AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-13-80, 37-13-81, 37-13-83, 37-13-85, 37-13-87, 37-13-89, 37-13-91 AND 37-13-107, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE NAMES OF THE OFFICES OF DROPOUT PREVENTION AND COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE TO REFLECT NEW DESIGNATIONS AS THE OFFICE OF STUDENT SUCCESS AND GRADUATION AND THE OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL PARTICIPATION, RESPECTIVELY; TO ASSIGN THE NEW TITLE TO INDIVIDUALS WHO SERVED IN THE ROLE OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE OFFICERS, TO NOW BEING REFERRED TO AS STUDENT SUCCESS AND GRADUATION COACHES, AND THEIR DISTRICT SUPERVISORS' TITLE BEING CHANGED TO STUDENT SUCCESS AND GRADUATION REGIONAL COORDINATORS; TO REVISE THE MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE FOR STUDENT SUCCESS AND GRADUATION COACHES BASED ON EDUCATION AND YEARS OF EXPERIENCE; TO REVISE EMPLOYMENT QUALIFICATIONS FOR STUDENT SUCCESS AND GRADUATION COACHES; TO REVISE THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF STUDENT SUCCESS AND GRADUATION COACHES; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 37-13-92, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
HB 1211 reorganizes and renames Mississippi’s state-level attendance and dropout-prevention structure within the Department of Education. It changes the Office of Dropout Prevention to the Office of Student Success and Graduation, and the Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement to the Office of Educational Participation. It also renames school attendance officers as student success and graduation coaches, and district supervisors as student success and graduation regional coordinators. The bill updates the terminology throughout the compulsory attendance statutes to reflect those new titles and to frame the work more broadly around attendance, graduation, chronic absenteeism, and student support.
Substantively, the bill revises qualifications, duties, training, and compensation for these positions. It creates two qualification pathways for coaches, requires annual training, and establishes a new minimum salary schedule beginning with the 2026-2027 school year that is higher and more detailed than the current schedule. The bill also authorizes the State Department of Education to employ up to ten attendance compliance officers to assist with data implementation, collection, and training. In addition, it expands the role of districts and the department in addressing chronic absenteeism through model policies, technical assistance, family engagement, intervention plans, and public reporting.
The bill also amends the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law to tighten and modernize attendance enforcement. It lowers the threshold for reporting nonenrollment and unlawful absences, shortens some timelines, and requires districts to adopt local policies on excuse documentation and family-engagement protocols by July 1, 2026. It defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of instructional days and requires districts to monitor, intervene, and publish reduction plans when rates exceed 10% for any subgroup or grade level. The bill preserves existing protections for private, parochial, and home instruction programs and does not create a new criminal offense for chronic absenteeism.
The overall sentiment reflected in the bill text is strongly supportive of attendance enforcement paired with student-support framing. The legislation emphasizes graduation outcomes, early intervention, family engagement, and technical assistance rather than only punitive enforcement. Because there are no committee transcripts or recorded votes in the provided material, there is no direct evidence of debate, but the structure of the bill suggests an effort to modernize and rebrand the attendance system while preserving enforcement authority.
The main points of potential contention are likely to be the expanded reporting and intervention requirements for school districts, the new local policy mandates, and the continued criminal consequences for parents tied to nonattendance. Some stakeholders may view the bill as adding administrative burdens or increasing state oversight, while others may support the stronger focus on chronic absenteeism, graduation rates, and student support services. The salary increases and broader qualifications for coaches may also raise fiscal and staffing questions, especially because the bill is referred to Appropriations as well as Education.
HB 1211 would amend multiple sections of the Mississippi Code governing dropout prevention and compulsory attendance, replacing older office and job titles with new student-success terminology and revising the duties of the State Department of Education’s attendance-enforcement structure. It would increase the statutory minimum salary schedule for student success and graduation coaches, update hiring qualifications, and expand training and data-collection responsibilities. It also would require school districts to adopt chronic-absenteeism policies, excuse-documentation standards, and family-engagement protocols, while preserving the existing compulsory-attendance framework and alternative-school provisions.
The bill’s tone is generally reform-oriented and supportive of stronger attendance intervention, graduation support, and chronic-absenteeism reduction. It appears designed to modernize terminology and emphasize student success rather than purely enforcement, while still maintaining firm attendance requirements. No committee discussion or vote record was provided, so there is no direct evidence of opposition or amendment debate in the available materials.
Likely areas of contention include the new district-level policy mandates, the requirement to publicly post and periodically review attendance policies, and the expanded role of the State Department of Education in monitoring chronic absenteeism and issuing model guidance. The bill also preserves and in some respects sharpens enforcement mechanisms, including reporting deadlines and parent-liability provisions, which could draw concern from families, districts, or civil-liberties advocates. Fiscal issues may also arise from the new salary schedule, the potential hiring of attendance compliance officers, and the broader training and technical-assistance obligations.