Turner-Ford
Roberson
A bill giving higher pay to Mississippi teachers and other school staff passed unanimously in the Mississippi Senate Wednesday. However, not everyone is content.
Senate Bill 2770 lays out a $1,000 raise for Mississippi teachers, teacher’s assistants, librarians and counselors over two years, with a $500 raise for the 2019-2020 school year and a second for the 2020- 2021 school year. Several high profile state Republicans including gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have voiced their support for a teacher pay raise this year.
West Point Democrat Sen. Angela Turner-Ford said any raise was a good thing, but she would still like to see something more substantial.
“Absolutely, I hope it will be more,” Turner-Ford said. “At this point it’s my understanding that the bill that was introduced in the House is dead, and the senate bill is the only one that’s alive that I’m aware of. Hopefully it will continue to get more money for teachers.”
She said the senate bill would go next to the house and return to the senate for a vote after the representatives make their changes.
Turner Ford said she and Sen. David Parker, an Olive Branch Republican, sponsored an amendment to the bill giving the additional pay as a lump sum on the teacher’s December check.
French Camp Republican Sen. Gary Jackson, who represents much of Starkville and Oktibbeha County, could not be reached for comment.
Starkville Foundation for Public Education President Leslie Fye objected to the proposed pay raise being only $1,000, saying it did not compete with teacher pay in neighboring states.
“What they have passed is $500 a year, which is roughly $40 a month, and that’s before taxes,” said Fye, a founding board member of the Mississippi Public Education PAC. “That in no way gets us anywhere near being competitive with our surrounding Southeastern states.”
Fye said a $5,000 raise would have gotten teacher salaries close to competitive with neighboring states.
"It’s disappointing,” Fye said. “It’s just disappointing, and that’s the best I can say. Certainly, you’re not going to say no to money, but it is not enough to convince me as a public education advocate, that they understand the seriousness of the teacher shortage in Mississippi, and it’s not enough to convince me that they are willing to make sacrifices for public education.”
Rep. Rob Roberson, a Starkville Republican and vice chair of the House Education Committee, said the raise would likely be more when all was said and done. However, he said it would have to go through the appropriations committee first.
“Frankly, our appropriations has to get down and dirty with the numbers and see what we can afford to do, but we intentionally didn’t take up the bill on our side to be able to take their bill and try to do something with it,” Roberson said.
Roberson said it was the start of the process on the House side, and called the Senate bill “decent.”
“The proverbial where the rubber meets the road is going to be how much are the teachers actually going to be able to take home, and what are we going to be able to afford, and are we going to consider any other pay increases besides the teachers,” Roberson said.