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To: Education;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026
By: Representative Haney
HOUSE BILL NO. 995
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-11-126, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, 1
TO REVISE THE CRITERIA AND SCALE OF COMPENSATION FOR ELIGIBLE 2
RETIRED TEACHERS WHO RETURN TO THE TEACHING PROFESSION AS 3
CONTRIBUTING BUT NONBENEFIT ACCRUING MEMBERS OF THE PERS; TO AMEND 4
SECTION 37-19-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE 50/50 5
SPLIT OF EMPLOYER'S CONTRIBUTION OF RETIRED TEACHERS AS PENSION 6
LIABILITY PARTICIPATION ASSESSMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 7
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 8
SECTION 1. Section 25-11-126, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 9
amended as follows: 10
25-11-126. (1) Any person who has at least thirty (30) 11
years of creditable service, who was employed as a public school 12
teacher at the time of his or her retirement, has been retired at 13
least ninety (90) days and is receiving a retirement allowance, 14
and holds a standard teaching license in Mississippi, may be 15
employed as a teacher in a public school district after 16
retirement, and choose to continue receiving the retirement 17
allowance under this article during his or her employment as a 18
teacher after retirement in addition to receiving the salary 19
authorized under this section, along with the local contribution 20
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of the school district in which the retiree is employed, at the 21
discretion of the school district. Any teacher who has retired 22
with at least twenty-five (25) years of creditable service as of 23
July 1, 2024, may also participate in this program if the teacher 24
otherwise qualifies under this section. 25
(2) A retired teacher, under the authority of this section 26
may * * * be hired to teach in * * * any school district * * *, 27
and shall hold the related standard teaching license and/or 28
endorsements to teach in the subject area for which he or she is 29
employed. The base compensation authorized for returning retired 30
teachers under Section 37-19-7 shall not be graduated annually in 31
the same manner as teachers who are employed by a school district 32
under traditional employment guidelines, but shall remain static 33
for the entirety of his or her * * * teaching period as a retired 34
teacher. 35
(3) (a) A retired teacher may be employed as a teacher, 36
continue receiving his or her retirement allowance and be a 37
contributing member of the system without accruing additional 38
retirement benefits * * *. 39
* * * A school district shall * * * adhere to the salary 40
schedule prescribed in Section 37-19-7 in considering the salary 41
for a retired teacher, which shall not be less than the amount 42
comparable to teacher's salary at his or her retirement as 43
determined by the teacher's years of service and license 44
type * * *. However, * * * the school district may allocate up to 45
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one hundred and twenty-five percent (125%) of the amount provided 46
under the salary schedule comparable to the teacher's years of 47
service and license type as salary and assessment under the 48
program. 49
* * * 50
(b) * * * The salary authorized under Section 37-19-7 51
for retired teachers shall be * * * adjusted accordingly to 52
reflect * * * the contractual agreement entered into by an 53
employing school district and a retired teacher * * * to perform 54
instructional responsibility on a part-time or full-time basis. 55
(c) The State Department of Education shall transfer to 56
the system the * * * total funding formula funds of local school 57
districts that on or after July 1, 2024, hire retired members as 58
teachers under this section and other funds that otherwise would 59
have been payable to the districts if the districts had not taken 60
advantage of this section. The crediting of assets and financing 61
shall follow the provisions of Section 25-11-123. 62
(d) Local educational agencies shall transfer to the 63
system * * * the total funding formula funds of local school 64
districts that on or after July 1, 2024, hire retired members as 65
teachers under this section and other funds that otherwise would 66
have been payable to the districts if the districts had not taken 67
advantage of this section. The crediting of assets and financing 68
must follow the provisions of Section 25-11-123. 69
* * * 70
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( * * *4) A person may be hired under this section subject 71
to the following conditions: 72
(a) The retired member holds any teacher's professional 73
license or certificate as may be required in Section 37-3-2, and 74
holds the related standard teaching license and/or endorsements to 75
