The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
A House bill aimed at increasing public school accountability in Mississippi awaits consideration in the Senate.
House Bill 1234, authored by Republican Rep. Zachary Grady of D’Iberville, would require public schools to publish data in a dashboard on the Mississippi Department of Education’s website.
Some of the required data would include monthly revenue and sources, vendor contracts, truancy and absenteeism rates, number of long-term substitute teachers and student-to-teacher ratios. Schools already regularly provide much of this information to the state education agency.
The bill to ramp up oversight of public schools comes as some lawmakers say they’re unwilling to impose extra accountability measures for private schools, even if they were to receive state money through school choice programs.
Proponents of the bill say that Mississippi public schools, in light of recent district takeovers and missing financial audits, need more oversight. But House Bill 1234 has drawn criticism from public school advocates, including Nancy Loome, leader of The Parents’ Campaign. She said the bill is especially egregious given House leaders’ stance opposing accountability measures for private schools and state leaders’ scrutiny of school administrative costs.
“This will be a big administrative cost,” she said.
Under the proposed bill, districts would have to publish this information in the dashboard by September 30, 2026.
Districts that fail to report the data timely could have state funding withheld, according to the bill.
House Bill 1234 has been referred to the Senate Education Committee, the same committee that killed a similar bill last year.
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
After numerous hearings over the last year, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, as acting chief executive officer of Jackson’s historically troubled water and sewer system, granted a 12% rate increase sought by the third-party manager he appointed.
Federal Judge Henry T. Wingate Credit: Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press
Depending on usage, residential customers’ bills may increase by an average of $8 to $10. The average bill for a household of four is currently a little under $80 a month, according to JXN Water.
In the Monday order, Wingate granted JXN Water’s requested hike while also ordering the utility to pursue some of the alternative collection methods proposed by Jackson officials and other opponents of the rate increase. Opponents had called the increase unaffordable for a city where 1 in 4 residents live in poverty.
But the rate increase is necessary, Wingate wrote, to cover the water utility’s $1.2 million monthly shortfall.
“We, the Court and the citizenry of Jackson, nonetheless, are in a tragic Catch-22,” he wrote. “Without the revenue from paying customers today, JXN Water cannot obtain the resources to fix the billing system and identify the ‘free riders’ tomorrow.”
In a press release, Jackson Mayor John Horhn noted a delay in federal funds reallocated to JXN Water last year is forcing the city to pay $1.5 million in bond debt service.
“Our position is simple,” Horhn said. “Jackson residents deserve a water system that is funded fairly, not on the backs of the people who can least afford it. We will meet our legal obligations, but we will also keep pushing for solutions that use existing tools like better collections, honest billing, and already-approved federal funds before asking every household to pay more each month.”
JXN Water bills northeast Jackson resident Aidan Girod received in the same month showing two different amounts due, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Wingate wrote in the order he was also troubled that rate-paying customers were shouldering the utility’s quest for financial stability. So he directed his court-appointed manager, Ted Henifin, to pursue several “needed structural reforms.”
“Where a system is operating in violation of federal mandates, the remedy is compliance, not delay,” he wrote.
The potential reforms include expediting the billing of 4,000 unmetered properties throughout the city of Jackson, opening an in-person service site where residents can discuss their bills, creating a publicly available “sample bill” to help Jacksonians understand their charges, and enhancing the debt collection of more than $74 million in outstanding arrears.
Wingate also directed Henifin to study whether it is possible to pursue tiered billing, so that customers can save on their water bill by using less water. JXN Water has previously said this could pose issues for renters who live in apartment buildings with a single meter.
In an effort to help Jacksonians afford the rate increase, JXN Water’s spokesperson Aisha Carson said the utility is opening more kiosks throughout the city where residents can pay without added service fees. There is already a kiosk at the Jackson Medical Mall.
JXN Water has been financially buoyed by $150 million in federal subsidies since it was created in the wake of the city’s 2022 water crisis. The dissipation of those funds was one reason Henifin began arguing for the rate increase.
