Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday signed a bill authorizing a $1,000 pay raise for most teachers, and lawmakers worked to adopt final parts of state spending and borrowing plans for the year that begins July 1.
Approving a teacher pay raise is a two-part process: First, it must be authorized. Then, money must be budgeted to pay for it. Reeves, a Republican, signed House Bill 852, which sets a $1,000 raise for most teachers and a $1,100 raise for those in the early years of the career.
“It’s hard to imagine how difficult 2020/21 have been on our state’s educators,” Reeves wrote on Twitter as he announced the bill signing. “But so many have stepped up and done what Mississippians do — whatever it took to help MS kids!”
Mississippi has long had some of the lowest teacher salaries in the nation. According to the Southern Regional Education Board, the average teacher salary in the U.S. for 2018-19 was $62,304. For Mississippi, the average was $45,105.