- Results from the Mississippi Department of Education’s Teacher Recruitment and Retention Survey show teacher pay at the top on the list of factors leading to teacher turnover.
Teacher shortages in Mississippi’s K-12 education system have increased over the previous year, the Mississippi Department of Education reported on Thursday. Officials have cited low teacher pay as contributing to the continued turnover rates in the state’s education profession.
MDE said teacher shortages increased by 1,747 positions compared to the prior year. Results from the Educator Shortage Survey demonstrate as of November 1st Mississippi’s education system had a total of 6,907 vacancies across the positions of teachers, administrators and support staff.
Of the 1,747 total vacancies, 851 were in teacher vacancies, while 56 vacancies were noted in K-12 licensed educators.
The increase in administrative vacancies over the year totaled 128, while 712 of those vacancies were in the positions of nurses, teacher and administrative assistants, bus drivers, custodial staff and food service crews.
According to data included in the MDE report, the number of vacant positions has varied over the past several years. During the 2021-22 school year, 5,503 vacancies were reported. In 2022-23, when teachers received pay raises, vacancies totaled 4,988. Vacancies increased again in 2023-24 to 5,012 and again in 2024-24 to 5,160.
MDE reports pay raises were provided to educators during the school years of 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Decreases in teaching vacancies were also noted during the COVID pandemic, which was attributed to the suspension of licensure testing until December 31, 2023, for college students who were “unconditionally admitted to an approved traditional education program,” as part of the pandemic response.
Reported vacancies were most prominent in the Congressional Districts One (84) and Two (436).
In addition to the Educator Shortage Survey, MDE also announced the results from the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Survey conducted from April 23 to June 17 of this year.
Just over 4,000 teachers provided responses to the survey, which provided MDE with information concerning “recruitment, onboarding, support, community involvement, school leadership and compensation among Mississippi teachers.”
Results from the survey show teachers are most inspired by their passion for teaching and the interactions with their students. As has been reported in past results from this survey, teacher compensation was top on the list for factors leading to teacher turnover, with benefits and other compensation related factors also playing a part.
MDE’s release on the findings note that Mississippi ranked 46 out of 49 states in America during 2024 for teacher pay, even when the state’s low cost of living was factored in.
State Auditor Shad White released a report this week with similar findings related to pay versus cost of living, citing a need to change the way funding is allocated between educators and administrators.
“My team found that even when you adjust for Mississippi’s low cost of living, teachers here are still some of the lowest paid in the nation,” said White. “We need to cut the amount of money spent on administration and bureaucracy and redirect that money to what actually matters: teacher salaries and inside-the-classroom spending.”
The Auditor’s report found that while the cost of living in the Magnolia State is 12.7 percent lower than the nation’s average, salaries for educators are still $9,000 less than the national average.
Jeremy Pittari
