Teacher salary supplement; provide to those with five or more years experience in successful districts willing to relocate to an "F" district.

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To: Education;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representative Scott

HOUSE BILL NO. 158

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-19-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
PROVIDE A SALARY SUPPLEMENT, REIMBURSEMENT FOR MOVING EXPENSES, 2
AND REIMBURSEMENT FOR INTERVIEWING EXPENSES FOR ANY TEACHER WHO 3
HAS FIVE OR MORE YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE IN AN "A," "B" OR 4
"C"-DESIGNATED SCHOOL AND CHOOSES TO TEACH IN AN "F"-DESIGNATED 5
SCHOOL WITHIN AN "F"-DESIGNATED SCHOOL DISTRICT; TO AMEND SECTION 6
37-159-5 AND 37-159-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO 7
THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 8
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 9
SECTION 1. Section 37-19-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 10
amended as follows: 11
37-19-7. (1) Teachers' salaries in each public school 12
district shall be determined and paid in accordance with the scale 13
for teachers' salaries as provided in this subsection. For 14
teachers holding the following types of licenses or the equivalent 15
as determined by the State Board of Education, and the following 16
number of years of teaching experience, the scale shall be as 17
follows: 18
2022-2023 AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE 19
Exp. AAAA AAA AA A 20
0 45,500.00 44,000.00 43,000.00 41,500.00 21
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1 46,100.00 44,550.00 43,525.00 41,900.00 22
2 46,700.00 45,100.00 44,050.00 42,300.00 23
3 47,300.00 45,650.00 44,575.00 42,700.00 24
4 47,900.00 46,200.00 45,100.00 43,100.00 25
5 49,250.00 47,500.00 46,350.00 44,300.00 26
6 49,850.00 48,050.00 46,875.00 44,700.00 27
7 50,450.00 48,600.00 47,400.00 45,100.00 28
8 51,050.00 49,150.00 47,925.00 45,500.00 29
9 51,650.00 49,700.00 48,450.00 45,900.00 30
10 53,000.00 51,000.00 49,700.00 47,100.00 31
11 53,600.00 51,550.00 50,225.00 47,500.00 32
12 54,200.00 52,100.00 50,750.00 47,900.00 33
13 54,800.00 52,650.00 51,275.00 48,300.00 34
14 55,400.00 53,200.00 51,800.00 48,700.00 35
15 56,750.00 54,500.00 53,050.00 49,900.00 36
16 57,350.00 55,050.00 53,575.00 50,300.00 37
17 57,950.00 55,600.00 54,100.00 50,700.00 38
18 58,550.00 56,150.00 54,625.00 51,100.00 39
19 59,150.00 56,700.00 55,150.00 51,500.00 40
20 60,500.00 58,000.00 56,400.00 52,700.00 41
21 61,100.00 58,550.00 56,925.00 53,100.00 42
22 61,700.00 59,100.00 57,450.00 53,500.00 43
23 62,300.00 59,650.00 57,975.00 53,900.00 44
24 62,900.00 60,200.00 58,500.00 54,300.00 45
25 65,400.00 62,700.00 61,000.00 56,800.00 46
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26 66,000.00 63,250.00 61,525.00 57,200.00 47
27 66,600.00 63,800.00 62,050.00 57,600.00 48
28 67,200.00 64,350.00 62,575.00 58,000.00 49
29 67,800.00 64,900.00 63,100.00 58,400.00 50
30 68,400.00 65,450.00 63,625.00 58,800.00 51
31 69,000.00 66,000.00 64,150.00 59,200.00 52
32 69,600.00 66,550.00 64,675.00 59,600.00 53
33 70,200.00 67,100.00 65,200.00 60,000.00 54
34 70,800.00 67,650.00 65,725.00 60,400.00 55
35 56
& above 71,400.00 68,200.00 66,250.00 60,800.00 57
2024-2025 AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE 58
The school district, with assistance from the Department of 59
Education, shall consider the teacher's years of service and 60
license type and determine the corresponding salary for the 61
retired teacher. After determining the retired teacher's 62
corresponding salary, the school district may allocate up to one 63
hundred twenty-five percent (125%) of the amount provided under 64
the salary schedule for such teacher, as applicable, as salary and 65
assessment under the program. 66
After determining the retired teacher's salary, the school 67
district may pay no more than fifty percent (50%) of the retired 68
teacher's compensation as salary to the retired teacher. The 69
remaining fifty percent (50%) of the retired teacher's 70
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compensation as salary shall be paid by the school district to 71
PERS as a pension liability participation assessment. 72
It is the intent of the Legislature that any state funds made 73
available for salaries of licensed personnel in excess of the 74
funds paid for such salaries for the 1986-1987 school year shall 75
be paid to licensed personnel pursuant to a personnel appraisal 76
and compensation system implemented by the State Board of 77
Education. The State Board of Education shall have the authority 78
to adopt and amend rules and regulations as are necessary to 79
establish, administer and maintain the system. 80
All teachers employed on a full-time basis shall be paid a 81
minimum salary in accordance with the above scale. However, no 82
school district shall receive any funds under this section for any 83
school year during which the local supplement paid to any 84
individual teacher shall have been reduced to a sum less than that 85
paid to that individual teacher for performing the same duties 86
from local supplement during the immediately preceding school 87
year. The amount actually spent for the purposes of group health 88
and/or life insurance shall be considered as a part of the 89
aggregate amount of local supplement but shall not be considered a 90
part of the amount of individual local supplement. 91
The level of professional training of each teacher to be used 92
in establishing the salary for the teacher for each year shall be 93
determined by the type of valid teacher's license issued to that 94
teacher on or before October 1 of the current school year. 95
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However, school districts are authorized, in their discretion, to 96
negotiate the salary levels applicable to licensed employees who 97
are receiving retirement benefits from the retirement system of 98
another state. 99
(2) (a) The following employees shall receive an annual 100
salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand Dollars 101
