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The House’s education bill that includes wide expansion of school choice policies is dead, its fate decided after 84 seconds of deliberation by a Senate panel.

The Senate Education Committee met on Tuesday solely to discuss the House’s omnibus education package that included a school choice program that would’ve allowed public dollars to go toward private school tuition and homeschooling. 

School choice policies, which give parents more say over their children’s education by funding choices outside of public schools with state and federal money, have gained traction across the country and are being pushed by President Donald Trump’s administration. It’s a pet issue of House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, who has vocally promoted school choice in his chamber.

But as the House leadership and proponents of school choice have continued their press, reaching a fever-pitch in recent weeks, Senate leaders have made clear they are opposed to voucher programs that siphon money away from public schools — so opposed that there was no discussion when the committee considered the bill.

“I’m not going to discuss it much other than to say we’ve looked at it in depth and … this committee has passed most everything (else in House Bill 2),” Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar said.

After DeBar, a Republican from Leakesville, received no questions, Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, made a motion to vote on the bill. 

After a chorus of “nay” from committee members, DeBar said, “The bill dies today.”

While the House has filed two omnibus education bills this session, both hundreds of pages long and covering many policies — a tactic also favored by the Trump administration — the Senate has taken a piecemeal approach. The chamber’s education committee has passed many provisions in House Bill 2 as standalone pieces of legislation, including raising assistant teacher pay and making it easier for students to transfer between public school districts. 

The full House convened immediately after the Senate committee’s vote, but White refused to speak to reporters as he exited the chamber. 

“He’s not taking any questions right now,” said Taylor Spillman, the speaker’s communications director, waving a handful of reporters away while leading White off the floor. “Not right now.”

Later Tuesday night, White blasted Republican Senate leadership on social media and accused them of being in cahoots with liberal organizations.

“We are not deterred,” he wrote. “This issue will not go away. The Senate has anchored their support to the status quo. We are comfortable where we stand in our support from (the White House), (Gov. Tate Reeves), most of our statewide elected officials, faith-based organizations, business leaders, the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women, and the majority of Mississippians.”

It’s unclear how White will proceed. He was previously optimistic that the chambers would come to an agreement but suggested in the event that they didn’t, Reeves might call a special session to reconsider school choice policies. Technically, the chamber could try to revive parts of the bill by putting the same language into a similar education bill.

The Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor, a representative from Starkville, lauded the Senate committee’s actions in an email following the vote.

“Our public schools are the cornerstone of every community in this state, and this unanimous rejection sends a clear message: Mississippi will not abandon the students and families who depend on quality public education—no matter how much out-of-state money tries to buy our legislators,” he said.

But Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Poplarville who helped author House Bill 2, told Mississippi Today that the fight is far from over.

“Historic teacher pay raises, a historic increase in K-12 funding and a rewritten funding formula, elimination of the state income tax — every one of these major reforms was, at some point, killed in a Senate committee,” he said. “Every one ultimately became law. I look forward to continuing the debate — and the fight — for parental freedom.”

The House is considering giving all Mississippi public school teachers a $5,000 annual pay raise starting next school year, a move that’s been long-called for by the state’s educators. 

The bill would raise the state’s minimum annual teacher salary from $41,500 to $46,500, and would give special-education teachers an extra $3,000 a year. 

The House teacher pay proposal tops one passed earlier by the Senate, which would provide a $2,000 a year increase.

The House Education Committee and House Appropriations Committee passed House Bill 1126 Tuesday afternoon before the deadline for lawmakers to pass legislation that originated in their respective chambers. 

Rep. Jansen Owen, a Republican from Poplarville and author of the bill, said the raise has been a long time coming. 

“Teachers work hard, and it’s key that we compensate them for the work that they do,” he said. “Education is key to economic development, personal growth and success in the workforce. So this has been a key goal of mine to continue growing our teachers’ salaries to at least be competitive with the regional averages.”

Mississippi teachers are, on average, the lowest paid in the country. The Legislature last meaningfully raised teacher pay in 2021, and educators say health insurance premium increases and inflation quickly ate up that raise. 

Since then, teachers told Mississippi Today they’ve had to take second jobs and cut corners to make ends meet on their teacher salaries while the profession has gotten increasingly difficult.

The result: Thousands of teacher vacancies throughout the state. 

House Bill 1126 is the chamber’s second lengthy omnibus bill this session that addresses a number of education issues, from school attendance officers’ roles to retirement eligibility. 

The bill addresses superintendents’ pay, which some state leaders criticize, saying school funding disproportionately goes to administrative costs and salaries. It would cap school superintendents’ maximum pay at 250% of what they would make as a teacher on the pay scale in addition to the local supplement their district pays its teachers. 

The bill creates an $18 million program that would temporarily give extra money to districts rated D or F to focus on targeted improvements and aims to help underperforming districts struggling with teacher shortages. 

“These are districts that have legitimate issues that we’re trying to give (the Mississippi Department of Education) some money to go into and help,” said House Education Committee Chairman Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville. “This is not willy-nilly … We’re trying to figure out ways to find solutions.”

The legislation also includes a provision that would allow lawmakers to give assistant teachers a pay raise. The House’s earlier major education bill, House Bill 2, which included a $3,000 assistant teacher pay raise, was killed by the Senate Education Committee Tuesday afternoon.

The bill revises retirement eligibility provisions for law enforcement officers and other first responders, allowing them to retire earlier. It would also allow all other state employees hired after July 1, 2011, to retire at age 60 or at 30 years of service. Currently, state employees are required to log 35 years with the state before they can draw full benefits. First responders have been lobbying lawmakers for a special state retirement system after recent changes to the current one.

The state’s base student funding would increase by $500 under the bill increasing to $7,481 per student. 

Additionally, school attendance and dropout prevention strategies would be reworked under the bill, including giving school attendance officers a pay raise and redesignating them as “student success and graduation coaches.”

