Teachers; provide $2,000 annual salary supplement to those employed in designated geographically critical teacher shortage area.

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To: Education;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representative McCarty

HOUSE BILL NO. 1255

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-19-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
PROVIDE THAT EFFECTIVE WITH THE 2026-2027 SCHOOL YEAR, ANY 2
LICENSED TEACHER EMPLOYED IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IN AN AREA 3
DESIGNATED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AS A GEOGRAPHICALLY 4
CRITICAL TEACHER SHORTAGE AREA SHALL RECEIVE AN ANNUAL SALARY 5
SUPPLEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,000.00, TO PROVIDE THAT TEACHERS 6
CURRENTLY RECEIVING AN ANNUAL SALARY SUPPLEMENT FOR NATIONAL BOARD 7
CERTIFICATION SHALL NOT BE DISQUALIFIED FROM RECEIVING THE NEW 8
$2,000.00 ANNUAL SALARY SUPPLEMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 9
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 10
SECTION 1. Section 37-19-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 11
amended as follows: 12
37-19-7. (1) Teachers' salaries in each public school 13
district shall be determined and paid in accordance with the scale 14
for teachers' salaries as provided in this subsection. For 15
teachers holding the following types of licenses or the equivalent 16
as determined by the State Board of Education, and the following 17
number of years of teaching experience, the scale shall be as 18
follows: 19
2022-2023 AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE 20
Exp. AAAA AAA AA A 21
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0 45,500.00 44,000.00 43,000.00 41,500.00 22
1 46,100.00 44,550.00 43,525.00 41,900.00 23
2 46,700.00 45,100.00 44,050.00 42,300.00 24
3 47,300.00 45,650.00 44,575.00 42,700.00 25
4 47,900.00 46,200.00 45,100.00 43,100.00 26
5 49,250.00 47,500.00 46,350.00 44,300.00 27
6 49,850.00 48,050.00 46,875.00 44,700.00 28
7 50,450.00 48,600.00 47,400.00 45,100.00 29
8 51,050.00 49,150.00 47,925.00 45,500.00 30
9 51,650.00 49,700.00 48,450.00 45,900.00 31
10 53,000.00 51,000.00 49,700.00 47,100.00 32
11 53,600.00 51,550.00 50,225.00 47,500.00 33
12 54,200.00 52,100.00 50,750.00 47,900.00 34
13 54,800.00 52,650.00 51,275.00 48,300.00 35
14 55,400.00 53,200.00 51,800.00 48,700.00 36
15 56,750.00 54,500.00 53,050.00 49,900.00 37
16 57,350.00 55,050.00 53,575.00 50,300.00 38
17 57,950.00 55,600.00 54,100.00 50,700.00 39
18 58,550.00 56,150.00 54,625.00 51,100.00 40
19 59,150.00 56,700.00 55,150.00 51,500.00 41
20 60,500.00 58,000.00 56,400.00 52,700.00 42
21 61,100.00 58,550.00 56,925.00 53,100.00 43
22 61,700.00 59,100.00 57,450.00 53,500.00 44
23 62,300.00 59,650.00 57,975.00 53,900.00 45
24 62,900.00 60,200.00 58,500.00 54,300.00 46
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25 65,400.00 62,700.00 61,000.00 56,800.00 47
26 66,000.00 63,250.00 61,525.00 57,200.00 48
27 66,600.00 63,800.00 62,050.00 57,600.00 49
28 67,200.00 64,350.00 62,575.00 58,000.00 50
29 67,800.00 64,900.00 63,100.00 58,400.00 51
30 68,400.00 65,450.00 63,625.00 58,800.00 52
31 69,000.00 66,000.00 64,150.00 59,200.00 53
32 69,600.00 66,550.00 64,675.00 59,600.00 54
33 70,200.00 67,100.00 65,200.00 60,000.00 55
34 70,800.00 67,650.00 65,725.00 60,400.00 56
35 57
& above 71,400.00 68,200.00 66,250.00 60,800.00 58
2024-2025 AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE 59
The school district, with assistance from the Department of 60
Education, shall consider the teacher's years of service and 61
license type and determine the corresponding salary for the 62
retired teacher. After determining the retired teacher's 63
corresponding salary, the school district may allocate up to one 64
hundred twenty-five percent (125%) of the amount provided under 65
the salary schedule for such teacher, as applicable, as salary and 66
assessment under the program. 67
After determining the retired teacher's salary, the school 68
district may pay no more than fifty percent (50%) of the retired 69
teacher's compensation as salary to the retired teacher. The 70
remaining fifty percent (50%) of the retired teacher's 71
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compensation as salary shall be paid by the school district to 72
PERS as a pension liability participation assessment. 73
It is the intent of the Legislature that any state funds made 74
available for salaries of licensed personnel in excess of the 75
funds paid for such salaries for the 1986-1987 school year shall 76
be paid to licensed personnel pursuant to a personnel appraisal 77
and compensation system implemented by the State Board of 78
Education. The State Board of Education shall have the authority 79
to adopt and amend rules and regulations as are necessary to 80
establish, administer and maintain the system. 81
All teachers employed on a full-time basis shall be paid a 82
minimum salary in accordance with the above scale. However, no 83
school district shall receive any funds under this section for any 84
