Mississippi lawmakers talk school consolidation, closures in state

• Mississippi legislators are discussing the consolidation of K-12 schools and districts to address declining student enrollment.
• Officials propose two main options: combining entire school districts or consolidating multiple schools into a single building.
• Closing individual schools is presented as the most effective way to achieve significant, recurring financial savings for districts.
• Consolidation is a contentious issue, with some fearing it will harm communities, while others see it as a way to improve resources for students.

Legislators unpacked the details of one of the most contentious words to echo around the Capitol in the past few years: consolidation.

Mississippi representatives met on Thursday, June 4, to discuss, specifically, the consolidation of K-12 schools and districts throughout the state.

Committee Chair Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, warned that districts with fewer than 1,000 students were likely the first on the list. Mike Kent, an interim deputy superintendent with the department of education, suggested that the state could see a return to one-room schoolhouses in some areas.

Mississippi Department of Education Superintendent Lance Evans laid out two options that the Legislature and school districts could consider: consolidation of school districts and within them. The state has generally preferred to combine school districts in the past, eliminating extra administrative roles while retaining all of the schools, staff and operational costs associated with each district.

This option can be easier and more favorable among community members, Evans said, but the real savings come with the consolidation of two or more schools into a single building. Kent, who served as the Madison County superintendent for nearly a decade, echoed Evans’ endorsement of a school consolidation approach.

In his time in Madison County, Kent told the committee that he closed East Flora Middle School and “immediately saved $1.3 million.” The district didn’t need to pay the operational costs associated with the school, he said, and those savings are recurring.

Districts could also stand to make money after consolidation, he added, by selling those properties. Those property sales aren’t guaranteed, though, as evidenced by the 14 Jackson Public Schools buildings that remain unsold as of June 2026. The district has sold only two of its closed schools, according to its website, with a third under contract.

Legislators have had consolidation discussions for years at the Capitol, sounding alarms among those who fear the dissolution of their community without a school as an anchor point.

“Consolidation has been such a dirty word for most people. They think we’re trying to tear their community down,” Roberson said. “And the truth is, if the school is what’s holding it together right now, more than likely you’ve got bigger problems. We don’t need to let the children in these areas be harmed by the fact that the adults can’t figure out how to get this together.”

Consolidation needs to happen, Kent said, but it is a lengthy process that won’t begin to affect people for at least a few years.

He referenced the genesis of legislative-mandated consolidation in 2012, pointing out that it took at least two years for any action to begin. In some cases, he said, those two years weren’t enough. Evans suggested that the Legislature develop a 10-year plan for consolidation to ensure enough time for study and consultation with districts.

The path of least resistance, Evans said, might involve telling districts that consolidation will have to happen among their schools and turning control of the process over to them. That would likely involve more community input and take politics out of the discussion, a factor that Roberson said is crucial to the success of a consolidation plan.

“When we were looking at this in Oktibbeha County … I’m not going to deny this, it was tough,” Roberson said of his own experience with consolidation. “There was a lot of push and pull, and the grownups that were involved in the politics really made this worse. There were dynamics that had to do with Democrats and Republicans, racial demographics that do come into play with this, but once you get past all the political push and pull … it was hard for you not to come to the table and say, ‘Oh, this makes sense.’”

Putting politics aside, Roberson said, consolidation stems from a simple discussion about numbers. The most important of those is 66,000, which is approximately how many public school students Mississippi has lost in the past 10 years, according to data from the department for education.

Fewer students, Evans said, means districts have less money, based on the student funding formula, and need to cut down on costs. The most lucrative cost-saving measures come from closing schools.

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One upside of consolidation, he said, is that larger schools and districts have more money to spend on things such as sports teams, advanced classes and dual enrollment programs. Rep. Kenji Holloway, D-Carthage, said that there were smaller schools in his area that could benefit from joining larger schools with resources they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.

Roberson’s preliminary 1,000-student benchmark is one idea that the committee will consider as it develops a guide for consolidation throughout the state. That number would put 27 of Mississippi’s 135 districts on notice for consolidation in the coming years. Another seven districts have just over 1,000 enrolled students.

Many of those districts are in the Delta, which has experienced the sharpest population decline in the state over the past several years.

Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered Mississippi politics since the start of 2026. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.