Still, Rep. Omeria Scott, a Democrat from Laurel, expressed frustration at the House Appropriations Committee meeting that the bill would not do more to address chronic student absenteeism, which has more than doubled in Mississippi schools since 2018. 

READ MORE: Why is Simpson County’s chronic absenteeism rate so high? School district officials want to know how to help

Scott wanted to add language to the bill that would require school attendance officers to immediately investigate why a student isn’t in school and to inform the student’s parents. 

Roberson offered to work with Scott separately on the issue, but opposed her amendment. Scott said Republicans failed to include provisions important to House Democrats, almost all of whom are Black, in their education reform bills this session. 

“I’m an African American woman sitting here in a state that is 40% Black, and I sit here listening to y’all talk about how schools are failing,” Scott said. “We try to put forward things that we think will help. When y’all put forward things that y’all think will help, we support it because we don’t walk in your shoes. We try to put forward things that we think will help because of the shoes that we walk in.” 

Representatives at the education and appropriations committees did not receive copies of the bill in full. Instead, they were handed a page summarizing the bill in bullet points. Roberson acknowledged that the bill was likely still riddled with grammatical errors because it had been changed “so many times.”

To make and distribute copies of the full bill, “we would be here another three hours,” he said at the education committee meeting.

Owen said the bill’s authors had gone back and forth about where to focus the teacher pay supplement and how to structure the portion that gives additional support to D- and F-rated districts. 

The Senate passed a teacher pay raise bill in early January that would increase salaries by $2,000, though the chamber’s leaders said they hope to raise that number by the end of the session. The House has not yet taken up the Senate bill.

Political reporter Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.

Bills to allow more certified nurse midwives to practice in Mississippi died in committee Tuesday, two weeks after the state was named in a federal lawsuit over how it restricts access to midwives in a place with some of the worst outcomes for mothers and babies. 

If passed, the legislation would have removed the requirement that Mississippi nurse midwives pay for collaboration agreements with physicians, preventing the state from being sued. Advocates say these arrangements are costly and do not promote competition or produce better health outcomes in Mississippi. 

House Public Health Chairman Sam Creekmore, a Republican from New Albany, said he chose not to bring up House Bill 418 in committee because scope of practice is complicated and conversations around it “take a lot of energy and time.” 

“I want doctors and nurses to come to the table, out of session, and figure out some kind of pathway,” Creekmore said. 

Senate Public Health Chairman Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory, chose to allow the Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 2553, to die in committee. 

“I think the whole area of midwives is something that needs more study, and we continue to look at it,” Bryan told Mississippi Today. 

The committee’s decision “bypassed an opportunity to improve public health and avoid the expense of a lawsuit the state is likely to lose,” said Rob McDuff, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney and one of the lead lawyers representing the plaintiff, the American College of Nurse-Midwives. 

“I hope the legislators can find another way to fix the problem before the federal court once again has to step in and correct the Legislature’s mistakes.”

Legislators crafted House Bill 1389 to license professional midwives, a lower-ranking branch of midwives who typically assist with home births, which passed committee Tuesday. However, the bill does not offer sections of law that could revive the nurse midwife legislation. The bill’s author, Rep. Dana McLean, a Republican from Columbus, said she has no plans to amend her legislation and would like to keep her bill “clean” to make passage more likely.

Those in favor of abolishing collaboration agreements for nurse midwives argue that doing so would increase the number of providers in a state where most counties are maternity care deserts. Midwifery care has also been shown to improve outcomes for mothers and babies and reduce unnecessary medical interventions. Certified nurse midwives are advanced practice registered nurses with certification in midwifery, rendering them the highest-ranking midwives. 

Getty Israel, founder of a Jackson-based women’s health clinic called Sisters in Birth, has spent five years trying to open the state’s first birth center. Midwifery-led birth centers offer women with low-risk pregnancies an alternative to hospital birth.

Among the difficulties Israel has had, restrictive collaboration agreements are at the top, she said. For Israel, it’s hard to ignore that a profession that is 99% female has been consistently undermined. 

“The collaborative practice agreement is a sexist, unconstitutional law designed to increase the incomes of physicians on the backs of certified nurse midwives,” Israel said. “It ensures that Mississippi consumers do not have an alternative to physicians who routinely perform medically unnecessary inductions of labor of low-risk pregnant women that lead to brain-damaged newborns and cesarean deliveries – the number one surgery in the state and a cash cow for physicians and hospitals.”

Bryan would not answer questions about why he felt midwifery needed more study or how he planned to study the issue next year. He also mentioned being “greatly concerned” of the trend where wealthy patients get a higher standard of care than poor patients. However, he would not say how that concern was relevant to the issue of nurse midwife collaboration agreements. 

Mississippi is one of 15 states that received a federal grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last year to reduce costs and improve outcomes around maternal health. One of the pillars of that grant involves expanding access to midwives. 

Meanwhile, State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney declared a public health emergency in August over the state’s rising infant mortality rate – the highest in the nation. Israel said lawmakers are turning “a deaf ear” to the crisis. 

“Although state legislators did not create the state’s protracted maternity crisis, their lack of action today perpetuates it,” Israel said.

After six months apart, Kimberly Bartlett’s ex-partner came back into her life and asked for a second chance. They had been out of touch after he strangled her, spent time in jail and went to a sober house. 

She said she knew better, and his contacting her violated an active domestic abuse protection order. But after repeated efforts, Bartlett said she gave in. One of his requests was for her to drop the domestic violence charge against him. 

She almost did. Barlett remembers having a conversation with a crime victim advocate with the Jones County District Attorney’s Office, who asked her, “Are you sure?” 

Men have killed women in domestic situations, the advocate warned. Bartlett replied: “That’s not going to happen to me.” 