school year during which the local supplement paid to any 85
individual teacher shall have been reduced to a sum less than that 86
paid to that individual teacher for performing the same duties 87
from local supplement during the immediately preceding school 88
year. The amount actually spent for the purposes of group health 89
and/or life insurance shall be considered as a part of the 90
aggregate amount of local supplement but shall not be considered a 91
part of the amount of individual local supplement. 92
The level of professional training of each teacher to be used 93
in establishing the salary for the teacher for each year shall be 94
determined by the type of valid teacher's license issued to that 95
teacher on or before October 1 of the current school year. 96
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However, school districts are authorized, in their discretion, to 97
negotiate the salary levels applicable to licensed employees who 98
are receiving retirement benefits from the retirement system of 99
another state. 100
(2) (a) The following employees shall receive an annual 101
salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand Dollars 102
($6,000.00), plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other 103
compensation to which the employee may be entitled: 104
(i) Any licensed teacher or retired teacher 105
employed by a school district under the authority of Section 106
25-11-126 who has met the requirements and acquired a Master 107
Teacher certificate from the National Board for Professional 108
Teaching Standards and who is employed by a local school board or 109
the State Board of Education as a teacher and not as an 110
administrator. Such teacher shall submit documentation to the 111
State Department of Education that the certificate was received 112
prior to October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary 113
supplement in the current school year, or the teacher shall submit 114
such documentation to the State Department of Education prior to 115
February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 116
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 117
(ii) A licensed nurse who has met the requirements 118
and acquired a certificate from the National Board for 119
Certification of School Nurses, Inc., and who is employed by a 120
local school board or the State Board of Education as a school 121
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nurse and not as an administrator. The licensed school nurse 122
shall submit documentation to the State Department of Education 123
that the certificate was received before October 15 in order to be 124
eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school 125
year, or the licensed school nurse shall submit the documentation 126
to the State Department of Education before February 15 in order 127
to be eligible for a prorated salary supplement beginning with the 128
second term of the school year. 129
(iii) Any licensed school counselor who has met 130
the requirements and acquired a National Certified School 131
Counselor (NCSC) endorsement from the National Board of Certified 132
Counselors and who is employed by a local school board or the 133
State Board of Education as a counselor and not as an 134
administrator. Such licensed school counselor shall submit 135
documentation to the State Department of Education that the 136
endorsement was received prior to October 15 in order to be 137
eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school 138
year, or the licensed school counselor shall submit such 139
documentation to the State Department of Education prior to 140
February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 141
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 142
However, any school counselor who started the National Board for 143
Professional Teaching Standards process for school counselors 144
between June 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, and completes the 145
requirements and acquires the Master Teacher certificate shall be 146
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entitled to the master teacher supplement, and those counselors 147
who complete the process shall be entitled to a one-time 148
reimbursement for the actual cost of the process as outlined in 149
paragraph (b) of this subsection. 150
(iv) Any licensed speech-language pathologist and 151
audiologist who has met the requirements and acquired a 152
Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American 153
Speech-Language-Hearing Association and any certified academic 154
language therapist (CALT) who has met the certification 155
requirements of the Academic Language Therapy Association and who 156
is employed by a local school board. The licensed speech-language 157
pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language 158
therapist shall submit documentation to the State Department of 159
Education that the certificate or endorsement was received before 160
October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement 161
