Rep. Kent McCarty

03/06/2026

Earlier this week, the House’s original $5,000 teacher pay raise proposal died in the Senate after HB1126 failed to receive a vote in committee. This historic and much needed raise would have brought both average teacher pay and starting teacher pay above or in line with national and regional averages and provided us with a value recruitment tool in fighting our critical teacher shortage.

This morning, I was proud to join several of my House colleagues in offering an amendment to SB2103 containing all of the provisions of the original house proposal. Those provisions include:

✅ $5,000 across-the-board teacher pay raise

✅ $3,000 additional supplement for Special Education teachers

✅ $3,000 assistant teacher pay raise

✅ Reforms School Attendance Officer program to address chronic absenteeism

✅ Allows retired teachers to return to the classroom while receiving PERS benefits to address teacher shortage

✅ Ties Superintendent salaries to the teacher pay scale and local teacher pay supplement

✅ Brings Tier 5 retirement eligibility back to 30 years

✅ Provides extra retirement credit to LEOs and first responders, allowing retirement eligibility at 25 years of service

Both the amendment and the bill passed unanimously and will once again be sent back to the senate for consideration. The House has also already passed a K-12 budget that fully funds the provisions of this raise, which also sits before the senate awaiting a vote. It’s my hope that they will quickly consider this legislation so that it can be sent to the governor without further delay. Our educators deserve nothing less!

01/30/2026

A bill that would require all school boards members to be elected in the state of Mississippi passed out of the House Education committee.

An adopted amendment to the bill added the ability for the public to remove members through a recall vote.

01/16/2026

That’s a wrap on the first full week of the 2026 legislative session! This week I was fortunate to have OGHS senior and Student Body President Louis Schramm paging for me. Thanks for all of your hard work Louis, I know it was a busy week!

12/18/2023

Another year, another tree- our 23rd for those keeping count. I’d say it’s our best yet! We also followed through on the “Christmas tree selfie holding past Christmas tree selfies” plan from last year, so we can’t wait to keep adding these pictures to the collection. I love you, Little Sib!

**Also have to clarify that we actually got the tree up before Thanksgiving this year, I’m just a little late with the post.

11/28/2023

Thanks so much to Mississippi Early Learning Alliance for hosting this morning’s discussion about the integral role early childhood education and childcare access play in workforce development! We covered a lot of ground, and I look forward to turning some of these ideas into legislation in the coming session.

11/08/2023

A huge thank you to the voters of District 101 for once again trusting me with the privilege of serving as your representative in the Mississippi legislature! We’ve made progress these last four years, but there is still plenty of work ahead. I look forward to working on the issues that matter most to you, and to our state, in the next term.

If I can ever be of any assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach-out.

—Kent

10/14/2023

We had productive discussions today regarding JROTC in our state.

The data shows JROTC programs ensure higher graduation rates, higher GPA’s, few disciplinary occurrences, and reduces the rate of teen pregnancy. Today we spoke about how to support and strengthen existing programs, as well as, expanding additional programs throughout Mississippi.

Our state is truly blessed to have a group of dedicated individuals who are mentoring and instructing our next generation of leaders.

Those pictured below are:

LTC. Riser-Director or Rankin County JROTC, COL Brown-Director of Jackson Public Schools JROTC, Robert Hyver-Chief, JROTC Division, 6 th Brigade USA Cadet Command, Ray Morgigno-Interim State Superintendent of Education, Rep. Kent McCarty, Vice Chairman of Education, COL Farragut-Ocean Springs JROTC, COL. Pippen-Franklin County JROTC.

Mississippi Department of Education

09/28/2023

For Mississippi’s schools, the good news keeps coming! The 2022-2023 school year saw the highest ever number of students test proficient or above in English Language Arts, mathematics, U.S. History, and science, surpassing all previous pre-COVID scores by a substantial margin. And for the first time ever, more than 65% of districts and schools have earned an A or B rating, with only 13% of schools and 9% of districts earning a D or F— the lowest ever.

Locally, Lamar County School District has maintained its A-rating and continues to be one of the highest performing districts in the state. Our strong schools are the backbone of our community, and we cannot say thank you enough to the dedicated teachers, administrators, and support staff who work tirelessly to ensure all of our students receive the highest quality education available.

Over the last few years, Mississippi has become a model for the nation thanks to the hard work and dedication of our teachers and students— and we could not be more proud. Let’s keep the momentum going!

08/08/2023

Tomorrow is the primary election, so it’s time for one last push for my friend, Rep. Joseph Tubb! While I’ve served with Joseph the last few years, he has consistently been a fighter for Lamar County, an advocate for public education, and a common-sense conservative who gets results. District 87 is lucky to have him in their corner!

Polls open at 7am. As a reminder, some precincts have changed since redistricting last year, so be sure to double check your precinct at the link below. Y’all go vote!

https://myelectionday.sos.state.ms.us/VoterOutreach/Pages/VOSearch.aspx

07/05/2023

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

02/02/2023

On our first full day of floor action, I presented HB1369, which adjusts the MAEP funding formula so that funding is based on actual student enrollment, rather than average attendance. The vast majority of costs associated with running a school don’t change with attendance levels, and this much-needed change will provide a more reliable stream of funding for our schools across the state. I am proud to have authored this legislation and look forward to working it through the Senate later this session.

We also passed HB1365, a bill clarifying funding for assistant teacher pay, which Chairman Bennett amended on the floor to include a $3,000 pay raise for assistant teachers. This, along with last year’s $2,000 pay raise, brings their starting pay $20,000 for the 2023-2024 school year.

It’s still early in the session, but House Education is off to a strong start this year and I look forward to continuing this momentum as the session continues.

For more in-depth informarion about the legislative session, please be sure to sign-up for my e-mail newsletter at the link below:
https://kentmccarty.aweb.page/p/065cb602-a1dc-46c8-8f26-44ac49bd6032

01/10/2023

Finally! It’s a pleasure to have the hardest working ~honorary~ member of the education committee officially on the team. Looking forward to working with Representative Jansen Owen on these incredibly important issues that impact all of Mississippi.

Last session, I was honored to work on securing the passage of the START Act — bringing our educators the largest teacher pay raise in state history. This session, I’m happy to announce that I’ve ~officially~ been appointed to the House Education Committee.

I look forward to continuing to advance public policy through this new committee assignment for the benefit of our children, parents, and educators — and ’s future.