Some have questioned how Henifin spent the federal subsidies. Wingate also wrote that he is going to conduct a “forensic analysis” of JXN Water’s expenditures.
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
To address Mississippi’s workforce shortage, some lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a program to help eligible students better afford an associate degree or professional credential in in-demand industries at the state’s community colleges.
Senate Bill 2522 would create the UPSKILL Mississippi Grant Program, a state-funded initiative that would provide last-dollar scholarships, which would cover the remaining balance owed after all other financial aid and scholarships are applied. UPSKILL would also provide a $500 annual stipend for books, transportation, child care and other materials. The Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid would oversee the program.
So far, there is bipartisan support for the effort, which passed the Senate on Feb. 9 and awaits consideration in two House committees before a March 3 deadline — Universities and Colleges; and Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency.
The proposal focuses on helping working adults or non-traditional students, a population with few resources or support outside of federal financial aid, said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford and chair of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee.
“We have so many working Mississippians and adults that don’t have a certificate or some compilation of skills or a college degree to help them,” said Boyd, who authored the bill. “And with this specific population of individuals, those last dollars are critical.”
UPSKILL would benefit adults interested in “high-demand, high priority” careers such as plumbing, HVAC technicians and construction, said Courtney Taylor, executive director of Accelerate MS, the state’s workforce development agency. Accelerate MS would be responsible for identifying a list of eligible training programs.
“We really need to have a mechanism that encourages more individuals to go into a job,” Taylor said. “So officials have been working behind the scenes to understand how this potential opportunity could work with federal and state resources to ensure we’re helping people get into these jobs we have available right now.”
Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, is the author of Senate Bill 2522, which would establish the UPSKILL Mississippi Grant Program.
Since December, Mississippi lawmakers and higher education officials have been discussing ways to encourage more residents to earn a degree or credential to boost the state’s workforce and, eventually, the economy. About 12% of Mississippi residents have some college experience but no degree.
If SB 2522 becomes law, the pilot UPSKILL program would roll out at a few community colleges in spring 2027.
Lawmakers modeled the proposed bill after similar initiatives in states across the country, Boyd said.
Tennessee established the Tennessee Reconnect grant in 2018, a last-dollar tuition scholarship program for adults returning to community or technical college.The program helped increase college enrollment by 45.1% compared to the previous year among adults who returned to college through the program, and upped credential completion 15.2%, according to 2025 data from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
In 2021, Michigan established a similar program that significantly increased adult community college enrollment by 38%, or roughly 620 students, in its first year, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
States’ recent efforts to invest in tuition-free college signify a growing push to provide residents a free path to higher education or training, said Brad Hershbien, senior economist and deputy director of research at the W.E Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
“Ultimately, this work requires time, effort and patience,” Hershbien said.
For Mississippi lawmakers and education officials, a pilot program may not be a sufficient way to gauge UPSKILL’s initial impact if it is created. Lawmakers and higher education officials should be aware of limits to collecting data for a pilot program, said Michelle Miller-Adams, a senior researcher at the Upjohn Institute.
SB 2522 calls for students to enroll into specific programs of study to be eligible for the last-dollar scholarship. Those restrictions could make it difficult to track data if a student switches careers or course of study — challenges that could also pose an administrative burden for college officials who are tracking the data, Miller-Adams said.
“It requires a lot of thought and planning and understanding where the barriers and difficulties are, and making sure that you’re working to resolve them,” Miller-Adams said. “That means involving the logistics of a lot of the parties. In our years of research, we’ve learned the simpler the program, the better.”
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
We saw another busy week as the 2026 Mississippi legislative session crossed its (hopefully) midway point. Some highlights:
Budget work starts early. Can House, Senate agree?