in the current school year, or the licensed speech-language 162
pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language 163
therapist shall submit the documentation to the State Department 164
of Education before February 15 in order to be eligible for a 165
prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the 166
school year. 167
(v) Any licensed athletic trainer who has met the 168
requirements and acquired Board Certification for the Athletic 169
Trainer from the Board of Certification, Inc., and who is employed 170
by a local school board or the State Board of Education as an 171
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athletic trainer and not as an administrator. The licensed 172
athletic trainer shall submit documentation to the State 173
Department of Education that the certificate was received before 174
October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement 175
in the current school year, or the licensed athletic trainer shall 176
submit the documentation to the State Department of Education 177
before February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 178
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 179
(b) An employee shall be reimbursed for the actual cost 180
of completing each component of acquiring the certificate or 181
endorsement, excluding any costs incurred for postgraduate 182
courses, not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each 183
component, not to exceed four (4) components, for a teacher, 184
school counselor or speech-language pathologist and audiologist, 185
regardless of whether or not the process resulted in the award of 186
the certificate or endorsement. A local school district or any 187
private individual or entity may pay the cost of completing the 188
process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for any 189
employee of the school district described under paragraph (a), and 190
the State Department of Education shall reimburse the school 191
district for such cost, regardless of whether or not the process 192
resulted in the award of the certificate or endorsement. If a 193
private individual or entity has paid the cost of completing the 194
process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for an 195
employee, the local school district may agree to directly 196
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reimburse the individual or entity for such cost on behalf of the 197
employee. 198
(c) All salary supplements, fringe benefits and process 199
reimbursement authorized under this subsection shall be paid 200
directly by the State Department of Education to the local school 201
district and shall be in addition to its allotments from the total 202
funding formula provided in Sections 37-151-200 through 37-151-215 203
and not a part thereof in accordance with regulations promulgated 204
by the State Board of Education. Local school districts shall not 205
reduce the local supplement paid to any employee receiving such 206
salary supplement, and the employee shall receive any local 207
supplement to which employees with similar training and experience 208
otherwise are entitled. However, an educational employee shall 209
receive the salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand 210
Dollars ($6,000.00) for only one (1) of the qualifying 211
certifications authorized under paragraph (a) of this subsection. 212
No school district shall provide more than one (1) annual salary 213
supplement under the provisions of this subsection to any one (1) 214
individual employee holding multiple qualifying national 215
certifications. 216
(d) If an employee for whom such cost has been paid, in 217
full or in part, by a local school district or private individual 218
or entity fails to complete the certification or endorsement 219
process, the employee shall be liable to the school district or 220
individual or entity for all amounts paid by the school district 221
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or individual or entity on behalf of that employee toward his or 222
her certificate or endorsement. 223
(3) The following employees shall receive an annual salary 224
supplement in the amount of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00), 225
plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other compensation to 226
which the employee may be entitled: 227
Effective July 1, 2016, if funds are available for that 228
purpose, any licensed teacher or retired teacher employed by a 229
local school district under the authority of Section 25-11-126 who 230
has met the requirements and acquired a Master Teacher Certificate 231
from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and 232
who is employed in a public school district located in one (1) of 233
the following counties: Claiborne, Adams, Jefferson, Wilkinson, 234
Amite, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Quitman, Sharkey, Issaquena, 235
Sunflower, Washington, Holmes, Yazoo and Tallahatchie. The salary 236
supplement awarded under the provisions of this subsection (3) 237
shall be in addition to the salary supplement awarded under the 238
