Education advocates say there was a time when the pipeline of new educators in Mississippi was stable. But according to a recent report compiled by Mississippi First, the state saw a more than 30% drop in in-state college graduates becoming teachers within a four year span.
"It's simply impossible to make a living as a teacher in Mississippi if you have student debt, if you're teaching in a district that doesn't offer a generous local supplement and these teachers are really just faced with these conditions that leave them in many cases no other choice," said Toren Ballard, K-12 policy director at Mississippi First.
According to the Miss. Dept. of Education, the minimum salary for a first-time teacher is just under $36,000. Ballard is calling on lawmakers to increase salaries across the board and offer new teachers a $3,000 stipend to work in critical shortage districts.
State Sen. Dennis DeBar of Leakesville is the Education Chairman. He says lawmakers will be considering a combination of things in the 2021 session.
"The teacher pay raise will be $1,000 but it'll also be a little bit more for starting teachers," said DeBar. "It'll make the starting pay $37,000. The pay raise will also include teacher assistants as well."
DeBar says they're also looking at consolidating existing loan repayment programs making them more appealing to students on track to become educators in the state. According to Mississippi First, at least a third of districts in Mississippi are experiencing a critical teacher shortage.
