MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Education; Appropriations
By: Representative Blackmon
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-19-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE TEACHERS' SALARIES IN THE 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR SO THAT THE AVERAGE SALARY OF MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS IS EQUAL TO THE SOUTHEASTERN AVERAGE TEACHER'S SALARY, AS DETERMINED BY THE SOUTHERN REGIONAL EDUCATION BOARD (SREB); TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ANNUALLY REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE ON ADJUSTMENTS NECESSARY TO THE SALARY SCALE IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE SOUTHEASTERN AVERAGE; TO REQUIRE THE LEGISLATURE TO ADOPT CHANGES TO THE SCALE AND APPROPRIATE SUFFICIENT FUNDING TO MAINTAIN AN AVERAGE SALARY EQUAL TO THE SOUTHEASTERN AVERAGE; TO PROVIDE FOR THE REPEAL OF THE STATUTE SETTING FORTH THE TEACHER SALARY SCHEDULE ON JULY 1, 2021; 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) (a) The allowance in the Mississippi Adequate 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 teachers holding the following types of licenses or the equivalent as determined by the State Board of Education, and the following number of years of teaching experience, the scale shall be as follows:
* * *
2020-2021 MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE
Years
Exp. AAAA AAA AA A
0 44,718.00 43,554.00 42,390.00 40,000.00
1 44,718.00 43,554.00 42,390.00 40,000.00
2 44,718.00 43,554.00 42,390.00 40,000.00
3 45,512.00 44,371.00 43,050.00 40,495.00
4 46,306.00 45,008.00 43,710.00 40,990.00
5 47,100.00 45,735.00 44,370.00 41,485.00
6 47,894.00 46,462.00 45,030.00 41,980.00
7 48,688.00 47,189.00 45,690.00 42,475.00
8 49,432.00 47,916.00 46,350.00 42,970.00
9 50,276.00 48,643.00 47,010.00 43,465.00
10 51,070.00 49,370.00 47,670.00 43,960.00
11 51,864.00 50,097.00 48,330.00 44,455.00
12 52,658.00 50,824.00 48,990.00 44,950.00
13 53,452.00 51,551.00 49,650.00 45,445.00
14 54,246.00 52,278.00 50,310.00 45,940.00
15 55,040.00 53,005.00 50,970.00 46,435.00
16 55,834.00 53,732.00 51,630.00 46,930.00
17 56,628.00 54,459.00 52,290.00 47,425.00
18 57,422.00 55,186.00 52,950.00 47,920.00
19 58,216.00 55,913.00 53,610.00 48,415.00
20 59,010.00 56,640.00 54,270.00 48,910.00
21 59,804.00 57,367.00 54,930.00 49,405.00
22 60,598.00 58,094.00 55,590.00 49,900.00
23 61,392.00 58,821.00 56,250.00 50,395.00
24 62,186.00 59,548.00 59,910.00 50,890.00
25 65,030.00 62,335.00 59,630.00 53,445.00
26 65,834.00 63,062.00 60,290.00 53,940.00
27 66,628.00 63,789.00 60,950.00 54,435.00
28 67,424.00 64,516.00 61,610.00 54,930.00
29 68,218.00 65,243.00 62,270.00 55,425.00
30 69,010.00 65,970.00 62,930.00 55,920.00
31 69,804.00 66,697.00 63,590.00 56,415.00
32 70,598.00 67,424.00 64,250.00 56,910.00
33 71,392.00 68,154.00 64,910.00 57,405.00
34 72,186.00 68,878.00 65,570.00 59,022.00
35
& above 72,980.00 69,605.00 66,230.00 58,395.00
(b) Before January 1 of each year, the State Board of Education shall publish and submit a report to the House of Representatives and Senate which revises the minimum salary schedule provided under paragraph (a) of this subsection so that in the next succeeding school year, the average salary of Mississippi teachers remains an amount equal to the southeastern average teacher's salary, as determined by the most recent data published by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in the document entitled "Average Salaries for Public Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in SREB States." The Legislature shall make the necessary adjustments to the salary schedule in this subsection and appropriate sufficient funding to maintain an average Mississippi teacher's salary that equals the southeastern average teacher's salary.
