The Mississippi Legislature continued with their second week of the 2022 session. On Monday, January 10th, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann and Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar spoke at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum luncheon announcing the Senate’s plan for a teacher pay raise for Mississippi’s teachers. The proposed two-year plan would have a total investment of $210 million, with $166 million in the first year and $44 million in the second year. Some highlights of the plan include large step increases for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of experience depending on the teacher’s classification and a $1,000 raise to all teachers. The plan will raise the base pay for a first-year teacher to $40,000 once fully implemented, while the average pay raise for all teachers will be about $4,700. Chairman DeBar stated that this plan would allow Mississippi to be competitive with neighboring states while also allowing for an increase that teachers would be able to actually notice in their take home pay.

On Wednesday, January 12th, the Senate held its first education committee meeting of the year. State Superintendent Carey Wright gave a presentation to the committee about the current state of Mississippi schools across the state. She reported that COVID-19 is still an issue in schools throughout the state. Many schools are still seeing increased absences of both students and teachers. Dr. Wright also included reports on how MDE has been spending their ESSER and ARP funds, the early learning collaborative initiatives throughout the state, and how graduation in Mississippi remains above the national average. Dr. Wright also stated that she would support any legislation which would change the public education funding formula from average daily attendance to total enrollment.

Also on Wednesday, January 12th, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed HB 530, the “Strategically Accelerating the Recruitment of Teachers (START) Act of 2022,” by a vote of 114-6. START is the House’s teacher pay raise plan which aims to make Mississippi teacher salaries competitive with the surrounding states. Chairman Richard Bennett presented the bill to the House floor and stated that this bill would raise starting teacher pay above both the regional and national averages. HB 530 would provide $202 million for a teacher pay raise and $17 million for teacher assistants. Under the House’s plan, every teacher would receive a pay raise of at least $4,000, while many teachers could receive up to $6,000. Teacher assistants would increase their minimum salary from $15,000 to $17,000. HB 530 will now be sent to the Senate for consideration.

Both the House and the Senate have made the issue of teacher pay in Mississippi a key focus in this year’s legislative session. They have dedicated large investments in the teachers across this state to ensure that Mississippi can stay competitive with its neighbors and to give teachers a long needed salary increase. 

MSBA’s Day at the Capitol has been postponed until further notice.