provisions of subsection (2) of this section. 239
Teachers who meet the qualifications for a salary supplement 240
under this subsection (3) who are assigned for less than one (1) 241
full year or less than full time for the school year shall receive 242
the salary supplement in a prorated manner, with the portion of 243
the teacher's assignment to the critical geographic area to be 244
determined as of June 15th of the school year. 245
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(4) (a) This subsection shall be known and may be cited as 246
the "Mississippi Performance-Based Pay (MPBP)" plan. In addition 247
to the minimum base pay described in this section, only if funds 248
are available for that purpose, the State of Mississippi may 249
provide monies from state funds to school districts for the 250
purposes of rewarding licensed teachers, administrators and 251
nonlicensed personnel at individual schools showing improvement in 252
student test scores. The MPBP plan shall be developed by the 253
State Department of Education based on the following criteria: 254
(i) It is the express intent of this legislation 255
that the MPBP plan shall utilize only existing standards of 256
accreditation and assessment as established by the State Board of 257
Education. 258
(ii) To ensure that all of Mississippi's teachers, 259
administrators and nonlicensed personnel at all schools have equal 260
access to the monies set aside in this section, the MPBP program 261
shall be designed to calculate each school's performance as 262
determined by the school's increase in scores from the prior 263
school year. The MPBP program shall be based on a standardized 264
scores rating where all levels of schools can be judged in a 265
statistically fair and reasonable way upon implementation. At the 266
end of each year, after all student achievement scores have been 267
standardized, the State Department of Education shall implement 268
the MPBP plan. 269
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(iii) To ensure all teachers cooperate in the 270
spirit of teamwork, individual schools shall submit a plan to the 271
local school district to be approved before the beginning of each 272
school year. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, how 273
all teachers, regardless of subject area, and administrators will 274
be responsible for improving student achievement for their 275
individual school. 276
(b) The State Board of Education shall develop the 277
processes and procedures for designating schools eligible to 278
participate in the MPBP. State assessment results, growth in 279
student achievement at individual schools and other measures 280
deemed appropriate in designating successful student achievement 281
shall be used in establishing MPBP criteria. 282
(5) (a) If funds are available for that purpose, each 283
school in Mississippi shall have mentor teachers, as defined by 284
Sections 37-9-201 through 37-9-213, who shall receive additional 285
base compensation provided for by the State Legislature in the 286
amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per each beginning 287
teacher that is being mentored. The additional state compensation 288
shall be limited to those mentor teachers that provide mentoring 289
services to beginning teachers. For the purposes of such funding, 290
a beginning teacher shall be defined as any teacher in any school 291
in Mississippi that has less than one (1) year of classroom 292
experience teaching in a public school. For the purposes of such 293
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ST: Teachers; provide $2,000 annual salary
supplement to those employed in designated
geographically critical teacher shortage area.
funding, no full-time academic teacher shall mentor more than two 294
(2) beginning teachers. 295
(b) To be eligible for this state funding, the 296
individual school must have a classroom management program 297
approved by the local school board. 298
(6) Effective with the 2014-2015 school year, the school 299
districts participating in the Pilot Performance-Based 300
Compensation System pursuant to Section 37-19-9 may award 301
additional teacher and administrator pay based thereon. 302
(7) Effective with the 2026-2027 school year, any licensed 303
teacher employed in a public school district in an area designated 304
by the State Board of Education as a geographically critical 305
teacher shortage area shall receive an annual salary supplement in 306
the amount of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), plus fringe 307
benefits, in addition to any other compensation to which the 308
employee may be entitled. The salary supplement awarded under the 309
provisions of this subsection (7) shall be in addition to the 310
salary supplement awarded to teachers receiving annual salary 311
supplements under subsections (2) and (3), who have received 312
certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching 313
Standards. 314
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 315
and after July 1, 2026. 316