National board certified occupational therapists and school psychologists; provide annual salary supplement for.

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To: Education;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representatives Roberson, McLean

HOUSE BILL NO. 634

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