Nonprofit Mississippi News This may not surprise anyone who has worked in public schools recently. However, data obtained by Mississippi Today shows that the majority (over 90%) of Mississippi’s teachers are female. The Mississippi Department of Education tracks teacher’s by race, gender, and school. It shows that the percentage of female educators has remained steady at 80 percent over the past five years. The 27,000 Mississippi women who taught public school students in this period of time have faced the most difficult challenges due to Mississippi’s lowest public teacher salaries. The average salary of a public school teacher in 2017-18 was $44,926. The $1,500 salary increase that was recently approved will raise a first-year teacher’s salary by $35,890. This is something many educators referred to as a “slap in their faces” since the law was originally passed. Assistant teachers will now earn $14,000 per year. Teachers complain about low pay because many have to work multiple jobs in order to make ends meets. While lawmakers lauded the raise as an expression of appreciation for the field, educators claim it’s yet another example of the state not treating them seriously. Erica Jones, president of Mississippi Association of Educators, said that for so many years they’ve been mocked and not taken seriously. That has to change. “The teaching profession must be recognized as a respected profession.” Mississippi’s widening wage gap between men and women is compounded by the disproportionate number of low-paying teachers. According to an American Association of University Women 2017 report, women in Mississippi earn 77% of the income of men across all median incomes. Mississippi Today analyzed five years worth of data on educators to see who makes up the state’s almost 34,000-person workforce. The majority of the 2018-19 school years saw white men and women make up 14 percent and 58 respectively. Black women made up 21 percent of the total, and black men made it up for 6 percent. Although there was a slight increase of black teachers in the last school year, they still account for less than one-third of the teaching workforce. Jones stated that there are many reasons why educators of color are not being treated equally. For example, certification exams can prove to be a barrier for minority applicants who are more likely than their white peers to attend schools with low resources. However, a second issue is low salaries. Jones stated that until Mississippi addresses teacher pay, we will continue to lose teachers, particularly teachers of color, to states other than Mississippi. Mississippi Today also looked at the racial makeup of school districts. Teachers tend to be more like their students in districts where one race is predominant. In northeast Mississippi, for example, 93 percent of students in Alcorn School District were white during the 2018-19 schoolyear. Data show that the entire teacher workforce was white. The Claiborne School District had 99 percent of its student population and 96 percent were teachers. Here’s how teachers and students compare at the state level. Jones stated that it was important for the state to continue its efforts to ensure that teachers more closely mirror the students they serve. The lifelong educator stated that students are more comfortable with teachers who reflect their values. It’s almost like, when you look at Disney’s movies now, you get a lot people that are interested in how some of their princesses are becoming African American, Asian, or any other ethnicity or background. There’s a reason. People want to see people who look like them, and that resemble them in everyday situations or environments.” Contributing: Alex Rozier