Days after that March 2022 conversation, her partner strangled her again. While he held her down, he tried to beat her with a hammer, but Bartlett defended herself with a kitchen knife and survived. He was arrested and convicted that year. 

Bartlett’s experience motivated her to support efforts to create a public registry of repeat domestic violence offenders – a prevention tool to help people stay safe when deciding to enter relationships or consider their risk around a current partner. 

But for Bartlett, a domestic violence registry is also about accountability. She said punishment for domestic abuse should be taken seriously, not only when someone dies. 

“I hope and pray that the next victim makes it out (alive) because, believe me, there will be a next victim,” Bartlett wrote in 2022 when her partner,Justin Jefcoat, was convicted. 

Five bills were proposed this session in the Mississippi Legislature, by members from both parties, to create a registry. Tuesday was the deadline for any of the bills to be voted out of committee to advance, and all five of the bills died. 

Each proposed an online, searchable database containing the person’s name, photo, convictions and the county of conviction. A Tennessee law that created the first domestic abuse registry in the country inspired all the bills.

The Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence specifically supports House Bill 1312, proposed by Rep. Charles Blackwell, an Ellisville Republican, and Senate Bill 2791 by Sen. Kamesha Mumford, a Democrat from Clinton.

Other registry bills, filed by Republicans, are HB 1371 by Rep. Lance Varner of Florence and SB 2113 by Sen. Angela Burks Hill of Picayune. Rep. Celeste Hurst of Sandhill proposed HB 1708, which would require only one domestic violence conviction for a person to be included on the registry. 

Mumford, who served as a Canton municipal judge for a dozen years, started drafting her bill before she began working with the domestic violence coalition. Each week on the bench, she said she saw at least one domestic violence misdemeanor case. 

One couple appeared in her court multiple times for domestic violence offenses spread over years. In another case, a woman pressed charges against a partner who didn’t come to court. Mumford said the woman was killed two weeks later. 

In an age of online searches, Mumford said a registry can help raise awareness and inform people about warning signs or escalating violence. 

Beyond that, she said she hopes a registry can give survivors the strength to come forward to report abuse, especially if they see that someone before them was able to do it. 

“I think this registry takes some of the power away from the offender and gives power back,” Mumford said. 

Mumford and Blackwell’s “Purple Angels Law” bills propose listing those convicted of any domestic violence felony on the registry for life. If such a registry existed at the time, Bartlett’s abuser would have been included. 

Months after Jefcoat’s conviction, Bartlett was the victim of another domestic violence attack by a different partner, Dillon Fergsuon. 

In November 2022, they argued and he struck her multiple times on the head with a gun. Bartlett, who is a nurse, asked her father to take her to the hospital. 

While Bartlett was gone, her mother stayed and called for help. Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the 

Jones County home where Ferguson refused to leave. During a two-hour standoff, he and sheriffs exchanged gunfire, and he shot a reserve deputy. Ferguson, who was also shot, later had to have his leg amputated. Law enforcement used an armored vehicle to get into the home. 

Pictures of Bartlett’s home showed dozens of bullet holes on one wall. The front door was ripped off, and the bathroom counter was torn off. Blood splatter and a trail of Ferguson’s blood stained the walls and floor. She no longer lives in the home because the damage was too great to repair. 

Bartlett remembers sitting in the hospital and coming to an overwhelming realization: She couldn’t fix the situation or her home or cover up what happened. 

“This time it got so out of control, and I couldn’t fix it,” she said. 

Bartlett had often sent her children to stay with their grandparents to shield them from the abuse. But they saw her injuries and were scared for her.

Mumford said a domestic violence registry is a start but not a full remedy. 

A registry would be based on convictions. Some victims pursue charges and then ask for them to be dropped, sometimes at the urging of their abusers. Also, domestic abuse arrests or pending charges would not be captured. 

In Jackson, Jasmine Sandifer is accused of stabbing her boyfriend at the end of December and is charged with aggravated domestic violence, a felony. At the time of the stabbing, the 34-year-old was awaiting trial for stabbing another boyfriend five years earlier, according to court documents. Trial in that case is set for March. 

Oxford resident Amanda Topole, a domestic abuse survivor, sees how a repeat offender registry can be helpful for Mississippi, but she would like to see a more encompassing effort. She started a petition calling for the creation of a national domestic abuse registry that can track people from state to state. 

“I think it could help survivors make informed decisions and next relationships,” said Topole, who is 22. “It can definitely help with the past and the future, and prevent it from happening again, to be a deterrent for future generations.” 

Now that she is in a safe relationship, Topole said she has started to open up about the abuse she faced. Like other survivors, she knows what it’s like to never feel safe again and to remain fearful years after the abuse. 

What encouraged Topole to advocate and share her story is her baby daughter, whom she wants to raise to be safe and not susceptible to harm by future partners. 

Bartlett has also found healing through multiple sources, including a relationship with God, a patient and understanding husband and services through the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter, which serves the Pine Belt area. 

Jefcoat is serving an overlapping 10-year sentence. After serving half of the sentence, he would be eligible for parole. Current prison records list his release date in 2028. 

Ferguson is serving a 20-year sentence for aggravated assault of a police officer using a weapon. His release date is sometime in 2041. He could also be eligible for parole after serving half his sentence.

Bartlett said she feels sick to her stomach knowing they will be released one day. She’s already started taking safety measures and preparing for that future. 

Until then, she will continue to speak about her experience as a survivor, help others and advocate for domestic violence legislation. 

“I am moving forward, but I still advocate for the people that are back here behind me, the people that are still going through this,” Bartlett said.

Update, 2/3/2026: This article has been updated to show that the five registry bills died in committees.

RALEIGH, N.C. — School systems across the Southeast are dealing with weather-related school closures for the second week in a row, leading some to try remote learning while many prepare to add more school days to make up for lost instructional time.

