Teacher Pay Raise May Not Affect All Teachers

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI)- It was just last week when Governor Phil Bryant signed Senate Bill 2770, granting teachers a $1,500 pay raise.

However, due to a coding error, special education, gifted and career-technical teachers were excluded from the language.

“This tells me that leadership did not do their due diligence in making sure that every teacher in the state of Mississippi got paid,” said Cheikh Taylor, Disctrict 38 State Representative. “If we stayed a little longer we could’ve got this right. I think it’s imperative that we do it now with a special session and then we get it right for all Mississippi teachers.”

“It’s unfortunate that we make any mistakes but even with all of the fact checkers we’ve got, and the accountants, and other people trying to run those numbers, in the hustle and bustle of trying to finish up a session, you’re going to make a few mistakes, but this is not uncommon,” said Gary Chism, District 37 State Representative.

The Mississippi Department of Education said it miscalculated the number of teachers who were eligible for the upcoming pay raise.

It could cost the state roughly $14 million to cover the shortfall.

So far, state leaders haven’t said how they plan to fix the issue.

In the grand scheme of things, Chism said the mistake is only a small matter and it’ll be addressed in the Deficit Appropriations Bill in the 2020 legislative session.

“Your school district is going to continue to pay you, so don’t be alarmed there may be several school teachers didn’t get included in their final budget number,” said Chism. “We’re going to take care of it the first of January.”

For the teachers who were excluded, Chism said school districts can use money from their reserve to pay for the $1,500 raise.

Those school districts will then be reimbursed.

“They get money each month from the department of education,” the District 37 Representative explained. “If need be, the department of education can send extra money up there to them so that they can pay those school teachers if they didn’t have the money in reserve themselves. Most school districts though have money in the reserve. They’re supposed to have like two or three months of money in reserve, so it should not be a problem.”

“This is a reflection of poor leadership,” Taylor expressed. “Ladies and gentlemen this is your opportunity to show your dismay with the ballot box.”

Taylor said he fears this type of incident will cause some teachers to consider looking out of state to continue teaching.

The District 38 Representative also expressed that this matter is too important to hold off until January, instead he wants the governor to call a special session immediately to resolve the issue.

“Whether they’re special hearings called from the department of education to find out where the mishap happened and why the code sections are not in there, or whether we need to talk to the governor or lieutenant governor or whatever we need to do, it needs to happen now.”

MDE said they’re working with lawmakers to fix this issue, and that they’re committed to making sure all teachers receive pay raises this school year.