MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Education; Appropriations
By: Representative Gibbs (72nd)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-19-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE A $5,000.00 SIGNING BONUS TO FIRST-YEAR LICENSED TEACHERS WHO CONTRACT FOR EMPLOYMENT IN A CRITICAL SHORTAGE AREA AS DETERMINED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-159-5 AND 37-159-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH ARE PROVISIONS OF THE MISSISSIPPI CRITICAL TEACHER SHORTAGE ACT OF 1998, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; 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 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:
2014-2015 MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE
Years
Exp. AAAA AAA AA A
0 38,108.00 36,944.00 35,780.00 33,390.00
1 38,108.00 36,944.00 35,780.00 33,390.00
2 38,108.00 36,944.00 35,780.00 33,390.00
3 38,902.00 37,671.00 36,440.00 33,885.00
4 39,696.00 38,398.00 37,100.00 34,380.00
5 40,490.00 39,125.00 37,760.00 34,875.00
6 41,284.00 39,852.00 38,420.00 35,370.00
7 42,078.00 40,579.00 39,080.00 35,865.00
8 42,872.00 41,306.00 39,740.00 36,360.00
9 43,666.00 42,033.00 40,400.00 36,855.00
10 44,460.00 42,760.00 41,060.00 37,350.00
11 45,254.00 43,487.00 41,720.00 37,845.00
12 46,048.00 44,214.00 42,380.00 38,340.00
13 46,842.00 44,941.00 43,040.00 38,835.00
14 47,636.00 45,668.00 43,700.00 39,330.00
15 48,430.00 46,395.00 44,360.00 39,825.00
16 49,224.00 47,122.00 45,020.00 40,320.00
17 50,018.00 47,849.00 45,680.00 40,815.00
18 50,812.00 48,576.00 46,340.00 41,310.00
19 51,606.00 49,303.00 47,000.00 41,805.00
20 52,400.00 50,030.00 47,660.00 42,300.00
21 53,194.00 50,757.00 48,320.00 42,795.00
22 53,988.00 51,484.00 48,980.00 43,290.00
23 54,782.00 52,211.00 49,640.00 43,785.00
24 55,576.00 52,938.00 50,300.00 44,280.00
25 58,430.00 55,725.00 53,020.00 46,835.00
26 59,224.00 56,452.00 53,680.00 47,330.00
27 60,018.00 57,179.00 54,340.00 47,825.00
28 60,812.00 57,906.00 55,000.00 48,320.00
29 61,606.00 58,633.00 55,660.00 48,815.00
30 62,400.00 59,360.00 56,320.00 49,310.00
31 63,194.00 60,087.00 56,980.00 49,805.00
32 63,988.00 60,814.00 57,640.00 50,300.00
33 64,782.00 61,541.00 58,300.00 50,795.00
34 65,576.00 62,268.00 58,960.00 51,290.00
35
& above 66,370.00 62,995.00 59,620.00 51,785.00
2015-2016 MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE
Years
Exp. AAAA AAA AA A
0 39,108.00 37,944.00 36,780.00 34,390.00
1 39,108.00 37,944.00 36,780.00 34,390.00
2 39,108.00 37,944.00 36,780.00 34,390.00
3 39,902.00 38,671.00 37,440.00 34,885.00
4 40,696.00 39,398.00 38,100.00 35,380.00
5 41,490.00 40,125.00 38,760.00 35,875.00
6 42,284.00 40,852.00 39,420.00 36,370.00
7 43,078.00 41,579.00 40,080.00 36,865.00
8 43,872.00 42,306.00 40,740.00 37,360.00
9 44,666.00 43,033.00 41,400.00 37,855.00
10 45,460.00 43,760.00 42,060.00 38,350.00
11 46,254.00 44,487.00 42,720.00 38,845.00
12 47,048.00 45,214.00 43,380.00 39,340.00
13 47,842.00 45,941.00 44,040.00 39,835.00
14 48,636.00 46,668.00 44,700.00 40,330.00
15 49,430.00 47,395.00 45,360.00 40,825.00
16 50,224.00 48,122.00 46,020.00 41,320.00
17 51,018.00 48,849.00 46,680.00 41,815.00
18 51,812.00 49,576.00 47,340.00 42,310.00
19 52,606.00 50,303.00 48,000.00 42,805.00
20 53,400.00 51,030.00 48,660.00 43,300.00
21 54,194.00 51,757.00 49,320.00 43,795.00
22 54,988.00 52,484.00 49,980.00 44,290.00
23 55,782.00 53,211.00 50,640.00 44,785.00
24 56,576.00 53,938.00 51,300.00 45,280.00
25 59,430.00 56,725.00 54,020.00 47,835.00
26 60,224.00 57,452.00 54,680.00 48,330.00
27 61,018.00 58,179.00 55,340.00 48,825.00
28 61,812.00 58,906.00 56,000.00 49,320.00
29 62,606.00 59,633.00 56,660.00 49,815.00
30 63,400.00 60,360.00 57,320.00 50,310.00
31 64,194.00 61,087.00 57,980.00 50,805.00
32 64,988.00 61,814.00 58,640.00 51,300.00
33 65,782.00 62,541.00 59,300.00 51,795.00
34 66,576.00 63,268.00 59,960.00 52,290.00
35
& above 67,370.00 63,995.00 60,620.00 52,785.00
It is the intent of the Legislature that any state funds made available for salaries of licensed personnel in excess of the funds paid for such salaries for the 1986-1987 school year shall be paid to licensed 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.