A series of winter storms has left tens of thousands of people without electricity and made some roads too icy for travel, complicating efforts to reopen schools from Mississippi to Maryland. Some cities, including Nashville, Tennessee, still had unresolved outages from a storm a week earlier when another hit this weekend, accompanied by frigid temperatures. About 54,000 customers were without power in Mississippi and Tennessee as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us.

In Belzoni, Mississippi, Chiquitta Fields has stayed in a hotel with her four children and 1-year-old grandchild the past week because their home lost power during the previous storm. She’s shelled out about $700 just to stay at the hotel — a necessity because her granddaughter needs to be on oxygen.

The financial burden has been especially stressful because Fields, 41, has been unable to work the past week in her job as an assistant elementary teacher. Her kids haven’t been exempt from that pressure either, Fields said.

“It’s been stressful for them, with the moving back and forth from one place and to another,” she said. “Children don’t adjust well when you do all that.”

As her family’s situation suggests, the decision to close schools for weather doesn’t go without complications for children’s learning.

Absenteeism from severe weather can take a steep toll on children’s learning, according to a report from the Northwest Evaluation Association, a not-for-profit education research firm. Missing a day of school from a weather-related closure translates to almost four days of lost learning time due to other exacerbating factors in a student’s personal life, the firm said. Those added challenges can range from disruptions to housing to poor mental health.

Where are schools closed?

Public school systems in and around some of the biggest southeastern cities — Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis and Raleigh — are part of the wave of school closures this week. Other major Southern cities, such as Louisville, operated on a two-hour delay Monday after missing school last week.

In North Carolina, much of the state’s public school districts remained closed Monday, with some extending their closures to at least Tuesday. In Mississippi, one of the hardest-hit states in the latest storm, some school districts in the northern part of the state canceled classes through the rest of this week.

Power outages have also heavily contributed to school closures in cities such as Nashville. At the peak of outages, 71 schools had no power or partial service, according to a Metro Nashville Public Schools news release. All of the schools had their power restored by Monday afternoon.

Several major Southeastern universities were forced to close their campuses or cancel classes at least through Monday, including Ole Miss, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

How are schools making up for lost instructional time?

Some schools attempted a version of remote learning, but those efforts have been limited by power outages affecting students’ ability to work from home. In some cases, though, parents said their districts seemed well prepared to implement remote learning.

Olivia White’s children stayed home a couple days last week and then again Monday after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools canceled classes. She found her kids’ remote schoolwork manageable, adding that the school system seemed understanding of how families may choose to spend their time on a snow day. In White’s case, her kids spent some time outside building a snow fort and throwing snowballs at each other.

In Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Tennessee’s largest public school system, schools will be closed for at least seven straight days come Tuesday. Despite the closures, the school system said it is providing daily instructional resources and learning packets for students to access at home while they remain out of the classroom.

Learning packets covered a variety of school subjects such as language arts, literacy, mathematics and social studies, depending on what grade a student is in. The at-home materials also include mental health activities for students broken up by age group — such as coloring for preschoolers or journal writing for high schoolers — to address what may be a distressing time for kids stuck at home.

Other school systems have opted for a more traditional snow day, telling students they have no schoolwork and should go out and enjoy the weather.

Regardless of how districts implement closures, many are considering whether to add more school days to make up for the lost instructional time. Metro Nashville Public Schools told parents in an email that the district plans to convert a teacher professional development on Presidents’ Day to a regular school day.

___

Sophie Bates in Belzoni, Mississippi; Erik Verduzco in Charlotte, North Carolina; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

The state Senate on Tuesday unanimously voted to provide $20 million to fund the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s initial Winter Storm Fern response and recovery efforts, although it was not clear if the House would consider the plan. Hours after the Senate vote, Gov. Tate Reeves announced he is requesting a major disaster declaration for several counties.

Reeves said the state is asking the federal government for individual assistance and disaster unemployment and for money to aid local governments, including for debris removal. Damage assessments continue, and the governor did not specify how much federal money the state is seeking.

“My request is another step forward as we continue to help Mississippians recover from the historic winter weather storm,” Reeves said in a statement. “The state of Mississippi will continue to use every tool at its disposal to help those in need. We will not stop until the work is complete.”

Scott Simmons, director of external affairs for MEMA, said there’s no set timeline for the federal government to consider Mississippi’s request for help.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Senate leaders said they want to provide state money quickly as communities continue suffering from the ice storm that struck Mississippi over the weekend of Jan. 24-25. These expenses include deployment of National Guard troops and initial responses by the state Health Department and MEMA.

“The damage is costly, and Mississippians should not have to wait for essential help,” Hosemann said in a statement. “As recovery continues, we must do everything possible to help our communities rebuild stronger.”

The proposal heads to the House, where House Speaker Jason White said on Monday he had not communicated with the Senate about its plan. Whit said the House was studying the best way to help local communities with state resources.

Simmons previously told Mississippi Today that if the Legislature allocates more money to MEMA, it would be a “substantial improvement in our ability to respond to natural disasters.” 

The Senate measure would direct money to MEMA and would not provide individual assistance for Mississippians impacted by the storm. State leaders said more state and federal dollars will be forthcoming for recovery.

Hosemann and Senate Appropriations Chairman Briggs Hopson, a Republican from Vicksburg, said the Senate will roll out additional measures later in the session to assist local communities impacted by the storm, but they did not offer specifics.

Hosemann praised the work the state National Guard has been doing.

At least 25 people died as a result of the storm, MEMA said Monday in the latest update to the death toll. According to Poweroutage.us, about 35,000 customers in Mississippi remained without power Tuesday evening, down from a peak of about 180,000 during the storm.

Update, 2/3/2026: Reporter Aaron Lampley contributed to this article, which has been updated to show Gov. Tate Reeves has requested a major disaster declaration.

