JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A bill that might give lecturers a $2,000 pay raise now heads to the governor’s desk, however some educators say they hoped for extra.
Mississippi ranks final within the nation when it comes to teacher pay, and these pay raises received’t change that.
“We want to ensure our educators that this is their only job,” mentioned Dr. Darein Spann, president of the Mississippi Association of Educators. “We have public school educators that are working multiple jobs, so they can’t even focus on just ensuring that students are doing well and getting what they need because they have other jobs.”
“This is more of a symbolic gesture, but I think we’ve missed a mark to do something meaningful for teachers,” mentioned Representative Robert Johnson, who voted in favor of the bill. “If you want to attract the best people, you got to pay the best people.”
Educators say they’re making big strides in scholar training, pointing to improved scores on state testing and excessive commencement charges.
Special training lecturers would get an extra $2,000. Altogether, they’d get a $4,000 raise.
Though they perceive the state has a decent price range, educators say they have been nonetheless anticipating extra.
“Two thousand dollars is really just a drop in the bucket because once insurance kicks in, that two thousand dollars is gone,” mentioned Spann. “Again, we are appreciative of any raise, but the two thousand dollar raise is really insulting to our educators after the hard work they have shown and have done over the last few years.”
Representative Johnson mentioned he hopes lecturers will proceed advocating and pushing for bigger raises.“What I hope would happen is that teachers would rise up and point out to the people who they elect that we want something more meaningful,” mentioned Johnson. “We appreciate what you did, but we’re expecting you to do more. We don’t move unless the people who elect us push us to move. I’m encouraging teachers, educators, parents, who are concerned and love public education, to get to there and encourage your representatives to get out there and do more than you’re doing right now, your representatives and your senators, and keep the pressure on because with that we’ll do more.”
Assistant lecturers, college psychologists and occupational therapists would additionally get a $2,000 raise.
According to the National Education Association, the typical teacher wage in Mississippi is $53,704.
This raise would bump the typical teacher wage to $55,704, which might nonetheless be final within the nation.
School useful resource officers would get a $5,000 bump in pay.
If this bill is signed into legislation by the governor, lecturers would see this pay raise in the course of the upcoming college 12 months.
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