NESHOBA COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Gov. Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) spoke at the 2025 Neshoba County Fair on July 31.

Both Reeves and House Speaker Jason White (R-Miss.) discussed what they called education freedom. The initiatives on that front include consolidating school district. Reeves suggested eliminating a third of existing school districts in the state.

“This is the beautiful thing about these conservative reforms are that they’re not just helping some of our kids in some of our districts. They’re helping all of our kids in all of our districts. As an example, in 2013, Mississippi’s African-American students, when compared to their peers around the nation, were 45th best in America last year. They were number three in America,” the governor said during his speech to the crowd.

Reeves said he’s not sold on a particular number of districts to cut. He said the goal is to put more money in classrooms and reduce administrative costs.