Lawmakers have begun to focus on setting a more than $7-billion state budget. This is a couple of weeks earlier than usual, with the House passing most of its 50 or so bills that make up half the budget, and the Senate doing likewise with its half. Now they have to reach agreements on the numbers. Most folks at the Capitol are anxiously watching this process, and wondering if it will crash and burn like it did last year. Fighting between House and Senate Republican leaders on most major issues over the last few years has created a dysfunction junction. Last year fighting over tax cuts and increases produced an epic standoff, with lawmakers ending their regular session without setting a budget. Gov. Tate Reeves called them back into a special session to set a budget, but many other initiatives, including a local projects, or “Christmas tree” bill to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars to local governments, died. Many lawmakers, local government leaders and lobbyists fear a repeat.
Lawmakers ponder ice storm aid
Lawmakers from areas hardest hit by the deadly Winter Storm Fern gathered last week for a briefing and to discuss federal and state aid. Mississippi Emergency Management officials advised they are still working on damage assessments, which will be required to apply for more federal assistance. Lawmakers said many residents are calling for federal individual assistance to help repair their homes, but officials said a decision on such a federal declaration could still be weeks away. Lawmakers are considering financial aid to help local governments pay their share of cleanup and recover, and even the potential for state aid to homeowners. One lawmaker called for an “after-action review” of the state’s response to the storm, which has received some criticism.
ABC problems create alcohol crisis
The House State Affairs Committee held a hearing last week on what has become a wine and liquor crisis in Mississippi. Problems at the state Alcoholic Beverage Control warehouse have resulted in empty shelves at package stores, restaurants and bars across the state, and officials told lawmakers resolving the issue will take weeks at the least. Some business owners say they are worried about staying afloat as orders are not delivered or only partially delivered. Some say ABC is still billing for orders it’s not fulfilling, creating even more problems for business owners. The problem has revived the long-running discussion of privatizing wine and liquor sales and distribution in Mississippi.
Quote of the Week
“Welcome to your Capitol, we’re burning through a few billion dollars real quick.” – House Speaker Jason White, addressing spectators in the House gallery on Thursday as his chamber passed over 50 bills to fund state agencies, part of a more than $7 billion state budget.
In Brief
Lawmakers want SOS to give prompt election results
The House recently passed a measure that would require Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office to create a website to track election results after polls close on Election Day.
No House member voted against the measure, and it heads to the Senate for consideration. Watson’s office has said it supports the measure.
Other than the media, no government entity provides real-time updates for statewide election results after polls close. If the measure passes, election results would still only be certified after they are approved by local election officials. – Taylor Vance
Speaker believes Senate supports online gambling
House Speaker Jason White believes that a House proposal to legalize mobile sports betting and pump $600 million into the state’s pension system would have the votes to pass if it came up for a vote. But White told Mississippi Today he wasn’t sure Senate leaders would allow a vote on the measure.
“We think it makes common sense and business to do it because (mobile sports betting) is already happening illegally, it’s better to regulate it and capture that tax revenue while looking for a dedicated stream of revenue to address the PERS (public pension) deficit,” White said. “I hope they will finally see it that way.”
Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount, a Democrat from Jackson, did not bring up a bill to legalize mobile sports betting in his committee and argued it didn’t make financial sense given the rise of prediction markets. The Senate has also sent a bill to the House to put $500 million of the state’s current surplus into PERS, in addition to putting in $50 million a year over the next decade. – Michael Goldberg
Bills would aid career-tech training in schools
The House and Senate are considering two similar bills that would allow school districts to purchase equipment for industry certification programs using career and technical education grants from the Department of Education.
Certified programs have included construction, business, welding and early childhood education. House Bill 1204 has been referred to the Senate Education and Senate Economic and Workforce Development Committees. Senate Bill 2288 has been referred to the House Workforce Development Committee.
The bills are part of a broader push this legislative session to fund career and technical education at all levels of education. – Katherine Lin
By the Numbers
90.8%
Mississippi’s graduation rate for the 2024-2025 school year, up from 89.2% the year before. The state’s dropout rate has fallen to 7% from 8.5%. Both metrics have been trending in positive directions in recent years, which state Superintendent Lance Evans said reflects “the hard work of teachers, administrators, parents, and, of course, students” and continued support of the Legislature with funding.