After three decades of working with patients and policymakers to improve Mississippians’ mental health, Joy Hogge is retiring this spring from her role as the executive director of the Mississippi Families As Allies, a nonprofit aimed at supporting children with behavioral challenges. 

Since earning her clinical psychology degree in the early 1990s, Hogge has treated kids in state hospitals; helped the federal and state governments better understand where health systems fall short; and advocated for laws that better protect vulnerable Mississippians.

In anticipation of her upcoming retirement, Mississippi Today interviewed Hogge about her mental health work in the South and what she’s excited about in the future. 

Mississippi Today lightly edited this interview for clarity and length. 

Mississippi Today: You weren’t always on the policy side of things. You started on the clinic side. Can you talk about that a bit?

Joy Hogge: Yes. I got my PhD at Texas A&M in counseling psychology back in 1992. I started working at a state hospital, and I ended up working with kids. I worked there, and then I worked at Dallas Child Guidance (Dallas Child & Family Guidance Center). Ended up in Mississippi when my husband and I moved here. 

I loved that work, but I would get really frustrated because we would bring families together with the different groups that were working with them, the different systems. I’d see every system when the family wasn’t in the room, blaming them. I just thought, “I didn’t go to school all those years to do this.” Once I came to Mississippi, I was introduced to Families As Allies — what it meant to really partner with families and let them take the lead in the care for their children. 

So I did that work at first, clinically working with families. I was the director of children’s mental health services at Catholic Charities, and we had a whole bunch of community based programs. We had a crisis intervention program, a crisis center, therapeutic foster care in home — all kinds of things where we used that model. In partnering with families, I came to see what a difference that made in my practice and in the programs we were running. It was very, very hard, and we learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself. But then, with families and with Families As Allies, we started working on designing programs together from the very beginning, so they were responsive to families. And then that led into policy.

Then, I ended up having a child. I stayed at home with him, and he experienced some challenges. I came back to work about 10 years later on (the policy) side. 

MT: You said something I found really interesting when you were describing your work as a clinic psychologist. That, if I heard you correctly, when children left the room, you often heard families blame their children.

JH: Oh, what I was saying is that when families, the whole family, wasn’t in the room, I heard the different systems blame the family. What would happen — I worked at a state hospital. We would have these treatment teams. First, it would be, say, us and the school system there. And everyone in those two groups would be blaming child welfare. And then child welfare would get there, and they would blame another system. But then everyone would blame the family once all the systems got there and say “It’s all the family’s fault that this child is having all these problems.” Then, we would get in the room and the family would come in. But nobody would be honest and say “This is what I think was going on.”

I just thought if I spent all this money and time to get a PhD just to blame all these systems and blame families, that doesn’t make any sense. And then, when there really are those honest conversations — where everybody is saying what they really think and families can say what they really want — you see they really know their children. They’re an expert on their child. Children are experts on themselves. It just starts shifting the whole picture. 

MT: When you became a parent of a child who had some challenges, were you ever worried that some of these same systems that you heard gossiping behind families’ backs were doing the same with you and your family?

JH: Absolutely. I remember when I started looking for preschools for him, I’d hear these “nicey-nice” things like “Oh, have you ever thought about homeschooling him? Maybe that would be the best thing for him.” And I was like, “Well, have you ever heard that he has the right to a free and appropriate public education?” Then, they would stop. 

But yes. I knew, because he had a lot of special health care needs, that I now have that child that sometimes the teacher might be hoping, “Oh, I hope he doesn’t come in today. Because it’ll be especially hard if he’s here.” That’s very hard. I think the reason I got this (Families) job is because when I had my interview, I described the first time I went to a school meeting with my child. I’ve been to a bunch with other families. And I sat in the car and cried, because I was too scared to go in. It was just a totally different experience as a parent. 

MT: Can you say a little bit about what you were scared of?

JH: I was scared they would judge me. I was scared that they wouldn’t do what was needed to keep my son safe at school. I was scared I wouldn’t know what to do — that I’d just fall apart if that happened. Interestingly, I thought back to some of those families that I first got to know at Families As Allies. And I remembered how they were just fearless. I thought, “Okay, I’m putting my big girl britches on and going in there. I don’t even remember what happened in the meeting. I think things went okay. But that feeling of “I’m going to be okay,” because I thought about what those families did for their kids.

MT: Eventually, you join Families As Allies. Do you join as executive director initially?

JH: Basically, anyone who wants to be a part of Families As Allies can be. Anyone who’s listening to this, I hope they know that. But the (former) executive director, who was Tessie Schweitzer, she was the one who I first met who mentored me. She was ready to retire — she had actually retired and come back. So the job was advertised. Some of the families who I had worked with way back when encouraged me to apply. They were saying “You know. You know what it’s like.” I thought about that sitting in the car. It’s that shared, lived experience among families or parents, or whoever’s raising a child, who’ve been through this. 

MT: So what year did you start as executive director?

JH: December 15, 2011. I’ve told this story so many times. December 22, 2011 was when the Department of Justice filed their big letter. 

MT: The letter is from the Department of Justice, saying they have not found the Mississippi Department of Mental Health services have adequately followed the law with regards to the Olmstead ruling (the Supreme Court ruling that says Americans with disabilities have the right to receive services in their community and cannot be institutionalized if less restrictive options are available). When you read that letter in your second week at Families As Allies, what goes through your head?

JH: Keep in mind, I’ve been doing all this stuff just on my own — working with Families As Allies just as a mom while I stayed home with my son. I had heard people from the mental health system and the Department of Mental Health, including the executive director at that time, talk about how they wanted to move to community-based services. I’m reading this (letter) and thinking, “Oh, all this is true. Only they left a whole bunch of stuff out. It’s worse than this.” I thought we would all start working on things together. I was getting calls, because I was one of the few people at work that didn’t have any vacation time. So that’s how it all began. 