teach in the applicable subject area of instruction provided to 76
students; 77
(b) The superintendent of the employing school district 78
certifies in writing to the State Department of Education that the 79
retired member has the requisite experience, training and 80
expertise for the position to be filled; 81
(c) The superintendent of the school district certifies 82
or the principal of the school certifies that there was no 83
preexisting arrangement for the person to be hired; and 84
(d) The person had a satisfactory performance review 85
for the most recent period before retirement * * *. 86
* * * 87
( * * *5) The State Superintendent of Public Education shall 88
report the persons who are employed under this section to the 89
Executive Director of the Public Employees' Retirement System. 90
( * * *6) The department of education shall promulgate 91
regulations that prescribe a salary schedule that reflects the 92
provisions of this section. Each school district shall create a 93
policy, approved by the local school board, related to the hiring 94
of retired teachers and including, but not limited to, the hiring 95
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of full- and part-time retired teacher employees under this 96
section and Section 25-11-127. 97
( * * *7) Any retired teacher who returns to work in 98
accordance with this section shall not be eligible to return to 99
work under the provisions of Section 25-11-127. 100
SECTION 2. Section 37-19-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 101
amended as follows: 102
37-19-7. (1) Teachers' salaries in each public school 103
district shall be determined and paid in accordance with the scale 104
for teachers' salaries as provided in this subsection. For 105
teachers holding the following types of licenses or the equivalent 106
as determined by the State Board of Education, and the following 107
number of years of teaching experience, the scale shall be as 108
follows: 109
2022-2023 AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE 110
Exp. AAAA AAA AA A 111
0 45,500.00 44,000.00 43,000.00 41,500.00 112
1 46,100.00 44,550.00 43,525.00 41,900.00 113
2 46,700.00 45,100.00 44,050.00 42,300.00 114
3 47,300.00 45,650.00 44,575.00 42,700.00 115
4 47,900.00 46,200.00 45,100.00 43,100.00 116
5 49,250.00 47,500.00 46,350.00 44,300.00 117
6 49,850.00 48,050.00 46,875.00 44,700.00 118
7 50,450.00 48,600.00 47,400.00 45,100.00 119
8 51,050.00 49,150.00 47,925.00 45,500.00 120
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9 51,650.00 49,700.00 48,450.00 45,900.00 121
10 53,000.00 51,000.00 49,700.00 47,100.00 122
11 53,600.00 51,550.00 50,225.00 47,500.00 123
12 54,200.00 52,100.00 50,750.00 47,900.00 124
13 54,800.00 52,650.00 51,275.00 48,300.00 125
14 55,400.00 53,200.00 51,800.00 48,700.00 126
15 56,750.00 54,500.00 53,050.00 49,900.00 127
16 57,350.00 55,050.00 53,575.00 50,300.00 128
17 57,950.00 55,600.00 54,100.00 50,700.00 129
18 58,550.00 56,150.00 54,625.00 51,100.00 130
19 59,150.00 56,700.00 55,150.00 51,500.00 131
20 60,500.00 58,000.00 56,400.00 52,700.00 132
21 61,100.00 58,550.00 56,925.00 53,100.00 133
22 61,700.00 59,100.00 57,450.00 53,500.00 134
23 62,300.00 59,650.00 57,975.00 53,900.00 135
24 62,900.00 60,200.00 58,500.00 54,300.00 136
25 65,400.00 62,700.00 61,000.00 56,800.00 137
26 66,000.00 63,250.00 61,525.00 57,200.00 138
27 66,600.00 63,800.00 62,050.00 57,600.00 139
28 67,200.00 64,350.00 62,575.00 58,000.00 140
29 67,800.00 64,900.00 63,100.00 58,400.00 141
30 68,400.00 65,450.00 63,625.00 58,800.00 142
31 69,000.00 66,000.00 64,150.00 59,200.00 143
32 69,600.00 66,550.00 64,675.00 59,600.00 144
33 70,200.00 67,100.00 65,200.00 60,000.00 145
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34 70,800.00 67,650.00 65,725.00 60,400.00 146
35 147
& above 71,400.00 68,200.00 66,250.00 60,800.00 148
2024-2025 AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS MINIMUM SALARY SCHEDULE 149
The school district, with assistance from the Department of 150
Education, shall consider the teacher's years of service and 151
license type and determine the corresponding salary for the 152
retired teacher. After determining the retired teacher's 153
corresponding salary, the school district may allocate up to one 154
hundred twenty-five percent (125%) of the amount provided under 155
the salary schedule for such teacher, as applicable, as salary and 156
assessment under the program. 157
* * * 158
It is the intent of the Legislature that any state funds made 159
available for salaries of licensed personnel in excess of the 160
funds paid for such salaries for the 1986-1987 school year shall 161
be paid to licensed personnel pursuant to a personnel appraisal 162
and compensation system implemented by the State Board of 163
Education. The State Board of Education shall have the authority 164
to adopt and amend rules and regulations as are necessary to 165