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.
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. Provided, however, that school districts are authorized, in their discretion, to negotiate the salary levels applicable to certificated employees who are receiving retirement benefits from the retirement system of another state, and the annual experience increment provided above in Section 37-19-7 shall not be applicable to any such retired certificated 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. Provided, however, that 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 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 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 and Washington. 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 section shall be known and may be cited as the "Mississippi Performance-Based Pay (MPBP)" plan. In addition to the minimum base pay described in 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 certified 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 section, 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 beginning July 1, 2008. 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) Effective July 1, 2020, if funds are available for that purpose, any first-year licensed teacher who enters into a contract for employment in a school district situated within a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education, including Hinds County, shall be provided a one-time signing bonus with the district of employment in the amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) which shall be calculated into the contracted salary and paid at a proportionate rate for the duration of the contract's term, and payable by the local school district. Additionally, local school districts in the critical shortage areas described in this subsection are authorized to provide a financial incentive to licensed retired teachers to provide academic instruction on a limited basis and to serve as mentor teachers.
SECTION 2. Section 37-159-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-159-5. The State Board of Education shall prescribe rules and regulations which, subject to available appropriations, allow for reimbursement to the state licensed teachers, from both in state and out of state, who enter into a contract for employment in a school district situated within a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education, including Hinds County, for the expense of moving when the employment necessitates the relocation of the teacher to a different geographical area than that in which the teacher resides before entering into such contract. In order to be eligible for the reimbursement, the teacher must apply to the local district and the district must obtain the prior approval from the department for reimbursement before the relocation occurs. If the reimbursement is approved, the department shall provide funds to the school district to reimburse the teacher an amount not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for the documented actual expenses incurred in the course of relocating, including the expense of any professional moving company or persons employed to assist with the move, rented moving vehicles or equipment, mileage in the amount authorized for state employees under Section 25-3-41 if the teacher used his personal vehicle or vehicles for the move, meals and such other expenses associated with the relocation in accordance with the department's established rules and regulations. No teacher may be reimbursed for moving expenses under this section on more than one (1) occasion.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the actual residence to which the teacher relocates to be within the boundaries of the school district which has executed a contract for employment with the teacher or within the boundaries of the area designated by the State Board of Education as the critical teacher shortage area in order for the teacher to be eligible for reimbursement for his moving expenses. However, teachers must relocate within the boundaries of the State of Mississippi.
* * *
SECTION 3. Section 37-159-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-159-11. (1) There is established the Mississippi Employer-Assisted Housing Teacher Program, which shall be a special home loan program for eligible licensed teachers who render service to the state in a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education, including Hinds County. The home loan program shall be administered by the State Department of Education in conjunction with the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). The department may contract with one or more public or private entities to provide assistance in implementing and administering the program. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and regulations regarding the implementation and administration of the program.
(2) Participation in the loan program shall be available to any licensed teacher who renders service in a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education, including Hinds County. Any person who receives a loan under the program shall be required to purchase a house and reside in a county in which the school district for which the teacher is rendering service, or any portion of the school district, is located. The maximum amount of a loan that may be made under the program to any person shall be Six Thousand Dollars ($6,000.00).
(3) Any loan made under the program to a person who actually renders service as a teacher in a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education, including Hinds County, shall be converted to an interest-free grant on the basis of one (1) year's service for one-third (1/3) of the amount of the loan. Any person who does not render three (3) years' service as a teacher in a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education, shall be liable to the State Department of Education for one-third (1/3) of the amount of the loan for each year that he does not render such service, plus interest accruing at the current Stafford Loan rate at the time the person discontinues his service. If a claim for repayment under this subsection is placed in the hands of an attorney for collection, the obligor shall be liable for an additional amount equal to a reasonable attorney's fee.
(4) All funds received by the State Department of Education as repayment of loans by program participants shall be deposited in the Mississippi Critical Teacher Shortage Fund.
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SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.