MT: After the DOJ files that letter, what do you see as the response from the people named in the letter (former Gov. Haley Barbour and other state legal and health officials)?

JH: I remember going to a board meeting of the Department of Mental Health right after that, and they were very angry. They were saying “He does not have the right to do this to us. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

MT: He as in (Former President Barack) Obama?

JH: Yeah. It took me the whole board meeting, but I finally figured out it was Obama. I think the Department of Mental Health staff was probably a little more circumspect. And then there were different advocacy organizations that started getting together in the community to see what we wanted our response to be. There was actually a pretty wide range. Some people were saying, “We think the Department of Mental Health is doing a pretty good job.” Our organization was more concerned because we saw what was happening to kids. They were ending up institutions, because they couldn’t get the care they wanted. So there was a wide range of reactions. 

MT: What were some of those things you saw left out of the DOJ letter?

JH: One thing I didn’t understand at the time — that division is probably not going to do anything with school services. But the fact that for children, yes, they were ending up in institutions. They still are, and there’s still not the range of community-based services that are needed. But there’s this whole other issue of children not being able to be educated at school if they have mental health challenges that result in a disability that adversely affects their ability to learn. They’re not being accommodated, and they’re still being kicked out of school. So it was mostly things in the education system.

The Department of Justice, I thought, was always very willing to work with the state — really, I felt like, trying to lead them along and say, “Just do these very basic, menial things” they saw as an egregious violation. The state seemed to see it as an egregious violation of their right to rule themselves. 

MT: What was the state of community mental health services and community mental health centers in Mississippi in 2011?

JH: Keep in mind, I had been away, and I wasn’t working a lot with the community mental health centers. There weren’t as many types of services as there needed to be, and as there are now. There’s more now that actually helps people live in the community. It was more just focused on treatment. Things like giving people the support so they can have an apartment in the community and a job. There weren’t things like that. There weren’t as many crisis services. There wasn’t, and there’s still not as much as there needs to be from what I can see, much coordination between the state hospital system and the community mental health system. So the community mental health system might not even know someone was returning to the community from the hospital. Then, you have people cycling in and out, and that’s (what) the lawsuit ended up being about.

Editor’s Note: When asked about Hogge’s comments about the coordination between community mental health centers and state hospitals, Phaedre Cole, president of the Mississippi Association of Community Mental Health Centers, said communication has improved significantly between the two groups since the Department of Justice sent its 2011 letter. She also said there are always ways to further improve on it. 

MT: So 2016, five years later, the DOJ does end up filing a lawsuit. What is Families As Allies’ reaction?

JH: We supported it. There was a whole lot that happened up until that point. There was a temporary agreement that the DOJ wouldn’t sue if the state did certain things, and one of those was to complete an assessment on the children’s system. We helped gather information — we brought families together so they could meet with the experts. We did it on the condition that we could have a copy of the assessment. Because it was running on for so long, we wanted to be able to actually do something. And the state wouldn’t release those. The Clarion-Ledger sued, and they finally released those. One thing we said all along is that the information that was most needed was from people directly receiving services and their families. Because from what we could see, they weren’t being asked until that assessment. 

MT: So the lawsuit proceeds. But it’s dismissed in 2023. What was your reaction and Families As Allies’ reaction to the lawsuit being dropped?

JH: I was really devastated. I thought it was a travesty, because the Department of Mental Health was making progress — having to report what it was doing and be much more transparent with real data, not data that is just internally gathered and reported. That had been really helpful. I went — it was in October of 2022 — I went to the 5th Circuit hearing when the state was trying to get the lawsuit dropped. I am not a lawyer, but one thing that was just gravely concerning to me — and it still is — is that the state’s main defense seemed to be that the federal government did not have as much of a right as it thought it did to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act. I mean, I have a child with a disability. And here is the Solicitor General for Mississippi — now, he’s being paid to find the best defense. What he appeared to be arguing (for) would gut the Americans with Disabilities Act. Not just for people in Mississippi, if this went on to the Supreme Court. Not just for people with mental illness. 

And that terrified me. What really just broke my heart, I don’t even know the words for it, is the leadership of the Department of Mental Health, Wendy Bailey, was sitting there with him. I’m thinking, “You may not have a choice about how all this is defended.” But I had real questions about, “Do you understand what they’re saying?” What he appears to be saying is that (for) the people your agency is supposed to serve, we’re going to gut the law that protects them. Even if they’re going to do that, how can you sit there and appear to be complicit?

Editor’s Note: Mississippi Today reached out to Mississippi Department of Mental Health Executive Director Wendy Bailey about Hogge’s comments related to Bailey’s role in the Department of Justice lawsuit. In response, Bailey wrote in an emailed statement, “Mississippi has made meaningful progress, and I am proud of that progress and the partners delivering care across the state. While there are still gaps and areas to strengthen, DMH is committed to addressing unmet needs and improving outcomes through strong, effective partnerships that provide real services to Mississippians.”

Mississippi Today also reached out to Solicitor General Scott Stewart and the Attorney General’s Office about his argument in court. Neither responded.

MT: Former Mississippi Today Reporter Isabelle Taft reported stories about that time. In those stories, DMH’s response was that we’re already serving people in their communities. We (the federal government and DMH) share the same priorities. What did you think of that argument? 

JH: I’ve never understood that, because it was like they were saying two things at once. The only thing DMH was being asked to do was go by its own standards and to do it across the state with the programs they already have. So I don’t know why that was such a big deal if that’s what they were already doing. That’s always puzzled me. On the other hand, the arguments were consistently that the federal government does not have the right to tell us what to do. And there is a clause in Olmstead from Ruth Bader Ginsburg that the state can’t be asked to fundamentally alter its mental health system in order to comply. They (DMH) would bring that up, and I’m thinking, “It probably is an alteration for y’all, and maybe it’s an alteration beyond what you can do to actually go by your standards and provide the services to everyone.” Shouldn’t be, but maybe it is. So I don’t know. But how can both those things be true at once? 