establish, administer and maintain the system. 166
All teachers employed on a full-time basis shall be paid a 167
minimum salary in accordance with the above scale. However, no 168
school district shall receive any funds under this section for any 169
school year during which the local supplement paid to any 170
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individual teacher shall have been reduced to a sum less than that 171
paid to that individual teacher for performing the same duties 172
from local supplement during the immediately preceding school 173
year. The amount actually spent for the purposes of group health 174
and/or life insurance shall be considered as a part of the 175
aggregate amount of local supplement but shall not be considered a 176
part of the amount of individual local supplement. 177
The level of professional training of each teacher to be used 178
in establishing the salary for the teacher for each year shall be 179
determined by the type of valid teacher's license issued to that 180
teacher on or before October 1 of the current school year. 181
However, school districts are authorized, in their discretion, to 182
negotiate the salary levels applicable to licensed employees who 183
are receiving retirement benefits from the retirement system of 184
another state. 185
(2) (a) The following employees shall receive an annual 186
salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand Dollars 187
($6,000.00), plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other 188
compensation to which the employee may be entitled: 189
(i) Any licensed teacher or retired teacher 190
employed by a school district under the authority of Section 191
25-11-126 who has met the requirements and acquired a Master 192
Teacher certificate from the National Board for Professional 193
Teaching Standards and who is employed by a local school board or 194
the State Board of Education as a teacher and not as an 195
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administrator. Such teacher shall submit documentation to the 196
State Department of Education that the certificate was received 197
prior to October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary 198
supplement in the current school year, or the teacher shall submit 199
such documentation to the State Department of Education prior to 200
February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 201
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 202
(ii) A licensed nurse who has met the requirements 203
and acquired a certificate from the National Board for 204
Certification of School Nurses, Inc., and who is employed by a 205
local school board or the State Board of Education as a school 206
nurse and not as an administrator. The licensed school nurse 207
shall submit documentation to the State Department of Education 208
that the certificate was received before October 15 in order to be 209
eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school 210
year, or the licensed school nurse shall submit the documentation 211
to the State Department of Education before February 15 in order 212
to be eligible for a prorated salary supplement beginning with the 213
second term of the school year. 214
(iii) Any licensed school counselor who has met 215
the requirements and acquired a National Certified School 216
Counselor (NCSC) endorsement from the National Board of Certified 217
Counselors and who is employed by a local school board or the 218
State Board of Education as a counselor and not as an 219
administrator. Such licensed school counselor shall submit 220
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documentation to the State Department of Education that the 221
endorsement was received prior to October 15 in order to be 222
eligible for the full salary supplement in the current school 223
year, or the licensed school counselor shall submit such 224
documentation to the State Department of Education prior to 225
February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 226
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 227
However, any school counselor who started the National Board for 228
Professional Teaching Standards process for school counselors 229
between June 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, and completes the 230
requirements and acquires the Master Teacher certificate shall be 231
entitled to the master teacher supplement, and those counselors 232
who complete the process shall be entitled to a one-time 233
reimbursement for the actual cost of the process as outlined in 234
paragraph (b) of this subsection. 235
(iv) Any licensed speech-language pathologist and 236
audiologist who has met the requirements and acquired a 237
Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American 238
Speech-Language-Hearing Association and any certified academic 239
language therapist (CALT) who has met the certification 240
