Jackson Jambalaya

Could have been a lot shorter. "We messed up, but we will fix it by going back to the legislature and doing it right next time, promise. We can cover it anyway because we have too much money on our hands anyway."

Does anyone know just how much teachers think that they deserve to be paid each year? Most of my adult life there has been a perpetual drum beat for more, more & more money. What would it take($$$) to get the teachers union to put down those drum sticks?

Right. We wouldn’t want anyone associated with the state government to try to explain anything remotely complicated. That would border on being transparent, which is like kryptonite to yokels like you, @4:54.

Will Madison County Educators get a bonus again this year.

I stopped reading at the end of the first sentence. Why don't they already know the number of teachers? That would seem to be a critical, preliminary piece of information to have in order for Wright's department to even think about functioning.

This is akin to the head of a corporation having no idea how many business units the corporation has....and having to 'work with' others to 'find out'.

5:41 - There is no such thing as a 'teachers union' in Mississippi. Here, put on this cap and sit on the dunce-stool.

Wonder if the administrative layers are technically considered "teachers" and likewise eligible for raise?

The whole system needs a forensic audit. Corrupt to the bone.

Ah, so the clueless Dr. Wright has found a scapegoat- an antiquated computer system.

@5:41 they will be paid enough when we no longer have a teacher shortage. Supply and demand.

Methinks they should sell some bonds and use the money to hire a consultant to determine how many teachers are on the payroll.

Win/win

How did the head of the Legislative Budget Office not catch this?

I am a retired public school teacher. When I was teaching my salary was competitive with other salaries in Mississippi. This is the poorest state in the union. Don't expect to make what the richest states make. Teachers know what the salaries are before they train. As to the teacher shortage, look at the conditions of teachers. I stopped fights, took away weapons and tried to teach over people that did not want to be taught. Improve the discipline in the schools and you will have more good teachers.

9:37 - Sorry, but when you were teaching, there were no other jobs in Mississippi to compare with public school teachers. How did you manage to compare your teacher-salary with positions that existed nowhere in the labor market area?

And, assuming you might have retired with 30-35 years, you finally managed to reach 50k unless you had an advanced degree. How the hell is that competitive? If you had been a BS degreed manufacturing engineer you'd have retired at 80k.

This is a MDE screw up, plain, simple, period.

But the degree-d manufacturing engineer works 12 months out of the year 5:34. Kids aren't picking hoeing and picking cotton from June until September anymore in Mississippi. Mississippi could lead the way for a change by moving to a 250 day school year. Quite a few teachers when pushed seem to prefer all the weeks. They find all manner of excuses to continue that outdated situation while comparing their pay to full time full year positions.