Mississippi Today: Nonprofit News: The Legislature failed to appropriate the money necessary to pay an annual $1500 raise to all teachers in public schools in Mississippi because of an administrative error. Multiple sources claim that this was reported by Mississippi Today. Last week, Gov. Phil Bryant signed an $1,500 raise for teachers and assistants teachers into law. However, a miscoded information system meant that there wasn’t enough state funding to pay for the raise for certain types. Local districts already struggling to pay their bills are now at risk. Jay Hughes, D.Oxford, stated that the shortfall could reach as high as $12 million. Hughes stated that “This is a very big deal.” Mississippi Today received a letter from Sen. Gray Tollison (R-Oxford) and Rep. Richard Bennett (R-Long Beach), requesting that they send it to the Senate and House education chairs. A Mississippi Department of Education official stated that the Legislature had asked for the department to calculate each teacher’s $1,500 raise. This was done using the Mississippi Student Information System which tracks teachers by type. They did not consider special educators and gifted learners in their calculations. According to the letter, “the MDE” determined that 31157.51 Full-Time Equivalent teachers were eligible for the raise, which would have cost the state more $58.4 millions. The letter stated that those teachers include classroom teachers, counselors, librarians, counselors, and other educators who directly work with students. A spokesperson for the Lieutenant Governor. A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. In a statement, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) stated that the intention was to provide a pay increase to all who qualified. Mississippi Today reached Bennett and Tollison for comment but they did not reply. Legislative leaders began to look for other ways to give teachers a raise than the original $1,000 they had planned to offer. It was believed that teachers would be paid using federal funds, but this was not the case. Teachers not covered by the pay increase are those in career technical education, special and gifted education as well as a select group of teacher assistants. This issue was brought up against the background that teachers are disappointed that they don’t receive a higher raise to bring them closer to the Southeastern average. Some have even considered striking. The Legislature has underfunded public schools again by more than $200M in formula funding local school districts. Hughes stated that unless the Legislature convenes a special session to correct the error, local school districts will have to raise the funds to pay the raise. The Mississippi Department of Education made a mistake and the taxpayers of Mississippi shouldn’t have to pay for a special session. Bryant stated that MDE should identify other sources of funding that could be used to fund raises that were not included in the original funding. The Legislature can then refund that source via a deficit appropriation in January.” Bryant said in a statement to the Clarion Ledger. Jimmy Weeks, superintendent of Lee County School District, stated that state funds weren’t provided for approximately 125 teachers and 40 assistants teachers in his district. Weeks stated, “I hope that this was a miscommunication…and the Legislature takes whatever action necessary to cover the cost for the raise.” “If they don’t do that it will be a big hassle to local school districts.” Weeks estimated that the district would have to spend $310,000 annually to pay for the raise. Ilean Richards, the interim superintendent of Coahoma County Schools District, said that she was informed about teachers being excluded from the raise. She stated that teachers will not be excluded, even if the district must pay the supplement. “I cannot speak for anyone but I can speak on behalf of Coahoma County Schools District.” Dennis Dupree (superintendent of Clarksdale Municipal Schools District) checked to make sure that those people were not excluded. They are not included, and it’s so messy. He said that the money is not being distributed in the way the Legislature intended. Dupree noted that not all teachers received raises equal to $1500. Some ranged from $300 to $900. It’s ridiculous and all over town… in a district such as ours, we are not capable of paying those salaries. It’s impossible for us to achieve that. They’ll claim that these are funded mandates without funds. But there’s no way they can do it. The Mississippi Department of Education stated Wednesday afternoon that while there were some teachers eligible for the raise, there were also teachers who were wrongly coded in the system. However, the department acknowledged that districts brought the issue to their attention and would work quickly with each district to verify the teacher assistants and teachers in MAEP-funded schools. “We will give this information to legislators and work with them in order to obtain additional funding for this pay raise.” Contributing to this work: Aallyah Wright. Make a regular donation today to support this work.