requirements of the Academic Language Therapy Association and who 241
is employed by a local school board. The licensed speech-language 242
pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language 243
therapist shall submit documentation to the State Department of 244
Education that the certificate or endorsement was received before 245
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October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement 246
in the current school year, or the licensed speech-language 247
pathologist and audiologist and certified academic language 248
therapist shall submit the documentation to the State Department 249
of Education before February 15 in order to be eligible for a 250
prorated salary supplement beginning with the second term of the 251
school year. 252
(v) Any licensed athletic trainer who has met the 253
requirements and acquired Board Certification for the Athletic 254
Trainer from the Board of Certification, Inc., and who is employed 255
by a local school board or the State Board of Education as an 256
athletic trainer and not as an administrator. The licensed 257
athletic trainer shall submit documentation to the State 258
Department of Education that the certificate was received before 259
October 15 in order to be eligible for the full salary supplement 260
in the current school year, or the licensed athletic trainer shall 261
submit the documentation to the State Department of Education 262
before February 15 in order to be eligible for a prorated salary 263
supplement beginning with the second term of the school year. 264
(b) An employee shall be reimbursed for the actual cost 265
of completing each component of acquiring the certificate or 266
endorsement, excluding any costs incurred for postgraduate 267
courses, not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each 268
component, not to exceed four (4) components, for a teacher, 269
school counselor or speech-language pathologist and audiologist, 270
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regardless of whether or not the process resulted in the award of 271
the certificate or endorsement. A local school district or any 272
private individual or entity may pay the cost of completing the 273
process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for any 274
employee of the school district described under paragraph (a), and 275
the State Department of Education shall reimburse the school 276
district for such cost, regardless of whether or not the process 277
resulted in the award of the certificate or endorsement. If a 278
private individual or entity has paid the cost of completing the 279
process of acquiring the certificate or endorsement for an 280
employee, the local school district may agree to directly 281
reimburse the individual or entity for such cost on behalf of the 282
employee. 283
(c) All salary supplements, fringe benefits and process 284
reimbursement authorized under this subsection shall be paid 285
directly by the State Department of Education to the local school 286
district and shall be in addition to its allotments from the total 287
funding formula provided in Sections 37-151-200 through 37-151-215 288
and not a part thereof in accordance with regulations promulgated 289
by the State Board of Education. Local school districts shall not 290
reduce the local supplement paid to any employee receiving such 291
salary supplement, and the employee shall receive any local 292
supplement to which employees with similar training and experience 293
otherwise are entitled. However, an educational employee shall 294
receive the salary supplement in the amount of Six Thousand 295
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Dollars ($6,000.00) for only one (1) of the qualifying 296
certifications authorized under paragraph (a) of this subsection. 297
No school district shall provide more than one (1) annual salary 298
supplement under the provisions of this subsection to any one (1) 299
individual employee holding multiple qualifying national 300
certifications. 301
(d) If an employee for whom such cost has been paid, in 302
full or in part, by a local school district or private individual 303
or entity fails to complete the certification or endorsement 304
process, the employee shall be liable to the school district or 305
individual or entity for all amounts paid by the school district 306
or individual or entity on behalf of that employee toward his or 307
her certificate or endorsement. 308
(3) The following employees shall receive an annual salary 309
supplement in the amount of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00), 310
plus fringe benefits, in addition to any other compensation to 311
which the employee may be entitled: 312
Effective July 1, 2016, if funds are available for that 313
purpose, any licensed teacher or retired teacher employed by a 314