MT: So two and a half years after the lawsuit is dropped, how close do you think DMH is to following all the provisions related to Olmstead with regards to mental disabilities among adults and children?

JH: If you’re asking me are they doing what that lawsuit required them to do, they are probably closer. Whether or not we have a mental health system that helps all people with mental illness in the state have the opportunity to be in the community and live and work in the community (and for children, go to school), that’s a much different question. I’m not sure how much closer we are to that. 

MT: When you look back on your career impacting mental health systems from the clinical all the way to the policy advocacy side in Mississippi, what are you most proud of? 

JH: I think maybe my own increasing recognition that unless whatever is done — whether it’s with one family, or one person, or building a program, or working on a policy — unless it is done from the very beginning with the people that policy, or that therapy, or that program are about. Unless it’s done truly in partnership, and preferably with them leading, it’s not going to be meaningful. And I have been so struck by that over and over again, and so humbled by that in my own work. I didn’t like learning that lesson, and I have to relearn it every day. And it’s hard. I say the one thing you have to give up is control. I don’t like that at all, but it’s transformative. I am proud that looking back, I think I made that happen more and more with individual families, with programs and with policy. That trajectory got stronger over the course of my career. 

MT: You think Families As Allies now compared to when you first got involved is better at involving the people most impacted by the health issue with some of your advocacy work?

JH: I think so. The lawsuit and COVID really opened up a lot of opportunities. The lawsuit allowed us to really encourage families to just start coming to things like (Department of) Mental Health board meetings and these meetings with the Department of Justice. And people hadn’t done that before. Other groups seemed really nervous if the Department of Justice asked, “Can you help bring families together?” We just did it. I remember I called the Department of Mental Health and said, “This is what we’re doing. And if y’all want to get families together and talk to them about what they want to see from the mental health system, we’ll do it for you, too.” That just seemed like the thing to do. 

When COVID happened, we started emphasizing our newsletter a lot more, and it started coming out once a week. Haven’t been as good about that the last few months. But that allowed us to do a lot more updates, like on the lawsuit, and really get a lot of information out there to families. I think that made a difference. And then policymakers seemed to get interested. 

MT: What is your hope, not only for advocacy groups like Families As Allies, after you retire, but also for the state of mental health services in Mississippi?

JH: There’s this dilemma, because we get money from the Department of Mental Health, and several groups that do work related to mental health advocacy do. That’s not uncommon, but it creates a tension. So I hope there will be a continued commitment to dealing with that tension by always being led by the people the issue is about. 

I am just struck when I’m talking to people who are newer to this work and a lot younger than me. (I hope) there will be a continued commitment to look at how we can fund and do this work creatively so it’s not so dependent on the funding, it’s not so dependent on the systems. 

MT: Is there anything you’re excited to talk about now that you won’t be part of an organization getting funding from DMH? 

JH: Well, probably everything I’ve said in this interview. I was in this weird position because during the time I was staying home with my son, I just went up to the Legislature and said whatever I wanted. I worked with Families As Allies, but I wasn’t getting any money. When I got my job as the executive director of this organization that does advocacy work, I had to tone it back. Because we were getting money. From not just mental health, we also have gotten it from different state systems. But that’s the one that would be most concerning as far as saying something. 

MT: To clarify, they (Department of Mental Health) weren’t explicitly saying “you need to tone it back?” 

JH: Right. I think just being able to talk as freely as I have today, and to continue to explore the idea of, could the mental health system be structured differently and work better for more Mississippians. Or am I the only one that thinks that? Or if people explored that more, that whole model of having it be based on overall outcomes for the state. I would love to explore that more. 

I’m the president of the board of the National Federation of Families, which is our parent organization. I’m excited about being able to do more with that because I have more time. I’m just, I’m excited about the opportunities. And I’m getting to do a couple things in the next few weeks that are more learning about things at the national level. I’m going to a national peer support summit planning that I got invited to go to. I’m learning some more about child welfare. I’m excited about those things, and just having a chance to learn without having to be responsible for a whole lot of other things, too.

Chicago native Ajani Crenshaw, a Tougaloo College junior, and his father are fans of the NFL’s Bears, but they will be at the Super Bowl on Sunday in Santa Clara, California, to watch the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots clash.

Things have only gotten better since Crenshaw received free tickets to a Bears-Lions football game at Soldier Field in Chicago for him, his father and his brothers.

The tickets were a gift from Students Demand Action, the student branch of gun violence prevention organization Everytown. Crenshaw is part of Everytown’s Survivor Fellowship Program for Students.

Four days before the game, they literally jumped for joy after learning they’d get free parking. A few days after that, they learned they had gotten passes to be on the field.

“At that point, we just didn’t know how to react,” Crenshaw recalled. “We thought it could never get better than this.”

It could, and it did.

The day of the game, they met Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey and Kate Rackow, the team’s player and alumni relations manager. Rackow took them to the field to take pictures, then brought out former Bears running back Tarik Cohen. Cohen commended Crenshaw for his work in gun violence prevention before sharing the big surprise: two tickets and an all-inclusive trip to Super Bowl LX.

The moment was captured on video and posted to the Bears’ social media pages. Crenshaw and his family jumped and screamed in pure excitement at the news.

Crenshaw said he also recieved on-field passes and a free Bears running back Kyle Monangai jersey. He plans to attend the Super Bowl with his father, who he describes as a “great influence” and a “diehard Bears fan.”

In addition to his work at Everytown, Crenshaw is the founder and chief executive officer of Capitol Dreamers, a nonprofit dedicated to gun violence prevention through education, advocacy and community action.