* * *
(c)
All teachers employed on a full-time basis shall be paid a minimum salary in
accordance with * * * this subsection. 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.
(d) 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 license issued to those teachers on or before October 1 of the
current school year. * * *
However, * * *
school districts are authorized, in their discretion, to negotiate the salary
levels applicable to * * *
licensed employees who are receiving retirement benefits from the
retirement system of another state, and the annual experience increment
provided * * * in subsection (a) shall not be
applicable to any such retired * * * licensed employee.
(2) (a) The following employees shall receive an annual salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand Dollars ($6,000.00), plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other compensation to which the employee may be entitled:
(i) Any licensed teacher who has met the requirements and acquired a Master Teacher certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and who is employed by a local school board or the State Board of Education as a teacher and not as an administrator. Such teacher shall submit documentation to the State Department of Education that the certificate was received prior to October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school year, or the teacher shall submit such documentation to the State Department of Education prior to February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the school year.
(ii) A licensed
nurse who has met the requirements and acquired a certificate from the National
Board for Certification of School Nurses, Inc., and who is employed by a local
school board or the State Board of Education as a school nurse and not as an
administrator. The licensed school nurse shall submit documentation to the
State Department of Education that the certificate was received before October
15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school
year, or the licensed school nurse shall submit the documentation to the State
Department of Education before February 15 in order to be eligible for a
prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. * * * However, * * * the total number of licensed school nurses
eligible for a salary supplement under this subparagraph (ii) shall not exceed
thirty-five (35).
(iii) Any licensed school counselor who has met the requirements and acquired a National Certified School Counselor (NCSC) endorsement from the National Board of Certified Counselors and who is employed by a local school board or the State Board of Education as a counselor and not as an administrator. Such licensed school counselor shall submit documentation to the State Department of Education that the endorsement was received prior to October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school year, or the licensed school counselor shall submit such documentation to the State Department of Education prior to February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. However, any school counselor who started the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards process for school counselors between June 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, and completes the requirements and acquires the Master Teacher certificate shall be entitled to the master teacher supplement, and those counselors who complete the process shall be entitled to a one-time reimbursement for the actual cost of the process as outlined in paragraph (b) of this subsection.
(iv) Any licensed speech-language pathologist and audiologist who has met the requirements and acquired a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and any certified academic language therapist (CALT) who has met the certification requirements of the Academic Language Therapy Association and who is employed by a local school board or is employed by a state agency under the State Personnel Board. The licensed speech-language pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language therapist shall submit documentation to the State Department of Education that the certificate or endorsement was received before October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school year, or the licensed speech-language pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language therapist shall submit the documentation to the State Department of Education before February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. However, the total number of certified academic language therapists eligible for a salary supplement under this paragraph (iv) shall not exceed twenty (20).
(b) An employee shall be reimbursed for the actual cost of completing each component of acquiring the certificate or endorsement, excluding any costs incurred for postgraduate courses, not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each component, not to exceed four (4) components, for a teacher, school counselor or speech-language pathologist and audiologist, regardless of whether or not the process resulted in the award of the certificate or endorsement. A local school district or any private individual or entity may pay the cost of completing the process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for any employee of the school district described under paragraph (a), and the State Department of Education shall reimburse the school district for such cost, regardless of whether or not the process resulted in the award of the certificate or endorsement. If a private individual or entity has paid the cost of completing the process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for an employee, the local school district may agree to directly reimburse the individual or entity for such cost on behalf of the employee.
(c) All salary
supplements, fringe benefits and process reimbursement authorized under this
subsection shall be paid directly by the State Department of Education to the
local school district and shall be in addition to its * * * adequate 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 employee receiving such salary supplement, and the
employee shall receive any local supplement to which employees with similar
training and experience otherwise are entitled. However, an educational
employee shall receive the salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand
Dollars ($6,000.00) for only one (1) of the qualifying certifications
authorized under paragraph (a) of this subsection. No school district shall
provide more than one (1) annual salary supplement under the provisions of this
subsection to any one individual employee holding multiple qualifying national
certifications.
