In the coming weeks, the Legislature will hold hearings to decide how to bring teacher pay to the Southeastern average and, importantly, how to pay for it and other critical needs. Those deliberations could prove to be pivotal.
Mississippians, especially young, college-educated Mississippians, have been leaving our state in droves over the last decade, due largely to state leaders’ failure to invest sufficiently in things that improve our quality of life. High on the list of what’s needed to keep young people here are more public school funding and competitive teacher salaries.
Embarrassingly, even Arkansas outspends Mississippi on public schools by a whopping $1,200 per student, and they beat us by a long shot when it comes to teacher pay and access to state-funded pre-k.
The good news is that many in the education-friendly Legislature you elected in 2019 appear ready to begin closing the gaps. Read our opinion column explaining why this is a high-stakes endeavor for them – and for us! If we want strong public schools and better teacher pay, it behooves us to support legislators’ efforts to achieve them. You can bet the naysayers will be doing their best to thwart these positive moves, so your voice is essential.
Here’s how you can help:
- Send our opinion column to your friends and family; find it also in the Clarion Ledger, Sun Herald, Greenwood Commonwealth, and numerous other publications
- Share our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts
- Invite 2 of your friends or family to join our fight for better school funding and teacher pay
If the Legislature chooses austerity over quality of life, Mississippi’s future looks bleak. But a significant investment in our teachers and children could put Mississippi on a path to prosperity.
We’ll let you know when we have firm dates and times for the legislative meetings so that your voice can be heard. Our children are counting on us, and together, we’ve got this!
