Education in Mississippi runs on two layers. The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) sets statewide standards, licenses educators and distributes state and federal funds from its headquarters in Jackson. Local school districts do the daily work: enrolling children, running buses, keeping student records and hiring teachers. Most people who search for a department of education office need one of those two layers, and the right door depends on the question. The offices in this directory span Jackson, Pearl, Starkville, Natchez, Olive Branch and several smaller towns. This page explains which kind of office handles what, so you spend less time on the phone and more time getting results.

How the Department of Education Is Organized in Mississippi

The Mississippi State Board of Education oversees public K-12 education statewide. Members are appointed rather than elected, and the board in turn appoints the State Superintendent of Education, who leads MDE. The rules the agency enforces come largely from Title 37 of the Mississippi Code, which covers public schools, attendance, teacher licensure and school finance.

MDE does not run individual classrooms. Instead, it works through its offices and programs, which include:

Day-to-day contact with parents belongs to the districts. Each has its own school board, superintendent and central office. That office is usually where you go to enroll a child, ask about a zoning decision, request transcripts or apply for a job.

Two other bodies are easy to confuse with MDE. Public universities answer to the Institutions of Higher Learning board, and community colleges answer to the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges. If your question is about college admission, tuition or a degree transcript, MDE is the wrong office.

Jackson, Hinds County and Rankin County: The Capital Region

Jackson holds the largest cluster of listings, and for good reason. It is the seat of state government and the home of the state agency. Our database includes the Mississippi Department of Education listing at 359 North West Street (601-359-3513), plus Jackson entries at 500 Greymont Avenue (601-576-5010) and 69 East Church Street (601-960-8725). Several of these may be agency, district or related education offices rather than separate state departments, so confirm which one you actually need.

Just southwest of the capital, Hinds County has a listing for the Hinds County Department of Education at 13192 Mississippi 18 in Raymond (601-857-5222). Raymond is a short drive from Jackson, but its office serves a more suburban and rural population than the city entries do. If you live outside Jackson city limits in Hinds County, your children may attend a county district rather than Jackson Public Schools, and the two have different enrollment procedures.

East of the river, Rankin County appears in our data through the Mississippi State Department of Education listing at 3550 Mississippi 468 in Pearl (601-351-8024). Pearl is one of the Jackson suburbs, and many families there commute into the capital for work. Because the capital region crosses county lines, an address can sit in one county while the nearest office sits in another. Check your district boundaries before you drive.

The capital area is also where you can most easily deal with the state agency in person. Even so, most licensing, reporting and records requests now start online or by phone, and a quick call saves a wasted trip downtown.

Starkville, DeSoto County and Grenada: North Mississippi Offices

Starkville is the second-largest city in our listings. The directory shows the Starkville Mississippi Department of Education at 401 Greensboro Street (662-615-0035) and the Starkville MS Department of Education at 803 Louisville Street (662-324-4170). Both sit in Oktibbeha County, home to Mississippi State University. That makes the area unusual: a large share of local residents work in higher education, and many arrive from other states, so enrollment questions about transferring records and proving residency come up often.

One Oktibbeha County entry, labeled Algonac Department of Education in Sturgis, lists an address on Louisville Road and a phone number with an 810 area code. That area code does not belong to Mississippi, so treat the number with caution and verify it before relying on it.

In the far northwest corner of the state, DeSoto County has a different character. It sits in the Memphis metro area and has grown quickly for years. Our listings include the Olive Branch Mississippi Department of Education at 1755 Craft Road (662-893-6540) and the Southaven Mississippi Department of Education at 2611 Central Parkway (662-349-6552). In a fast-growing suburban county, enrollment offices can be busy at the start of the school year, and attendance zones change as new subdivisions open. Contact the district office early in the summer rather than the week before classes start.

Farther south, the Grenada Department of Education at 357 South Line Street (662-226-0156) serves Grenada County, a smaller community along the Interstate 55 corridor. Smaller districts like this often have a single central office that handles enrollment, transportation and records together, which can make a single phone call more productive than in a metro area.

Magnolia, Natchez and Oak Vale: Southwest Mississippi

Southwest Mississippi is mostly rural, and the offices here tend to serve wide areas with fewer staff. In Pike County, the South Pike Department of Education is listed at 994 North Cherry Street in Magnolia (601-783-5417). The Natchez-Adams Department of Education sits at 170 Sgt Prentiss Drive in Natchez (601-445-2957), in Adams County on the Mississippi River.

Lawrence County appears through the Palestine Vernon Department of Education on Palestine Road in Oak Vale. Its listed phone number begins with 860, which is not a Mississippi area code. As with the Sturgis entry, call a second source, such as the county courthouse or the district website, before you go.

