Mississippi is in the middle of its typical hot and humid summer. Perhaps no group is sweating more that public school officials, who by one report still have 2,100 jobs to fill by the beginning of August.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported this week that school districts across the state have plenty of openings for teachers, nurses, bus drivers and other employees.
The story noted that Mississippi’s average starting teacher pay of $34,780 two years ago was nearly $4,000 below the national average.
That means Mississippi’s starting pay almost certainly is below that of neighboring states, and a difference of a couple of thousand dollars would be a strong incentive for fresh college graduates to look elsewhere.
The knee-jerk reaction to this situation would be to raise the salaries for Mississippi teachers in order to be more competitive.
But this gap has persisted for 30 years or more, and when other states raise pay, it means Mississippi constantly is aiming at a moving target when it comes to regional or national average teacher salaries.
This battle may not be winnable.
The Legislature, which allocates the state’s education money, has made it clear that it will not consider large, across-the-board pay raises for teachers.
So any significant raises may have to be funded by local tax dollars.
If wealthier districts do that, it would put rural, less populated and poorer districts at even more of a disadvantage at competing for teachers in the state — not to mention with districts in other states.
In the Tupelo paper’s story, a superintendent noted that rural schools always have struggled to recruit and keep young teachers.
In his experience, not even higher pay can change that.
That’s what Mississippi is up against when it comes to finding teachers.
At the end of the day, school district must hope they can find talented people who are willing to accept a challenge.