($6,000.00), plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other 102
compensation to which the employee may be entitled: 103
(i) Any licensed teacher or retired teacher 104
employed by a school district under the authority of Section 105
25-11-126 who has met the requirements and acquired a Master 106
Teacher certificate from the National Board for Professional 107
Teaching Standards and who is employed by a local school board or 108
the State Board of Education as a teacher and not as an 109
administrator. Such teacher shall submit documentation to the 110
State Department of Education that the certificate was received 111
prior to October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary 112
supplement in the current school year, or the teacher shall submit 113
such documentation to the State Department of Education prior to 114
February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 115
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 116
(ii) A licensed nurse who has met the requirements 117
and acquired a certificate from the National Board for 118
Certification of School Nurses, Inc., and who is employed by a 119
local school board or the State Board of Education as a school 120
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nurse and not as an administrator. The licensed school nurse 121
shall submit documentation to the State Department of Education 122
that the certificate was received before October 15 in order to be 123
eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school 124
year, or the licensed school nurse shall submit the documentation 125
to the State Department of Education before February 15 in order 126
to be eligible for a prorated salary supplement beginning with the 127
second term of the school year. 128
(iii) Any licensed school counselor who has met 129
the requirements and acquired a National Certified School 130
Counselor (NCSC) endorsement from the National Board of Certified 131
Counselors and who is employed by a local school board or the 132
State Board of Education as a counselor and not as an 133
administrator. Such licensed school counselor shall submit 134
documentation to the State Department of Education that the 135
endorsement was received prior to October 15 in order to be 136
eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school 137
year, or the licensed school counselor shall submit such 138
documentation to the State Department of Education prior to 139
February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 140
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 141
However, any school counselor who started the National Board for 142
Professional Teaching Standards process for school counselors 143
between June 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, and completes the 144
requirements and acquires the Master Teacher certificate shall be 145
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entitled to the master teacher supplement, and those counselors 146
who complete the process shall be entitled to a one-time 147
reimbursement for the actual cost of the process as outlined in 148
paragraph (b) of this subsection. 149
(iv) Any licensed speech-language pathologist and 150
audiologist who has met the requirements and acquired a 151
Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American 152
Speech-Language-Hearing Association and any certified academic 153
language therapist (CALT) who has met the certification 154
requirements of the Academic Language Therapy Association and who 155
is employed by a local school board. The licensed speech-language 156
pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language 157
therapist shall submit documentation to the State Department of 158
Education that the certificate or endorsement was received before 159
October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement 160
in the current school year, or the licensed speech-language 161
pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language 162
therapist shall submit the documentation to the State Department 163
of Education before February 15 in order to be eligible for a 164
prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the 165
school year. 166
(v) Any licensed athletic trainer who has met the 167
requirements and acquired Board Certification for the Athletic 168
Trainer from the Board of Certification, Inc., and who is employed 169
by a local school board or the State Board of Education as an 170
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athletic trainer and not as an administrator. The licensed 171
athletic trainer shall submit documentation to the State 172
Department of Education that the certificate was received before 173
October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement 174
in the current school year, or the licensed athletic trainer shall 175
submit the documentation to the State Department of Education 176
before February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 177
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 178
(b) An employee shall be reimbursed for the actual cost 179
of completing each component of acquiring the certificate or 180
endorsement, excluding any costs incurred for postgraduate 181
courses, not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each 182
component, not to exceed four (4) components, for a teacher, 183
school counselor or speech-language pathologist and audiologist, 184
regardless of whether or not the process resulted in the award of 185
the certificate or endorsement. A local school district or any 186
private individual or entity may pay the cost of completing the 187
process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for any 188
employee of the school district described under paragraph (a), and 189
the State Department of Education shall reimburse the school 190
district for such cost, regardless of whether or not the process 191
resulted in the award of the certificate or endorsement. If a 192
private individual or entity has paid the cost of completing the 193
process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for an 194
employee, the local school district may agree to directly 195
