Senate Bill 2169: Assistant Teacher Pay

February 22, 2024April 12, 2024 Bill Tracker

Latest Action

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The House failed to vote on SB 2169 by the April 10 deadline, causing the bill to die.

Explanation of the Bill

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Senate Bill 2169 would prevent school districts from decreasing assistant teachers’ local supplements in years that the state increases assistant teachers’ minimum salaries. It would also prevent school districts from paying assistant teachers less than the state minimum salary, except for in certain circumstances. Districts that violate these provisions would face a reduction in Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) funding. 

The current law states that “no assistant teacher shall be paid less than the amount he or she received in the prior school year.” This could be interpreted as leaving room for districts to pay assistant teachers the minimum salary from the previous year even when the state minimum salary has increased. Additionally, school districts have been able to reduce assistant teachers’ local supplements after the state minimum salary has increased, effectively canceling out or reducing the pay raise. SB 2169 would prevent these actions. 

There would be two cases in which districts would still be allowed to reduce assistant teachers’ salaries below the state minimum: (1) if the district’s MAEP allocations were lower compared to the previous year, and (2) if the district received fewer federal funds compared to the previous year. In either of these cases, a district could reduce assistant teachers’ salaries proportional to the reduction in funding. 

SB 2169 is similar to two bills that were introduced during the 2023 legislative session: SB 2811, which died in committee, and HB 1365, which died in conference.