JACKSON, Miss. – Governor Phil Bryant made it lawful for Mississippi’s public school teachers to get an across the board, $1,500 raise during the next school year.
“This is the first raise since 2007 for our educators,” said Bryant, just before signing the bill at the State Capital Tuesday morning.
In the next school year, all teachers would get another $1,000 raise. “New teachers… those that we are recruiting, would see an increase of $2,490,” said Bryant. “That would mean the starting salary for a new teacher in the state of Mississippi would be $34,390. That’s more than Tennessee, more than Georgia and slightly behind Florida. So we are making progress.”
Teachers would be eligible for merit raises starting with the 2016-17 school year. “We hope that under this plan, we would be able to put good teachers in every class room in the state,” said House Speaker Philip Gunn (R- Clinton). “This plan will incentivize good teachers to go into the class room; and the real winners will be the students. And that’s who we should celebrate here today.”
