What Mississippi teachers have to say as historic pay raise bill heads to Gov. Reeves

An Oak Grove Middle School math teacher was enjoying a sunny spring break day with two of her children last Wednesday, walking around downtown Hattiesburg, looking for somewhere to eat lunch — a rare break for an educator who works a second job to make ends meet.

The teacher, Dacia Fortenberry, hopes that the largest pay raise Mississippi teachers have ever received will reduce the financial strain on her family.

Mississippi teacher pay: Lawmakers pass largest teacher pay raise in state's history

"I think it will affect me personally as well as a few other teachers I know of that we hold two jobs just to kind of have enough compensation to support our families," \Fortenberry said. "So with that, it kind of allows some of us to back off that second job, and it will now be enough to live comfortably with."

Fortenberry was with Veronica Jones, also a math teacher at Oak Grove Middle School, and her children. Jones, a teacher for a decade, hopes the bill will stop teacher turnover.

The average annual pay increase will be about $5,100, and will begin with the 2022-2023 school year. The bill also includes a $2,000 pay increase for teacher assistants and annual step increases for teacher pay.

Mindi Cook, a U.S. history teacher at Madison Central High School, said the raise makes teaching a viable option for those who don't want to have a roommate to get by.

"You cannot go into teaching for the money, and you certainly won’t stay in for the money," Cook said. "You have to want to teach and love to teach or it quickly becomes not worth it, but we have to at least get great people interested and qualified in order to move forward."

The state House voted 118-4 to pass the $246 million raise last week, and it was sent to Gov. Tate Reeves, who indicated he would sign it into law. The news came as a major victory for teachers after weeks of heated negotiations among the House and Senate, during which the amount of the raise increased from $210 to $246 million.

The move proves Mississippi's elected officials' commitment to investing in public education, said Lindsay Robertson, a teacher for 17 years in the Lamar County School District.

Robertson teaches U.S. history at Purvis High School, which is just southwest of Hattiesburg, and helps coach the softball team.

"I have a daughter that's heading to college," Robertson said. "I have a son that is an entering freshman in high school, and it's going to be extra money to help meet their needs in a better way."

Robertson said the raise will also help her colleagues, including some single mothers, financially.

"I have quite a few colleagues that work one to two side jobs just to make ends meet for their families. … Those teachers are not only working those one to two side jobs, but they're continually showing up for other people's kids on a daily basis," Robertson said.

It is not a secret that many Mississippi teachers work second jobs. The state has long lagged behind its peers when it comes to teacher salary. Mississippi's 2019-20 starting teacher salary of $36,543 ranked 44th lowest in the nation.

Under the bill, starting teacher pay will increase to about $41,600.

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Educators hope that the bump will stop young people from dismissing a career as a teacher due to low pay.

"I think my excitement comes more from knowing that people going into college will consider teaching as a competitive career now and not just completely write it off because they see as something that wouldn't allow them to support a family," said Skye Morgan, Petal High School U.S. history teacher in Petal, just east of Hattiesburg.

George Stewart, a Spanish teacher at Whitten Middle School in Jackson, agreed.

A University of Southern Mississippi graduate and a Mississippi native, Stewart said a colleague told him she was considering leaving the state before the bill passed the House.

"The starting salary, from what I see, is pretty comparable to our neighboring states. So this will absolutely help us recruit, especially those that are homegrown."

DeSoto County School District Superintendent Cory Uselton hopes the raise will make teacher salaries more competitive with neighboring states and help retain teachers in Mississippi.

Uselton said DeSoto County, which is located less than 20 miles from downtown Memphis, is viewed as a suburb of Memphis, but Mississippi teacher salaries have not been competitive with Tennessee teacher salaries.

"And now that the Mississippi Legislator has made this commitment, those salaries that are being offered in Mississippi will now be much more competitive with Tennessee,” Uselton said.

The starting salary for a Memphis-Shelby County teacher is $43,000. For DeSoto County, the starting teacher pay will be about $46,500 after the increase.

“This is very exciting for our school district, and especially for our teachers. Ultimately, our students will benefit from this pay raise also."

The benefit for students extends to opening a sustainable career option for them in their home state.

Ben Austin, Petal High School world history and human geography teacher, noticed his students were deterred from studying to be teachers due to low pay. He hopes the teacher pay raise will change that.

"I became a teacher because my teacher looked me and said 'Ben, you could be a history teacher.' So if I can say that to one of my students and them not respond to me by saying 'But what about the pay?' … If they can instead say 'I would like to make a difference like you're making in my life,'" Austin said.

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Reporters Ross Reily and Gina Butkovich contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi teacher pay raise: Teachers react as bill heads to governor