Mississippi lawmakers approved a $2,000 pay raise for teachers and sent the measure to Gov. Tate Reeves after scaling back larger increases passed earlier by both chambers, legislative leaders said.
The Senate had approved a $6,000 raise spread over three years and the House had passed a $5,000 raise, but negotiators reduced the increase to $2,000, House Education Chairman Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, said. “The bottom line is that you have to balance your budget,” Roberson said. “We had to reduce it down to $2,000. It is not something I wanted to do but had to do to get through this process.”
Republican legislative leaders and budget officials cited a weak revenue picture as a key reason for the rollback. Staff of the Legislative Budget Office released a report showing disappointing revenue collections for February, and leaders said national economic uncertainties added to their concerns.
Lawmakers also pointed to other fiscal pressures, including what they described as a roughly $26 billion deficit in the state pension system and estimates that Medicaid will require nearly $400 million more in state funding as federal pandemic-era aid ends. The Legislature this year approved a $6 million tax credit for private schools, adding to about $9 million in existing credits for donors to those schools, lawmakers noted.
Despite the reduction from the amounts earlier approved by the House and Senate, legislators said the $2,000 increase will go to about 30,000 educators. Lawmakers said they trimmed the larger proposals to preserve the state’s budget stability amid the cited fiscal challenges.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
