If Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science has its way in the legislature this session, enrollment could expand to include high school sophomores as early as July 2026.

Along with expanding enrollment, two companion bills in the House and Senate would also create a formal statewide advisory council for MSMS and allow it to operate as its own fiscal agent, a role held by Mississippi University for Women since the residential high school was established on its campus in 1987.

Each goal is aimed at promoting the long-term growth of MSMS and the success of its students, Executive Director Ginger Tedder told The Dispatch on Wednesday.

“(Expanding enrollment is) just an opportunity that we’ve been looking at for a while,” she said. “And while we were opening the (state) code for fiscal agency, we wanted to add all the different pieces that we’ve been thinking about. It fits together to grow MSMS into the future.”

Tedder said expanding enrollment would allow the school to level academic differences among students coming from different educational backgrounds.

“We have three different educational pathways – private, homeschool and public – so when those crossroads meet here, sometimes there are just different opportunities that those students have had. We want to try to equalize that a bit.”

Likewise, it would allow MSMS to reach students sooner in their academic careers, getting them in advanced courses earlier in their careers.

“To move that along more efficiently, we want them to have access to those higher-level classes,” said Thomas Easterling, director for academic affairs. “We are also going to emphasize some independent research projects in our curriculum in the next couple of years, and it will be much easier to get students to that point if we can start some of them at least as 10th-graders.”

MSMS currently serves about 240 high school juniors and seniors. If enrollment is opened to sophomores, Tedder estimates the school has the capacity for about 75 more students, though that would put both residence halls at maximum capacity.

“We don’t want to put a (final) number on that because we make no secret about wanting new residence halls to build for what we want to grow into,” she said. “… We just will grow now with what we have capacity for and continue working towards that goal of a larger dorm opportunity.”

Both bills also support the creation of a statewide advisory board that would specifically assist the State Board of Education in developing plans related to the school.

Tedder said MSMS has always had an informal advisory council, though it’s been paused since 2023. The legislation, she said, would simply make it a formal board.

The council would consist of 11 members appointed by SBE at the recommendation of the MSMS executive director and that state superintendent of education, including teachers, counselors or administrators, citizens or professionals knowledgeable in STEM and business and members representing the Mississippi Association for Gifted Students and state institutions of higher learning that offer degrees in STEM.

“Getting consistent information and advice from people who have a stake in the game and who are looking at things statewide will help us really stay on top of our game,” Easterling said.

Fiscal agency

Unlike traditional public schools, MSMS receives funding through legislative appropriations rather than through the Mississippi Student Funding Formula. MUW currently serves as the school’s fiscal agent, meaning it handles payroll, accounting and other financial operations on behalf of MSMS.

Separating the two may give the high school a better shot at securing more funding, District 17 Sen. Chuck Younger, R-Lowndes County, told The Dispatch.

“It just kind of muddies the water when you try to put both of them together when you’re asking for funding from the state,” he said. “(Lt. Gov.) Delbert (Hosemann) and (MUW) President (Nora) Miller and I in a meeting. He’s exactly right. You need to separate them.”

Both House Bill 927, co-sponsored by District 39 Rep. Dana McLean, R-Columbus, and Senate Bill 2517, sponsored by Younger, would establish MSMS as its own fiscal agent. The House bill was cleared in committee and is heading to the House floor while the Senate bill has yet to be addressed in the Senate Education Committee.

McLean and Tedder agreed the shift would align MSMS with other state schools, which already have fiscal agency.

“Overall, (the legislation) provides more autonomy for MSMS and brings it in line with the requirements that were provided to the Mississippi School of the Arts years ago,” McLean said.

If signed into law, either bill would allow MSMS to handle its own payroll, adjust procurement practices and reclassify employees as MSMS employees rather than state service employees, with written contracts similar to those used in traditional public school districts.

Tedder said she doesn’t expect employees or students to see much of an impact from those changes.

“The plan is for it to be completely seamless,” she said. “There will be some crossover … with our accounts with The W. … They’ve been great working on that with us.”

Additionally, the bills would designate MSMS as a local education agency, a classification typically reserved for traditional public school districts in the state.

The change, Tedder explained, is a legal requirement for the school to be its own fiscal agent. But it would also allow MSMS to apply for funding it previously had difficulty accessing because it did not have LEA status. Instead, the school has applied for grants through the MSMS Foundation, which would then facilitate the grants.

“We have a district number and a school number (like other public schools), but we’ve always been a state school, and the lines were blurred when the state is facilitating the grants,” Tedder said.” … But (if the legislation passes) we can apply for them and run them through our own accounts going forward. … It’s going to have a big impact for MSMS. We’re able to find more revenue and opportunities.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.