To say this has been a big week for teacher pay would be an understatement. On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann and Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar announced a proposal to restructure the state’s teacher salary schedule in a way that would, according to Hosemann and DeBar, provide an average raise of $4,700 over two…
Read MoreTeacher Pay: Education Committee Public Comment
By Toren Ballard I Director of K-12 Policy This week, the Senate Education Committee hosted hearings on the teacher pay raise. We submitted public comment which included three strategies.
Read MoreLearning More About Teacher Preparation: The Latest Title II Data
This analysis provides a follow-up to teacher preparation trends discussed in Mississippi First’s Nothing in the Pipes: Educator Crisis in Mississippi, which was published in December 2020 and represents our first major report on the ongoing teacher shortage in Mississippi. In Nothing in the Pipes: Educator Crisis in Mississippi, we make the case that the…
Read MoreWhat HB 852 means for current and prospective educators in Mississippi
With the passage of HB 852, Mississippi public school teachers are poised to receive a much-anticipated raise for the 2021-2022 school year. If signed by the Governor, HB 852 will adjust the minimum salary schedule for certified teachers to provide a raise of $1,110 for those in their first three years of teaching (bringing the…
Read More2021 #RealTeachers #MSTeacherPay Virtual Advocacy Details
In partnership with Mississippi Teach Plus, we are inviting all Mississippi teachers and teacher advocates to join us THIS WEEK and NEXT (thanks to Mother Nature’s winter storms we are adding another week!) in showing support for at least a $3,000 pay increase for Mississippi teachers. We are calling on the legislature to make a…
Read MoreMississippi should consider teacher-specific undergraduate grant program
This op-ed originally ran in the Clarion-Ledger on February 5, 2021. It was written by Toren Ballard, our director of K-12 policy at Mississippi First. Both current and aspiring public school teachers in Mississippi are increasingly faced with a dilemma: pursue a meaningful career educating the next generation of Mississippians–or earn a paycheck capable of…
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