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 public schools, public school supporters have their backs!
Please ask your legislators to INSIST on:
* a $4,000 teacher pay raise in SB 2770 *
* NO INCREASE in voucher funding in HB 1643 *
Capitol Switchboard: 601.359.3770 Additional contact info for legislators
Share the same message with:
Speaker Philip Gunn Capitol: 601.359.3300
Lt. Governor Tate Reeves Capitol: 601.359.3200
A recent revenue report shows that Mississippi CAN AFFORD a $4,000 pay raise for teachers AND a pay raise for state employees – using only recurring funds. Revenue for the current year is well above the estimate, and the Legislative Budget Committee expects next year’s revenue to grow by another 2.6 percent.
We are watching HB 1643, the public school appropriation, very closely. Privatizers are at the Capitol lobbying hard to more than double the voucher appropriation, despite never having spent all of the voucher money allocated in any year thus far and a damning PEER report that highlights numerous abuses and flaws in the ESA voucher program.
Thank you for all of your terrific work so far this session. Working with our HERO legislators, we have made great strides for Mississippi children. We’ve got just a few days left – let’s pull out all the stops and drive this one home! Please make those calls to the legislators who represent your school district. Ask your friends and family to call, too. Our children and their teachers are counting on us, and together, we’ve got this!
