K-12 teachers won’t be the only educators in Mississippi getting a pay raise soon if all pans out at the state capitol.
As part of appropriations for Mississippi’s Institution of Higher Learning and the Mississippi Community College Board, community-college and university professors will receive a $2,000 raise. Professors at the University of Mississippi Medical Center will receive the same pay bump.
Lawmakers agreed to budget $918 million for IHL for Fiscal Year 2027, which is a slight increase from a year ago. IHL is comprised of the state’s eight public universities: Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi.
The Mississippi Community College Board is set to receive approximately $350 million, a 17% increase from a year ago, to distribute across the state’s 15 community colleges: Coahoma, Copiah-Lincoln, East Central, East Mississippi, Hinds, Holmes, Itawamba, Jones, Meridian, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi Gulf Coast, Northeast, Northwest, Pearl River, and Southwest.
The largest chunk of the FY 2027 budget is the Mississippi Department of Education, which both the House and Senate voted to fund with just over $3.3 billion. The appropriation included a $2,000 raise for teachers, assistant teachers, speech therapists, and school psychologists. The total budget is expected to round out at approximately $7.4 billion, roughly a 3% increase from a year ago.
Sen. Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said Monday morning that budget talks are close to ending. He commended both chambers for working early and often to finish the budget after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves was forced to call a special session in 2025 after lawmakers failed to agree on it.
“When you start a little earlier in the process and get after it, you can finish it,” he said. “There are still some moving parts … but I think when you start earlier and give appropriators time to kind of go through the process, it tends to work out.”
Lawmakers are expected to conclude the 2026 session by the end of the week.