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reimburse the individual or entity for such cost on behalf of the 196
employee. 197
(c) All salary supplements, fringe benefits and process 198
reimbursement authorized under this subsection shall be paid 199
directly by the State Department of Education to the local school 200
district and shall be in addition to its allotments from the total 201
funding formula provided in Sections 37-151-200 through 37-151-215 202
and not a part thereof in accordance with regulations promulgated 203
by the State Board of Education. Local school districts shall not 204
reduce the local supplement paid to any employee receiving such 205
salary supplement, and the employee shall receive any local 206
supplement to which employees with similar training and experience 207
otherwise are entitled. However, an educational employee shall 208
receive the salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand 209
Dollars ($6,000.00) for only one (1) of the qualifying 210
certifications authorized under paragraph (a) of this subsection. 211
No school district shall provide more than one (1) annual salary 212
supplement under the provisions of this subsection to any one (1) 213
individual employee holding multiple qualifying national 214
certifications. 215
(d) If an employee for whom such cost has been paid, in 216
full or in part, by a local school district or private individual 217
or entity fails to complete the certification or endorsement 218
process, the employee shall be liable to the school district or 219
individual or entity for all amounts paid by the school district 220
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or individual or entity on behalf of that employee toward his or 221
her certificate or endorsement. 222
(3) The following employees shall receive an annual salary 223
supplement in the amount of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00), 224
plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other compensation to 225
which the employee may be entitled: 226
Effective July 1, 2016, if funds are available for that 227
purpose, any licensed teacher or retired teacher employed by a 228
local school district under the authority of Section 25-11-126 who 229
has met the requirements and acquired a Master Teacher Certificate 230
from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and 231
who is employed in a public school district located in one (1) of 232
the following counties: Claiborne, Adams, Jefferson, Wilkinson, 233
Amite, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Quitman, Sharkey, Issaquena, 234
Sunflower, Washington, Holmes, Yazoo and Tallahatchie. The salary 235
supplement awarded under the provisions of this subsection (3) 236
shall be in addition to the salary supplement awarded under the 237
provisions of subsection (2) of this section. 238
Teachers who meet the qualifications for a salary supplement 239
under this subsection (3) who are assigned for less than one (1) 240
full year or less than full time for the school year shall receive 241
the salary supplement in a prorated manner, with the portion of 242
the teacher's assignment to the critical geographic area to be 243
determined as of June 15 of the school year. 244
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(4) The following employees shall receive an annual salary 245
supplement in the amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), 246
plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other compensation to 247
which the employee may be entitled: 248
Any licensed teacher who has five (5) or more years of 249
experience teaching in an "A," "B," or "C" school and who teaches 250
at least one (1) full academic year in an "F" school within an "F" 251
school district, as designated in Section 37-17-6. The salary 252
supplement awarded under the provisions of this subsection (4) 253
shall be in addition to the salary supplement awarded under the 254
provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of this section. If funds 255
are available for the following purposes, teachers who meet the 256
qualifications for a salary supplement under this subsection (4) 257
shall qualify for: 258
(a) Reimbursement for relocation expenses under Section 259
37-159-5; and 260
(b) Reimbursement for interview expenses under Section 261
37-159-7. 262
( * * *5) (a) This subsection shall be known and may be 263
cited as the "Mississippi Performance-Based Pay (MPBP)" plan. In 264
addition to the minimum base pay described in this section, only 265
if funds are available for that purpose, the State of Mississippi 266
may provide monies from state funds to school districts for the 267
purposes of rewarding licensed teachers, administrators and 268
nonlicensed personnel at individual schools showing improvement in 269
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student test scores. The MPBP plan shall be developed by the 270
State Department of Education based on the following criteria: 271
(i) It is the express intent of this legislation 272
that the MPBP plan shall utilize only existing standards of 273
accreditation and assessment as established by the State Board of 274
Education. 275
(ii) To ensure that all of Mississippi's teachers, 276
administrators and nonlicensed personnel at all schools have equal 277
access to the monies set aside in this section, the MPBP program 278
shall be designed to calculate each school's performance as 279
determined by the school's increase in scores from the prior 280
school year. The MPBP program shall be based on a standardized 281
scores rating where all levels of schools can be judged in a 282
statistically fair and reasonable way upon implementation. At the 283
end of each year, after all student achievement scores have been 284
standardized, the State Department of Education shall implement 285
the MPBP plan. 286
(iii) To ensure all teachers cooperate in the 287
spirit of teamwork, individual schools shall submit a plan to the 288
local school district to be approved before the beginning of each 289
school year. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, how 290
all teachers, regardless of subject area, and administrators will 291
