Dr. Melody Musgrove posted a blog last week explaining the facts of implementing and continuing to fund the Mississippi Education Scholarship Account (ESA) Program. She was very intentional in using trusted sources in the information presented so to give readers information that can be considered when making informed decisions concerning legislation passed and the political spin used to explain actions or to keep from explaining them. This short blog about the teacher pay raise continues in the same vein.
Teacher Pay Raise? What $5,000 Raise over the Past 5 Years?
The facts presented below relate to the misinformation spread by legislators regarding the teacher and assistant pay raise of $1,500, all of which will be implemented as of July 1, 2020 (beginning with the next school year).
In a recent interview with Y’All Politics, Senator Chad McMahan(R) is quoted as saying, “Educators have received a $5,000 increase in pay in the last 5 years. This is in addition to the salary triggers they receive with years served.”
According to the Mississippi Department of Education’s teacher pay scale from the past 5 years, the base salary (the portion the state pays to school districts per teacher unit) of an A certified teacher has increased $1,000 since 2014-15 to $34,900. For the last four years there has been zero growthat the base level. With an annual increment of $495 to the base as stated in the state pay scale, it would take much longer than 5 years to realize a $5,000 increase.
To put it another way, a teacher with an A certificate who had 3 years teaching experience in 2014-15 was paid $33,885 which included a $495 annual state increment for teaching experience. In 2018-2019, that same teacher with now 7 years of teaching has a base salary, including the state increment, is $36,865. The gain in pay over 5 years is $2,980.
Additionally, a report by Michael Hansen of the non-profit Brookings Institute found that, when adjusted for inflation, Mississippi teachers have seen a 16% REDUCTION in their salaries since 2009-2010!
If Senator McMahan is defining “increase in pay” differently than the base salary and annual increment, he should be more specific. Conversations with teachers across the state reveal they are as puzzled as the rest of us as to the origin of these “facts”. They have had no meaningful increase in pay over the past 5 years outside of local increments and the one provided by the state, unless they received additional degrees in education that led them to receive a different teaching license certification, gained national board certification, or hit the 25 year mark and continued to teach rather than retire.
According to the pay scale, assistant teachers have received $12,500 since at least 2013-14 with no state increment.
Facts are funny things; they don’t go away. They are there for those who take the time to look for them.
by Dr. Cathy Grace