UPDATE Thursday 28, 11:30 a.m.:
Literally less than an hour after the Senate passed the Conference Report on SB 2770, the House followed suit.
Similar to in the Senate with Senator D. Simmons, Representative David Baria makes a motion to recommit the report back to conference. He explains he wants the bill recommitted so that the raise amount of $1,500 can be increased.
.@dbaria makes a motion to recommit the conference report to change the language providing a $2,000 pay raise over the next two years #msleg
— Yall Politics (@MSyallpolitics) March 28, 2019
Rep. Bennett, Chairman of Education, expressed concerns that putting a $4,000 raise on the books would be detrimental if state revenue growth does not increase. He said that there needs to be more than one year of growth for a raise of that size to be secure. This seems to be a debate between two sides on whether or not the money is there for the raise.
Bennett simply responds to @dbaria that the money isn’t there to do a $4,000 raise, Baria says the money is there. #msleg
— Yall Politics (@MSyallpolitics) March 28, 201
Speaker Philip Gunn posted this to twitter after it’s passage:
The House just passed a $1,500 pay raise for Mississippi’s hard-working teachers. This $58 million annual investment into teachers will ensure that we can better recruit and retain those who prepare our children for college and a career. pic.twitter.com/HQRk4raH7l
— Philip Gunn (@PhilipGunnMS) March 28, 2019
UPDATE Thursday 28, 9:45 a.m.:
The Senate has approved the Conference Report regarding a teacher pay raise.
The bill was brought before Senators on Thursday morning as Sen. Tollison suspended the rules to have the bill discussed. Speculatively to be able to approve it and send to the House quickly.
Senator Derrick Simmons made a motion to recommit the bill and argued that there was time to meet the originally proposed $4,000 mark offered by the House’s amendment to the bill. However, the motion failed and the bill was called up for a vote.
Just before the roll was called for a vote Lt. Governor Tate Reeves said,”If you support the bill I ask you to vote ‘I’ if you oppose it, I’ll ask you to vote ‘no’.”
The $1,500 teacher pay raise passes in the Senate by a vote of 46-2 and heads to the House, Only Sen. Norwood and Sen. D. Simmons voted no. #msleg
— Yall Politics (@MSyallpolitics) March 28, 2019
The bill passed by a vote of 46 to 2, with Senators Norwood and D. Simmons voting no.
“I voted no on the bill, but I unequivocally support a teacher pay raise,” said Senator Norwood. He went on to say, his reason for a no vote was due to the fact that he didn’t believe $1,500 was enough. Senator Simmons made the same remarks.
The bill now heads to the House.
Wednesday 27, 10:00 p.m.:
Wednesday night the conference report everyone has been waiting for was finally filed, revealing what Legislature had appropriated in regards to a teacher pay raise. SB 2770 will ultimately give teachers a $1,500 raise beginning on July 1. This was one of the most discussed pieces of legislation to be brought up this year.
The bill originally called for a $1,000 raise over the next two years, which was scrutinized, even though that number was just considered a “place holder” according several members in the House including Rep. Richard Bennett, Chairman of Education and Speaker Greg Snowden.
The pressure was really put on for a substantial raise when Rep. Steve Holland was able to pass an amendment on the House floor that would change that $1,000 number to $4,000 over two years.
RELATED: Party lines crossed on passage of teacher pay raise amendment of $4,000
This would also raise the minimum pay for teachers to $35,890 and a minimum for teachers assistants to $14,000. It is still somewhat unclear how much this raise will cost the state budget. Previous numbers showed a $75 million increase, but minutes after the report was filed it was reported that it would actually only be between $50 and $55 million.
Amendment: Senate Appropriations Chairman @BuckForMS says $1,500 pay raise will only cost between $50 million and $55 million because of calculation error in previous figures on how much pay raise will cost. #msleg #msedu
— Jeff Amy (@jeffamy) March 28, 2019
Sarah Ulmer
