MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Education; Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Ferris

Senate Bill 2335

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-19-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A TEACHER SHALL BE REIMBURSED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE COST OF THE PROCESS OF ACQUIRING A MASTER TEACHER CERTIFICATE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THE PROCESS RESULTED IN THE AWARD OF THE CERTIFICATE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.  

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-19-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-19-7. (1) The allowance in the minimum education program for teachers' salaries in each county and separate school district shall be determined and paid in accordance with the scale for teachers' salaries as provided in this subsection for the number of teachers employed not in excess of the number of teacher units allotted. For teachers holding the following types of certificates or the equivalent as determined by the State Board of Education, the scale shall be as follows:

1995-1996 School Year

and School Years Thereafter

AAAA. . . . . $22,900.00

AAA. . . . . 22,050.00

AA. . . . . . 21,200.00

A. . . . . . . 20,150.00

It is the intent of the Legislature that any state funds made available for salaries of certificated personnel in excess of the funds paid for such salaries for the 1986-1987 school year shall be paid to certificated personnel pursuant to a personnel appraisal and compensation system implemented by the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall have the authority to adopt and amend rules and regulations as are necessary to establish, administer and maintain the system. For the purposes of this paragraph, "certificated personnel" means the following employees of public school districts: classroom teachers, superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, assistant principals, supervisors of programs, librarians, guidance personnel, audiovisual personnel, vocational directors and school psychologists/psychometrists.

All teachers employed on a full-time basis shall be paid a minimum salary in accordance with the above scale. However, no school district shall receive any funds under this section for any school year during which the local supplement paid to any individual teacher shall have been reduced to a sum less than that paid to that individual teacher for performing the same duties from local supplement during the immediately preceding school year. The amount actually spent for the purposes of group health and/or life insurance shall be considered as a part of the aggregate amount of local supplement but shall not be considered a part of the amount of individual local supplement.

For teachers holding a Class AAAA certificate, the minimum base pay specified in this subsection shall be increased by the sum of Five Hundred Eighty Dollars ($580.00) for each year of teaching experience possessed by the person holding such certificate until such person shall have twenty-two (22) years of teaching experience.

For teachers holding a Class AAA certificate, the minimum base pay specified in this subsection shall be increased by the sum of Five Hundred Thirty Dollars ($530.00) for each year of teaching experience possessed by the person holding such certificate until such person shall have twenty-two (22) years of teaching experience.

For teachers holding a Class AA certificate, the minimum base pay specified in this subsection shall be increased by the sum of Four Hundred Seventy-five Dollars ($475.00) for each year of teaching experience possessed by the person holding such certificate until such person shall have twenty-two (22) years of teaching experience.

For teachers holding a Class A certificate, the minimum base pay specified in this subsection shall be increased by the sum of Three Hundred Ninety-five Dollars ($395.00) for each year of teaching experience possessed by the person holding such certificate until such person shall have eighteen (18) years of teaching experience.

The level of professional training of each teacher to be used in establishing the salary allotment for the teachers for each year shall be determined by the type of valid teacher's certificate issued to those teachers on or before October 1 of the current school year.

(2) From and after the 1995-1996 school year and beginning with the next school year following the school year in which a teacher meets the standard requirements, any certificated teacher who shall have met the requirements and acquired a Master Teacher certificate from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and who is employed by a local school board as a teacher and not as an administrator shall receive a Three Thousand Dollar ($3,000.00) salary supplement in addition to any other compensation to which the teacher may be entitled, and shall be reimbursed for the actual cost of the process of acquiring the Master Teacher certificate regardless of whether or not * * * the process * * * resulted in the award of the Master Teacher certificate * * *. All such salary supplements and process reimbursement shall be paid directly by the State Department of Education to the local school district and shall be in addition to its minimum education program allotments and not a part thereof in accordance with regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education. Local school districts shall not reduce the local supplement paid to any teacher receiving such salary supplement, and the teacher shall receive any local supplement to which teachers with similar training and experience are otherwise entitled.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.