JACKSON, Miss. – Finding a way to give Mississippi teachers a pay raise has been a prime concern of the 2014 Mississippi legislature. A new bill proposed by the Miss. Senate addressing that issue was announced by Lt. Governor Tate Reeves at the State Capitol Monday.
If the bill becomes law, teachers would receive an immediate $1,500 raise on July 1 of 2014 and another $1,000 raise starting July 2015.
“That would put Mississippi as having the third highest starting pay among our surrounding states, making us competitive,” said Reeves.
Starting fiscal year 2017 the bill would institute a school recognition program, which would create the state’s first merit pay program. The program would give salary supplements of $100 per student to schools with an “A” or “B” rating and to schools that improve year over year.
“You give incentives for those teachers to not only work hard as many of them are doing in their classroom, but also work hard to mentor that young teacher that is in their school, they’ll work hard together to make sure very teacher is working hard to pull their weight. Our good teachers, we can’t ask any more of them.”
Reeves says the Senate is also working to pass transfer bill that came from the house that would create a teacher investment fund of $70 million from existing funds to make sure the first year of the teacher pay increase is paid for.