local school district under the authority of Section 25-11-126 who 315
has met the requirements and acquired a Master Teacher Certificate 316
from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and 317
who is employed in a public school district located in one (1) of 318
the following counties: Claiborne, Adams, Jefferson, Wilkinson, 319
Amite, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Quitman, Sharkey, Issaquena, 320
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Sunflower, Washington, Holmes, Yazoo and Tallahatchie. The salary 321
supplement awarded under the provisions of this subsection (3) 322
shall be in addition to the salary supplement awarded under the 323
provisions of subsection (2) of this section. 324
Teachers who meet the qualifications for a salary supplement 325
under this subsection (3) who are assigned for less than one (1) 326
full year or less than full time for the school year shall receive 327
the salary supplement in a prorated manner, with the portion of 328
the teacher's assignment to the critical geographic area to be 329
determined as of June 15th of the school year. 330
(4) (a) This subsection shall be known and may be cited as 331
the "Mississippi Performance-Based Pay (MPBP)" plan. In addition 332
to the minimum base pay described in this section, only if funds 333
are available for that purpose, the State of Mississippi may 334
provide monies from state funds to school districts for the 335
purposes of rewarding licensed teachers, administrators and 336
nonlicensed personnel at individual schools showing improvement in 337
student test scores. The MPBP plan shall be developed by the 338
State Department of Education based on the following criteria: 339
(i) It is the express intent of this legislation 340
that the MPBP plan shall utilize only existing standards of 341
accreditation and assessment as established by the State Board of 342
Education. 343
(ii) To ensure that all of Mississippi's teachers, 344
administrators and nonlicensed personnel at all schools have equal 345
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access to the monies set aside in this section, the MPBP program 346
shall be designed to calculate each school's performance as 347
determined by the school's increase in scores from the prior 348
school year. The MPBP program shall be based on a standardized 349
scores rating where all levels of schools can be judged in a 350
statistically fair and reasonable way upon implementation. At the 351
end of each year, after all student achievement scores have been 352
standardized, the State Department of Education shall implement 353
the MPBP plan. 354
(iii) To ensure all teachers cooperate in the 355
spirit of teamwork, individual schools shall submit a plan to the 356
local school district to be approved before the beginning of each 357
school year. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, how 358
all teachers, regardless of subject area, and administrators will 359
be responsible for improving student achievement for their 360
individual school. 361
(b) The State Board of Education shall develop the 362
processes and procedures for designating schools eligible to 363
participate in the MPBP. State assessment results, growth in 364
student achievement at individual schools and other measures 365
deemed appropriate in designating successful student achievement 366
shall be used in establishing MPBP criteria. 367
(5) (a) If funds are available for that purpose, each 368
school in Mississippi shall have mentor teachers, as defined by 369
Sections 37-9-201 through 37-9-213, who shall receive additional 370
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ST: Retired teachers; remove limitation on
hiring of to return to teaching full-time and
level of PERS contribution.
base compensation provided for by the State Legislature in the 371
amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per each beginning 372
teacher that is being mentored. The additional state compensation 373
shall be limited to those mentor teachers that provide mentoring 374
services to beginning teachers. For the purposes of such funding, 375
a beginning teacher shall be defined as any teacher in any school 376
in Mississippi that has less than one (1) year of classroom 377
experience teaching in a public school. For the purposes of such 378
funding, no full-time academic teacher shall mentor more than two 379
(2) beginning teachers. 380
(b) To be eligible for this state funding, the 381
individual school must have a classroom management program 382
approved by the local school board. 383
(6) Effective with the 2014-2015 school year, the school 384
districts participating in the Pilot Performance-Based 385
Compensation System pursuant to Section 37-19-9 may award 386
additional teacher and administrator pay based thereon. 387
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from 388
and after July 1, 2026. 389