The Legislature has finalized the teacher pay raise, the adolescent literacy initiative, and the Math Act, all of which were funded in the conference report for the P-12 appropriations bill, HB 1935. That conference report includes funding for:
- A $2,000 across-the-board pay raise for certified teachers
- An additional $2,000 salary supplement for special education teachers who are teaching special education in a public school (total $4,000 raise for SPED teachers)
- A $2,000 pay raise for teacher assistants
- A $2,000 salary supplement for occupational therapists
- A $2,000 salary supplement for school psychologists
- A $5,000 pay raise for School Attendance Officers (SAO)
- Additional SAO positions to provide one SAO for every 4,000 students
- $9-million for the adolescent literacy program
- $3.48-million for the Math Act
- Level funding for the National Board Certified Teacher program
- Level funding for Early Learning Collaborative and State Invested Pre-k programs
- Full funding for Chickasaw Cession
The adolescent literacy program expands Mississippi’s nationally-recognized literacy supports into middle grades, something The Parents’ Campaign has advocated for and strongly supports. We are concerned, however, that the $9-million appropriated for this initiative will be insufficient to cover the cost of all mandates included in the legislation, creating an unfunded mandate for school districts, each of which is required by the legislation to provide an interventionist or therapist in every school with a grade 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.
The Math Act provides for screeners, coaches, and remediation programs to identify and address math deficiencies of students in participating school districts.
Neither the literacy nor the math program requires students to pass a middle-grade “gate” assessment for promotion to the next grade. Both programs focus instead on identifying and supporting struggling students.
PERS measures were finalized in HB 4073, which changes the PERS statute to allow most state employees, including teachers, to continue receiving PERS benefits and return to state employment 30 days after retirement at 80% of the salary in effect for the position at the time of employment. The employer will be responsible for paying both the employer and employee contribution to the PERS retirement system. Other changes to PERS include adjusting, for Tier 5 employees, the years of service required for retirement from 35 to 30 and the average salary on which benefits are based from the 8 highest years of compensation to the 4 highest.
Additionally, the House and Senate approved an additional $6-million in Children’s Promise Act tax credits for nonpublic special purpose schools, schools that educate primarily students with a special need or disability. Tax credits for other private schools were not increased.
I know the $2,000 teacher pay raise is a disappointment after both chambers gave us hope for a much more significant increase, particularly given the creation of yet another set of tax credits for nonpublic schools. Mississippi’s miracle-working public school teachers deserve to be compensated like the professionals they are, and our children deserve reasonable class sizes and highly qualified public school teachers, both of which are becoming increasingly difficult for public schools to provide as Mississippi’s teacher shortage crisis escalates.
Despite those disappointments, we can’t lose sight of the truly remarkable work you did alongside your legislators to snuff out the dangerous school choice legislation pushed by the billionaire voucher lobby. We need more legislators like those who have stood strong for public schools, and we have an opportunity right around the corner to improve the landscape of our Legislature. If your representative or senator is not one who has supported public education, begin taking steps now to find a viable, competitive candidate to run for that seat next year. The qualifying deadline for the 2027 state elections is February 1, a mere 10 months from now.
The House and Senate have wrapped up their work on education legislation but still have a few bills on other topics to deal with. I expect them to accomplish that and adjourn the 2026 Legislative Session in the next day or two. I’ll send you a final update as soon as they complete their work. Together, we’ve got this!
Nancy Loome, Executive Director
