JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Mississippi has made vast improvements in education that started more than a decade ago.

On Thursday, the Senate Education Committee heard from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE).

“In 2013, I like to say that we became very honest with ourself because there was… we were rated an F. We were rated an F, at the bottom or near the bottom and pretty much every category,” said State Superintendent Dr. Lance Evans.

MDE officials said the state reached its highest education ranking ever at No. 16, according to the 2025 Kids Count Data Book. Just over a decade ago, officials said the state ranked at No. 48.

State Senator David Blount (D-District 29) said the state needs to stay locked in on public education.

“We don’t need to divert public money into nonpublic schools. We need to pay our teachers more and support our public schools, and we’ll continue to make progress,” he said.

According to Blount, MDE has increased the rigor of instructional materials used by students.

“We have some of the highest reading scores, in some cases, the highest reading scores in the country, because we’ve got the right curriculum. We’ve got extra training. We’ve got coaches to help our teachers. And our students are doing very well. We need to keep investing in public education, so we can see the results just get better,” said Blount.