Jackson, Miss. (Clarion Ledger) – The first bills of the 2020 Mississippi legislative session have been filed and they include a Senate measure that would increase teacher salaries by $1,000.
Other Senate bills posted this week include a wildlife trafficking ban, authorization for a second state song, a requirement universities display the state flag or have their funding pulled, and a reduction of the size of the Legislature starting in 2024.
About 50 measures have been posted thus far, many perennial favorites that won’t get far in the lawmaking process.
But Senate Bill 2001, filed by Sen. Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, and Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson — newly-named leaders of the Senate Education Committee — should quickly gain traction. It would increase teacher salaries by $1,000 in the coming year. Starting teacher salaries would raise from 35,890 to $37,000.
The bill would also raise starting assistant teacher pay by $1,000, to $15,000. A separate bill, SB 2016 from Sen. Robert Jackson, D-Marks, proposes raising assistant teacher salaries higher, to $16,500.
Magnolia State teachers make among the least in the nation. Their average pay has been approximately $45,000 in recent years — about $6,000 below the Southeast average. Gov. Tate Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate, have said they want to increase teacher pay substantially in the coming years, to meet or exceed the Southeast average.
The Mississippi Association of Educators called SB 2001 “an important first step” in reaching the regional average, and said it looked forward to working with legislative leaders on the issue.
“This pay raise is not about lining teachers’ pockets,” MAE President Erica Jones said. “None of us entered this profession to get rich. This pay raise is about helping combat the teacher shortage crisis, ensuring every Mississippi student has a highly-qualified educator in their classroom, and making certain that our state’s educators are being paid a salary reflective of their worth.”