More Legislative Coverage
House tax credit bill would send more public dollars to private schools
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.” Read the story.
Legislators working to keep local opioid settlement money from being misspent
House Public Health and Human Services Chairman Sam Creekmore, a Republican from New Albany, and Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, have bothsponsored bills that would change the state’s opioid settlement laws. Read the story.
Secretary of State Michael Watson says Mississippi needs campaign finance reform
Secretary of State Michael Watson discusses his push for lawmakers to enact campaign finance reform, including transparency and searchability of reports for the public. Watson says he knows such legislation is a tough sell with lawmakers. Listen to the podcast.
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
Clinics within the University of Mississippi Medical Center network will remain closed and elective procedures will be canceled Monday and Tuesday as authorities work to recover the health system’s IT infrastructure following last week’s cyberattack.
People can still receive emergency department services in UMMC hospitals and at community hospitals in Jackson, Grenada, Madison County and Holmes County, according to a statement from the hospital.
“I know this intrusion into our system has negatively impacted some of our patients, but please know that we are using every resource at our disposal to resolve this issue in a safe and effective manner,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for the medical center, said in a statement Sunday.
Federal agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have been assisting Mississippi’s largest public hospital since Thursday when a cyberattack compromised the health care system’s IT network, forcing the shutdown of computer systems that hold patients’ electronic health records. Those records are used to book appointments and to manage patients’ medical histories, test results and billing information.
This shutdown also disrupted county public health departments, which also rely on the same computer systems.
Roughly 10,000 people work for UMMC, making the health care provider one of the state’s largest employers. Its facilities include seven hospitals and 35 clinics statewide, and UMMC’s annual budget amounts to about $2 billion.
The state’s only Level 1 trauma center is operated by UMMC, and it continues to serve patients through manual procedures, or using paper records to track patient care, Woodward said. Staff also have used this paper-based system to document inpatient operations and patient orders, Woodward said in a social media message posted late Friday. Woodward confirmed that the cyberattack occurred through ransomware but said, “we have stopped the bleeding.”
The attack’s full extent remains unknown, Woodward said.
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
What is missing in the current school choice debate raging at the Mississippi Capitol is an answer to this question: What happens to those students left behind?
School choice proponents, led by Republican House Speaker Jason White, speak about wanting to provide an option for students they describe as being trapped in poor-performing or failing school districts – and these proposals include sending public funds to private schools.
Education advocate Angela Bass, the executive director of Mississippi First, wrote in an article for Mississippi Today Ideas that her organization opposes vouchers or sending public funds to private schools, but supports expanding public charter schools. She wrote of how her own parents moved from a low-performing to high-performing district when she entered high school to increase her chances of receiving a quality education. Bass said charter schools would be an option for students whose parents could not move out of low-performing districts.
But what about the students who do not get into a charter school? Again, what happens to those left behind?
Public schools are mandated to educate all students and turn no one away.
House Speaker Jason White speaks during the Stennis Capitol Press Forum at Hal & Mal’s in Jackson on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Private schools can turn away students. While charter schools are defined as public schools and theoretically adhere to the same admissions policies as traditional public schools, parents must take certain actions to enroll their children in a charter school.
It is reasonable to assume that the parents who go to that trouble are most likely more involved in their children’s education. And in most cases, the children of the more involved parents are going to perform better in school – whether it is a charter school, private school or, yes, public school.
Perhaps there are parents who, because of their work schedule or their limitations resulting from their own poor education background, are less likely to be involved in their children’s education. Maybe, the parents are dependent on the school bus to get their children to the public school where they live and know they do not have the means or time to transport their children to another school – charter, private or even another public school – that does not offer transportation for the students trying to leave the failing school. Or maybe the family – even with a voucher – cannot afford the tuition and other expenses associated with a private school.