“My goal is to work with young people to not only help them understand the policy that goes into gun violence prevention, but also how to use their voices in their own way, and how to be a part of the solution rather than just being a statistic and being a part of the problem,” he said.

In his time as an advocate, he has hosted firearm safety forums, partnered with gun and pawn shops on a suicide prevention initiative and more. He previously worked as a legislative intern for Illinois state Rep. Joyce Mason and was part of the 2024 cohort of Stanford Law Scholars.

At Tougaloo, Crenshaw majors in political science with a double minor in pre-law and public policy administration. He is president of the Gamma Upsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a member of the Reuben V. Anderson Pre-Law Society. He has also worked on voter registration efforts and addressing food disparities.

Growing up in Chicago, gun violence was always a prevalent issue. Crenshaw got involved in social justice and politics as he got older, which helped him realize how prominent gun violence was across the country.

“You see the headline, you know, ‘Multiple killed over the weekend in Chicago.’ You know we see it. We hear it,” he said. “But what we don’t see in the headlines is all the grassroots organizers and all the policies that are being put into place to decline this violence in our communities.”

He added, “Being from the Chicago area has really influenced me not because of the violence I see, but because of the progress I see.”

Crenshaw chose Tougaloo for its pre-law program and its rich history of civil rights activism. During the Civil Rights Movement, the campus was a safe haven for activists and organizers and a hub of student activism.

“We are incredibly proud to see one of our students recognized by the Chicago Bears for work that not only honors our legacy of advocacy, but actively shapes a safer future for communities across the nation,” Allilia Price, Tougaloo’s vice president of institutional advancement, said in a press release.

Tanesha Wade, the Chicago Bears’ chief impact officer and executive vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, said: “We are proud to provide this opportunity to Ajani in recognition of the leadership, courage and impact he continues to make as a gun violence prevention and education advocate.”

In a statement, Moms Demand Action’s Executive Director Angela Ferrell-Zabala praised the Chicago Bears for their support for the gun violence prevention movement. “To see them honor Ajani in this way, in recognition of his leadership and tireless work, is truly special,” she said.

Crenshaw plans to prepare for the Law School Admission Test and wants to attend law school. His ultimate goal is to become a civil rights attorney.

“You don’t need a title, you don’t need much money and you really don’t need permission from anybody to make a difference in your community,” he said.

“All it really takes is consistency and a willingness to serve your community.”   

A long-told family story, passed down through generations, took on new meaning when Rep. Bryant Clark learned the history behind it in school. 

Clark’s ancestor, William Henry Clark, was born enslaved in Hinds County two centuries ago. During Reconstruction, a white friend warned William Henry Clark to leave town, saying he had been told to kill him. William Henry Clark fled to the Mississippi River to work on boats before he eventually returned to the area.

The Clark family told that story time and time again at family reunions and dinners. Then while in high school, Clark learned about the Clinton Massacre of 1875, which catalyzed a period of violence when dozens of Black Mississippians were killed. Clark realized his predecessor had fled the massacre.

What “had just been a family folk tale became a reality to me,” he said. “That’s when it really dawned on me that these aren’t just words on paper … That changed the way I looked at everything.”

Now Clark is one of the three Democrats — including Rep. John Hines of Greenville and Rep. Omeria Scott of Laurel — who have filed bills in the House requiring that public K-12 schools teach a comprehensive history of Mississippi. The representatives cite fears that the state’s history is being erased — a history that’s impossible to teach without acknowledging the struggles and successes of Black Mississippians. 

Lawmakers have filed similar bills in years past, but the representatives say recent changes to how history is taught in Mississippi classrooms, injects new importance — and urgency — this session. 

Last year, the Legislature passed a bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum in schools. Its language is vague, and doesn’t specify what is prohibited under the new law, but some educators and parents say they’re afraid the law could bar teaching Black history. The law is not yet being enforced because of a lawsuit that spurred a temporary pause, but that ruling has been appealed.

At least 20 states have passed laws restricting how history is taught in schools, especially instruction involving race and inequality. These efforts, which Republicans say combat a left-wing agenda, have included book bans and curriculum changes.

Hines and Clark say the bans speak to a concerted effort to wipe the country’s history, its Black history in particular, from record. 

The bans are an effort to “whitewash history,” Clark said. “I just think that a comprehensive course, and reaching out to different groups to sit down and help formulate that curriculum, is important in educating our kids.”

The three Democrats’ bills require “particular emphasis on the significant political, social, economic and cultural issues of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which have impacted the diverse ethnic and racial populations of the state.”

The Mississippi Studies standards include instruction about slavery, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement — all from a state perspective. 

Still, Hines isn’t convinced the standards are being met consistently and comprehensively. 

“Part of the problem in society is that we are not willing to learn what the other folks are doing,” he said. “ We shouldn’t run from our past — we should embrace it because it makes us a better society.”

But the representatives’ bills face a bleak future. 

Tuesday is the deadline for committees to pass bills from their own chamber. If a bill does not advance out of committee by that deadline, the measure will effectively die. 

And as of Monday, Rep. Rob Roberson, a Republican from Starkville and chairman of the House Education Committee, said he had no plans to take up any of the bills.

Roberson said the representatives haven’t talked to him about their history bills. 

“If I don’t have somebody communicate with me, I don’t have a tendency to go back and look at it,” he said. “I certainly think Black history’s important. All history is important.”

State Rep. Zakiya Summers has filed the House version of the “Robert G. Clark Jr. Voting Rights Act.” It’s an effort to get out in front of what many expect will be the further dismantling of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Summers isn’t extremely optimistic about the measure’s passage in the Mississippi Legislature this year, but says she and other lawmakers are trying to educate people about the dire impact voters could see from damage to the VRA.