(d) If an employee for whom such cost has been paid, in full or in part, by a local school district or private individual or entity fails to complete the certification or endorsement process, the employee shall be liable to the school district or individual or entity for all amounts paid by the school district or individual or entity on behalf of that employee toward his or her certificate or endorsement.
(3) The following employees shall receive an annual salary supplement in the amount of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00), plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other compensation to which the employee may be entitled:
Effective July 1, 2016, if funds are available for that purpose, any licensed teacher who has met the requirements and acquired a Master Teacher Certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and who is employed in a public school district located in one (1) of the following counties: Claiborne, Adams, Jefferson, Wilkinson, Amite, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Quitman, Sharkey, Issaquena, Sunflower, Washington, Holmes, Yazoo and Tallahatchie. The salary supplement awarded under the provisions of this subsection (3) shall be in addition to the salary supplement awarded under the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.
Teachers who meet the qualifications for a salary supplement under this subsection (3) who are assigned for less than one (1) full year or less than full time for the school year shall receive the salary supplement in a prorated manner, with the portion of the teacher's assignment to the critical geographic area to be determined as of June 15th of the school year.
(4) (a) This subsection
shall be known and may be cited as the "Mississippi Performance-Based Pay
(MPBP)" plan. In addition to the minimum base pay described in subsection
(1) of this section, only after full funding of MAEP and if funds are
available for that purpose, the State of Mississippi may provide monies from
state funds to school districts for the purposes of rewarding * * * licensed teachers,
administrators and nonlicensed personnel at individual schools showing
improvement in student test scores. The MPBP plan shall be developed by the
State Department of Education based on the following criteria:
(i) It is the express intent of this legislation that the MPBP plan shall utilize only existing standards of accreditation and assessment as established by the State Board of Education.
(ii) To ensure that all of Mississippi's teachers, administrators and nonlicensed personnel at all schools have equal access to the monies set aside in this subsection, the MPBP program shall be designed to calculate each school's performance as determined by the school's increase in scores from the prior school year. The MPBP program shall be based on a standardized scores rating where all levels of schools can be judged in a statistically fair and reasonable way upon implementation. At the end of each year, after all student achievement scores have been standardized, the State Department of Education shall implement the MPBP plan.
(iii) To ensure
all teachers cooperate in the spirit of teamwork, individual schools shall
submit a plan to the local school district to be approved before the beginning
of each school year * * *. The plan shall include, but not be limited
to, how all teachers, regardless of subject area, and administrators will be
responsible for improving student achievement for their individual school.
(b) The State Board of Education shall develop the processes and procedures for designating schools eligible to participate in the MPBP. State assessment results, growth in student achievement at individual schools and other measures deemed appropriate in designating successful student achievement shall be used in establishing MPBP criteria. The State Board of Education shall develop the MPBP policies and procedures and report to the Legislature and Governor by December 1, 2006.
(5) (a) Beginning in the 2008-2009 school year, if funds are available for that purpose, each school in Mississippi shall have mentor teachers, as defined by Sections 37-9-201 through 37-9-213, who shall receive additional base compensation provided for by the State Legislature in the amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per each beginning teacher that is being mentored. The additional state compensation shall be limited to those mentor teachers that provide mentoring services to beginning teachers. For the purposes of such funding, a beginning teacher shall be defined as any teacher in any school in Mississippi that has less than one (1) year of classroom experience teaching in a public school. For the purposes of such funding, no full-time academic teacher shall mentor more than two (2) beginning teachers.
(b) To be eligible for this state funding, the individual school must have a classroom management program approved by the local school board.
(6) Effective with the 2014-2015 school year, the school districts participating in the Pilot Performance-Based Compensation System pursuant to Section 37-19-9 may award additional teacher and administrator pay based thereon.
(7) This section shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2021.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.