Sadly, perhaps the parent just does not care about their children obtaining a good education.
Regardless of the reason, those children who are left behind in the poor-performing public school still deserve a good education.
Can we all agree on that?
Yet, with school choice, funds are diverted from the public schools that are mandated to educate those students who are left behind.
In the 2000s, when Republican Gov. Haley Barbour balked at full funding of the formula for public schools, he and legislators agreed to form a commission to study the issue.
Many, perhaps even Barbour, speculated the commission would find the formula was providing too much money to local school districts. What the commission found is that the formula was allocating far too little money to educate low-income students.
Despite the efforts of many, the Legislature for years never found the political will to give to the local school districts the money the commission recommended was needed to provide an adequate education to the at-risk or low-income students.
The dirty little secret that most politicians do not want to talk about is that, in many cases, the worst-performing school districts are also the districts with the most poverty. They need more money than they are getting from the state.
In recent years, there has been a commitment to provide additional funding for low-income students. Speaker White, and others, helped lead that effort.
Is it enough money? Perhaps. Time will tell.
Perhaps another commission should be formed to offer recommendations on what is needed for students in those low-performing districts to ensure that no child is left behind.
To his credit, White seems sincerely concerned about students he describes as trapped in the poor-performing school districts. He said opponents of school choice have not offered an alternative for those who want to escape the failing districts. But what about those left behind?
The only answer is to improve the public schools for all students.
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
Scott Colom, a Democratic district attorney seeking his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, raised the most campaign money of Mississippi’s federal candidates by the end of last year, raising over $420,000 in the last reporting cycle.
But incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith still far outpaces him and other federal candidates with cash on hand, reporting more than $2.4 million at her disposal.
Colom is the district attorney for Noxubee, Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties and has not appeared on a statewide ballot before. To become the first Democrat since the 1980s to win a U.S. Senate race in Mississippi, he would likely need a significant amount of cash to build name recognition and run campaign ads.
Colom, in a statement to Mississippi Today, said his campaign team is building the strongest grassroots campaign Mississippi has ever seen and “this is just the beginning.”
“People in all 82 counties are joining our movement because they’re tired of having a senator who doesn’t show up and doesn’t fight for us,” Colom said.
Hyde-Smith has the power of incumbency, existing campaign infrastructure and the endorsement of President Donald Trump. But national Democrats believe the junior U.S. senator is vulnerable and have said they’re willing to pour money into the state to try to flip a Senate seat blue in Mississippi.
Nathan Calvert, communications director for the Hyde-Smith campaign, said in a statement that the senator enjoys broad support across the state and continues to break previous fundraising records.
“We recently held a six-figure event at Mar-a-Lago with many Mississippians in attendance,” Calvert said. “Now we’re planning a huge event in Jackson this spring with Senator Kennedy from Louisiana.”
Both Colom and Hyde-Smith are competing in party primaries on March 10. On the Democratic side, Colom is competing against Albert Littell and Priscilla Till. Hyde-Smith is competing against Sarah Adlakha in the GOP primary.
The party nominees will compete against Ty Pinkins, an independent candidate, in the general election. Pinkins raised $9,061 last quarter and has $2,979 in cash on hand, according to campaign reports.
Here are the latest campaign finance reports from Mississippi’s congressional candidates:
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.”
Tara Wilson’s double mastectomy was canceled due to the cyberattack on University of Mississippi Medical Center. Credit: Courtesy of Tara Wilson
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 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.
University of Mississippi Medial Center Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Dr. Alan Jones, right, speaks at a press conference in Jackson shortly after cyber-attackers disrupted the hospital’s computer systems on Feb. 19, 2026. Credit: Allen Siegler / Mississippi Today
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.
The audio version of this story is AI generated and is not human reviewed. It may contain errors or inaccuracies.
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.
Tourism banner on the Square in Canton. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
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.
