronic medical record system, which stores patient medical history, billing, test results, appointment booking and chart documentation. 

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of the medical center, said at a press conference Thursday morning that all UMMC’s locations were impacted. She said the hospital was continuing to provide urgent, time-sensitive services using protocols that can function without electronic medical records, like paper charts. Emergency services will also continue to be available.

She said UMMC was trying to determine what would happen to patients’ personal information stored in the hospital’s computer systems, but the hospital had taken down the systems to prevent potential privacy breaches. 

“We are working to mitigate all the risks that we know of,” she said.

In addition to suspending its clinic operations Thursday and Friday, the hospital system canceled all elective procedures, except for those at the Jackson Medical Mall’s dialysis clinic.

When asked about what impact the attack would have on the UMMC emergency service communication system, Dr. Alan Jones, vice chancellor for health affairs at UMMC, said that system could operate independently of the regular hospital operations and should be capable of functioning during the attack. 

He said the university was working to set up a phone line for patients to get more information about rescheduled or upcoming appointments, in addition to creating an operational plan for providing other medical services.

The attack has had repercussions beyond the medical center. County health departments rely on UMMC’s electronic medical record system for their clinical services, and Mississippi State Department of Health spokesperson Greg Flynn said providers at the departments are now using paper charts. He said all local health department services remain open. 

More than 10,000 employees work across UMMC, making the institution one of the state’s largest employers, according to the university. Over 3,000 students are enrolled in the medical center, which has an annual budget of roughly $2 billion. UMMC facilities include seven hospitals and 35 clinics statewide. 

In addition to the main campus in Jackson, UMMC has sites in Ridgeland, Holmes County and Grenada County.

UMMC runs the state’s only Level 1 trauma center, programs that are best equipped to respond to severe medical emergencies. Woodward said the hospital is continuing to serve Level 1 patients using manual procedures.

The cyberattack happened Thursday morning, Woodward said, and the attackers were in contact with the medical system afterward. She declined to answer what the attackers have said or asked for, but she said the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were aware of the hack. 

Woodward did not answer questions about how long UMMC and federal agencies expected the cyberattack to last or how long it would take to restore normal operations once the medical center regained control of its computer services. Jones said UMMC has information stored on both local and cloud-based servers, and the medical center believes the attack was just on the local servers. 

The hospital system’s websites were down Thursday, including a site that shows which medical services are diverting patients to other facilities. UMMC in-person classes will continue as scheduled, according to Woodward. 

Update, 2/19/2026: This story has been updated to reflect that UMMC will again cancel many appointments and close clinics Friday.

Update, 2/19/2026: This story has been updated to show that UMMC officials say the hospital was contacted after the cyberattack, and that the hospital has been in touch with investigators.