Mississippi legislators will soon consider bill which aims to give raises to every Mississippi teacher

House Bill 530 passed the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. The bill aims to give raises to every teacher within the state of Mississippi.

According to mpe.org, The START Act will revise the 2022-2023 minimum salary schedule and include:

• Provides a pay raise between $4,000-$6,000 to every Mississippi teacher.
• Increases the base pay for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree from $37,000 to $43,000, a $6,000 increase. Teachers with 0-2 years of experience will continue to receive the same minimum salary with no annual step increases for their first three years of teaching.
• Decreases some of the step increases for newer teachers.  For example, H.B. 530 provides an annual step increase of $245 to “A” teachers with 4-10 years of experience, rather than the current $495 step increase. Beginning with 11 years of experience, “A” teachers receive the current $495 step increase.
• Maintains the current $2,060 additional increment for the 25^th year of teaching.
• Provides a $2,000 pay raise for assistant teachers which increases their minimum salary from $15,000 to $17,000.

If fully passed, this would take effect at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. Teacher’s assistants would also see a raise of $2,000 under this Act.

State Representative Kevin Ford, who serves District 54, Warren, Yazoo and Issaquena Counties, announced that the increase would raise the state’s teacher pay average to $43,163, not including local supplements.

The bill will be heading straight to the House floor to be presented to the full chamber. Ford states that representatives should be voting on the legislation “within the next day or so.”