be responsible for improving student achievement for their 292
individual school. 293
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(b) The State Board of Education shall develop the 294
processes and procedures for designating schools eligible to 295
participate in the MPBP. State assessment results, growth in 296
student achievement at individual schools and other measures 297
deemed appropriate in designating successful student achievement 298
shall be used in establishing MPBP criteria. 299
( * * *6) (a) If funds are available for that purpose, each 300
school in Mississippi shall have mentor teachers, as defined by 301
Sections 37-9-201 through 37-9-213, who shall receive additional 302
base compensation provided for by the State Legislature in the 303
amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per each beginning 304
teacher that is being mentored. The additional state compensation 305
shall be limited to those mentor teachers that provide mentoring 306
services to beginning teachers. For the purposes of such funding, 307
a beginning teacher shall be defined as any teacher in any school 308
in Mississippi that has less than one (1) year of classroom 309
experience teaching in a public school. For the purposes of such 310
funding, no full-time academic teacher shall mentor more than two 311
(2) beginning teachers. 312
(b) To be eligible for this state funding, the 313
individual school must have a classroom management program 314
approved by the local school board. 315
( * * *7) Effective with the 2014-2015 school year, the 316
school districts participating in the Pilot Performance-Based 317
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Compensation System pursuant to Section 37-19-9 may award 318
additional teacher and administrator pay based thereon. 319
SECTION 2. Section 37-159-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 320
amended as follows: 321
37-159-5. The State Board of Education shall prescribe rules 322
and regulations which, subject to available appropriations, allow 323
for reimbursement to the state licensed teachers, from both in 324
state and out of state, who enter into a contract for employment 325
in a school district situated within a geographical area of the 326
state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as 327
designated by the State Board of Education, and those who have 328
five (5) or more years of experience teaching in an "A," "B," or 329
"C" and enter into a contract for employment in an "F" school 330
within and "F" school district, for the expense of moving when the 331
employment necessitates the relocation of the teacher to a 332
different geographical area than that in which the teacher resides 333
before entering into such contract. In order to be eligible for 334
the reimbursement, the teacher must apply to the local district 335
and the district must obtain the prior approval from the 336
department for reimbursement before the relocation occurs. If the 337
reimbursement is approved, the department shall provide funds to 338
the school district to reimburse the teacher an amount not to 339
exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for the documented actual 340
expenses incurred in the course of relocating, including the 341
expense of any professional moving company or persons employed to 342
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assist with the move, rented moving vehicles or equipment, mileage 343
in the amount authorized for state employees under Section 25-3-41 344
if the teacher used his personal vehicle or vehicles for the move, 345
meals and such other expenses associated with the relocation in 346
accordance with the department's established rules and 347
regulations. No teacher may be reimbursed for moving expenses 348
under this section on more than one (1) occasion except for 349
relocation expenses which are authorized under the provisions of 350
Section 37-19-7(4). 351
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the 352
actual residence to which the teacher relocates to be within the 353
boundaries of the school district which has executed a contract 354
for employment with the teacher or within the boundaries of the 355
area designated by the State Board of Education as the critical 356
teacher shortage area in order for the teacher to be eligible for 357
reimbursement for his moving expenses. However, teachers must 358
relocate within the boundaries of the State of Mississippi. 359
SECTION 3. Section 37-159-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 360
amended as follows: 361
37-159-7. (1) The school board of any school district 362
situated within a geographical area of the state where there 363
exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State 364
Board of Education, in its discretion, may reimburse persons who 365
interview for employment as a licensed teacher with the district 366
for the mileage and other actual expenses incurred in the course 367
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ST: Teacher salary supplement; provide to those
with five or more years experience in successful
districts willing to relocate to an "F"
district.
of travel to and from the interview by such persons at the rate 368
authorized for county and municipal employees under Section 369
25-3-41. Any reimbursement by a school board under this section 370
shall be paid from funds other than adequate education program 371
funds. 372
(2) The school board of any school "F" district, in its 373
discretion, may reimburse any licensed teacher, who has five (5) 374
or more years of experience teaching in an "A," "B," or "C" and 375
who travels to interview for employment as a licensed teacher 376
within an "F" school within that "F" school district, for the 377
mileage and other actual expenses incurred in the course of travel 378
to and from the interview by such persons at the rate authorized 379
for county and municipal employees under Section 25-3-41. Any 380
reimbursement by a school board under this section shall be paid 381
from funds other than adequate education program funds. 382
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from 383
and after July 1, 2026. 384