Rural distance changes how you use these offices. A parent in a small town may live thirty minutes or more from the central office, so phone, email and school-based secretaries do much of the work. Ask whether forms can be sent home with a student or submitted online. In many districts the school itself can start an enrollment, with the central office confirming it afterward.

Finding the Right Mississippi Office Before You Drive

A few habits will save you time with any of the offices on this page:

The listings below this section give addresses and phone numbers for each office, so you can compare nearby options by county and start with the one closest to you.

The Mississippi Department of Education oversees public K-12 schools, administers state and federal education funding, sets curriculum standards, and supports teacher certification and professional development across the state's school districts.

Department Of Education locations are available in 11 cities across Mississippi. They are spread across 8 counties.

Cities with the highest concentration include Jackson, Starkville, Southaven, reflecting metropolitan areas with large school district administrative offices and regional education agency headquarters.

Students, parents, and educators in Mississippi can access the state department of education for information about school accreditation, teacher certification, special education rights, and state-specific financial aid programs for higher education.

Department Of Education by Counties

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Students in Mississippi seeking higher education financial aid should complete the FAFSA early and check with the Mississippi Department of Education or the state's higher education agency for state-specific grant and scholarship programs with additional eligibility criteria or earlier deadlines.

Browse Department Of Education by county across Mississippi to find the nearest location.

Practical Notes for Mississippi Families and Educators

Mississippi law requires children to attend school from age six through seventeen, so every family with a school-age child eventually deals with a district office. The most useful tip is timing. Offices are busiest in late July and early August, and again when grading periods close. If you can handle enrollment, records requests or licensing paperwork in spring or early summer, you will usually get faster answers.

Educators have a separate path. Teaching licenses, renewals and added endorsements go through the state agency in Jackson, not through the district where you work. Districts can help you gather transcripts and verify experience, but the license itself is issued at the state level. Start renewals well before your current license expires.

Finally, remember that a listing labeled "Department of Education" may be a district central office, a county-level office or the state agency. When two offices sit in the same city, such as the several Jackson and Starkville entries, call each one and ask what it handles.

The state agency is based in Jackson, the capital. Our directory lists the Mississippi Department of Education at 359 North West Street in Jackson, with the phone number 601-359-3513. That is the place to start for statewide matters such as educator licensure, school accountability ratings, testing and child nutrition programs. Hours and department extensions can change, so call ahead to confirm which office handles your request. For anything involving one child or one school, such as enrollment or a transcript, contact the local district instead.

Teaching licenses are issued by the Mississippi Department of Education through its educator licensure office, not by individual school districts. New applicants typically submit an application, official college transcripts, qualifying test scores and a criminal background check. Renewals follow a similar process and depend on your license type and professional development. Because requirements differ by subject and license level, check the agency's current instructions before you apply. Your district's human resources office can help you collect records, but the state makes the final decision. Apply early, since processing can take several weeks.

Enrollment is handled by your local district, such as Starkville, Natchez-Adams, South Pike or the DeSoto County district, rather than by the state. Districts generally ask for a birth certificate, proof of residence, a parent or guardian ID, immunization documentation from the Mississippi State Department of Health, and records from the previous school. Requirements for proof of address vary, so call the district office first. Compulsory attendance covers ages six through seventeen. If you are moving between districts mid-year, ask whether the new school needs a formal transfer from the old one.

Homeschooling families in Mississippi file a certificate of enrollment with the school attendance officer for their district, generally by the middle of September each school year. That makes your district office, rather than the state building in Jackson, the usual first contact. The attendance officer can tell you where to send the form and what information it needs. The Mississippi Department of Education publishes guidance on the process, so review the current wording before you file. Keep a copy of your submission for your own records, especially if you move to a different district.

Start with the last school the student attended or that school's district central office. High school transcripts, attendance records and immunization files are kept locally, not at the state agency. For a school that has closed or merged, the district that absorbed its records is the right contact. Colleges and community colleges keep their own transcripts, so those requests go to the institution's registrar. If you cannot tell which district holds the records, call the district office closest to where the student last lived and ask them to point you to the right place.

Directory data is compiled from public sources, and a few entries carry mistakes. For example, the Palestine Vernon listing in Oak Vale in Lawrence County shows an 860 area code, and the Algonac listing in Sturgis shows an 810 code. Neither area code belongs to Mississippi, so the numbers may be wrong. Before you visit, check with the county's school district website or call a local government office, such as the Adams County courthouse for nearby southwest listings. Mississippi numbers usually begin with 601, 662, 228 or 769.