Funding

This morning, both chambers passed the SB 2770 conference report providing for a $1,500 raise for certified and assistant teachers. The vote action we are reporting is the Motion to Recommit in each chamber; this motion was to send the conference report back to committee for the purpose of increasing the raise from $1,500 to […]

10 p.m. update on teacher pay raise: $1,500 raise for certified and assistant teachers, per conference report filed at 9:30 p.m. on 3/27/2019. No word on K-12 appropriation, which must include funding for the pay raise. Also watching for voucher provisions/funding that could be added to any bills. See conference report on SB 2770 (teacher

The next few days are critical! Conference reports (final bills) for the teacher pay raise, next year’s funding for your public schools, and voucher funding will likely be drafted over the weekend, and floor votes in the House and Senate will probably take place on Monday or Tuesday. Tell your legislators that when they stand strong for

Why are legislative leaders hiding our tax dollars from us? When the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) met today, budget leaders refused to acknowledge a substantial portion of available revenue, a move that jeopardizes a significant pay raise for our teachers. Today’s revised revenue estimate ignores approximately $140-million of projected FY2020 revenue. This is recurring revenue

We have learned that SB 2770, the bill calling for a $4,000 salary increase for teachers and a $1,000 increase for teacher assistants, contains a reverse repealer, so the bill will have to go to conference for the repealer to be removed. Both the House and Senate must vote on the final conference report. Please ask your legislators

The House has voted to table the motion to reconsider on SB 2770, sending the $4,000 teacher pay raise bill back to the Senate for concurrence. The amended bill calls for a $4,000 salary increase for teachers and a $1,000 increase for teacher assistants, both of which are to be phased in over two years. Please

This afternoon, on a voice vote, the House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment to increase the amount of the teacher pay raise in SB 2770. The amendment, proposed by Representatives Holland, Hines, and Paden, calls for a $4,000 salary increase for teachers to be phased in over the next two years at $2,000

We’ve got two pieces of very good news for public education supporters… First, the MAEP is very reasonable after all – despite what we’ve been told by legislative leaders seeking to ditch our school funding formula. It turns out that, even if the MAEP were FULLY funded, Mississippi’s school funding would still lag that of our

(Guest column by Nancy Loome, published in Mississippi newspapers including The Meridian Star, Mississippi Business Journal, and Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal) What happens when elected officials undervalue public education? Mississippians – especially our children – are left at a competitive disadvantage. Communities wither and once-thriving businesses disappear. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann recently shared the results of a